Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The intention is to create an understanding of the functionality of laminating fats. In the manufacture of puff pastry products, such a croissants and danishes, laminating fats are extruded into micrometer thick layers of fat, which separate alternating dough layers. These fats have special characteristics: the oil lubricates the solid fats particles allowing them to slide over each other, yet it does not ooze from the pastry. However, they are also a large source of unhealthy trans fats. Even though removal of trans fats from most food products has been achieved, this has not been successfully done in puff pastry. The reason for this is because the structure and properties of laminating fats are not understood at all. It is our intention to solve this intriguing problem. And, in order to do so, we must understand how nanoscale interactions ultimately determine the lubricating properties of the fats. In order to do so, we shall carry out computer modelling of the smallest components of the fats with the oil around them, allowing these components to form larger and larger aggregates - as they do in laminating fats. We shall model oils with trans fats and and seek to understand what essential role these play in making the oils so suitable to the puff pastry which we enjoy. We shall then try to mimic their essential qualities by using our computer programs to model replacements for the trans fats. Such a material would be immediately used in the marketplace, creating unprecedented opportunities for the Canadian food industry - and, as they savour a delicious Danish, consumers would know that they are not damaging their health - and, perhaps, even improving it.