Oleogels/emulsion gels as novel saturated fat replacers in meat products: A review

Fat is an important flavoring substance in food, especially meat products. But meat products contain a large amount of saturated fat, and excessive intake will pose a threat to human health. With the improvement of dietary safety and health awareness, the intake of saturated fat and trans-fat has been controlled, and even improved and replaced. To obtain a better comprehension of recent saturated fat replacement strategies, this paper reviews the conventional and novel approaches to substituting saturated fat in meat products. Applications of cereal flours, dietary fibers, proteins, and pre-emulsions in meat products have been reviewed. Structures, formation methods, and beneficial effects in fat-replaced applications of novel oil structuring strategies, oleogels and emulsion gels, have been also summarized and discussed. Natural bio-polymers can be involved in meat product formulations directly to realize fat reduction and enhance oil and water holding capacity, but cannot mimic the flavor, sensory, or nutrition of animal fat. Pre-emulsions improve fatty acid profiles, introducing unsaturated fatty acids, while without solid fat textures. Oleogels and emulsion gels have been widely applied as animal fat substitutes for their solid fat textures, rich unsaturated fatty acids, and healthier benefits. However, heating is an essential step for the oleogel preparations, resulting in susceptibility to lipid oxidation. Advantages of emulsion gels have emerged and are gradually attracting researchers' interest to use them as fat substitutes, even to be a novel approach for plant-based product design.