Zero-trans fats designed by enzyme-catalyzed interesterification of rice bran oil and fully hydrogenated rice bran oil

Zero-trans edible fats attractive to be used for shortenings or margarines were designed solely from rice bran oil (RBO). For this purpose, RBO was fully hydrogenated, blended with the original oil at different percentages, and finally, blends were interesterified by an enzyme-catalyzed process. The interesterification process reduced the concentration of trisaturated and triunsaturated triglycerides and increased the concentration of medium saturation degree molecules, thus increasing their compatibility and causing the moderation of the melting point, as compared with blends. Conversely to blends, products showed a high tendency to crystallize under the β’ polymorph, which is the preferred one for products destined for many edible applications. Results demonstrated that the proper combination of different technologies (total hydrogenation, blending and interesterification) is a versatile and useful technology for designing zero-trans fats from RBO, attractive for the confection of shortenings or margarines for different applications depending on the proportion of each component in the starting blend. This strategy offers an attractive alternative for the diversification of RBO utilization, a valuable vegetable oil still underexploited, providing attractive fats useful for structuring different type of foods.