Ammonium Phosphatide has for many years been considered to be the best alternative to lecithin (E 322) in the manufacture of chocolate and vegetable fat based coatings. Ammonium Phosphatide and lecithin are each capable of performing the same job by lowering the plastic viscosity in liquid chocolate masses.
Industrial manufacturing of chocolate requires full control of the flow properties during all process steps in order to optimize production and costs. Emulsifiers play an essential role in this process, and, by combining various emulsifiers, the experienced chocolate manufacturer can target a specific fat content in his recipes and furthermore, obtain the exact flow properties necessary for his process plant.
Lecithin used to be the preferred choice of emulsifier for chocolate. As most of the commercially available lecithins derive from soybean there has been a growing concern amongst consumers, retailers and manufactures regarding the possible origination of the lecithin from genetically modified soybean plants.
The demand for non-GMO lecithin has driven up prices and there has been some concern in the market that the supply of identity preserved soy lecithin may not meet the total demands from the food industry.
Alternative emulsifiers systems have therefore gained a bigger market share over the last ten years, and especially Ammonium Phosphatide has found its way into more and more chocolate and vegetable fat based coating recipes. Besides having a safe non-GMO status, Ammonium Phosphatide provides other advantages for the chocolate industry:
- Flavour neutral even at high dosages.
- Ability to lower the plastic viscosity without bringing up the yield value.
- Easy handling, as Ammonium Phosphatide does not thicken at temperatures below 40°C.
- High safety on the microbiological side as the emulsifier reaches more than 147°C during processing and is practically water-free.
One of the restrictions for use of Ammonium Phosphatide by the chocolate industry has been of a legal nature. Until recently, US has not permitted the use of this emulsifier for any food applications. This situation changed when the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) on June 29th 2007 published a GRAS notification opening up for use of Ammonium Phosphatide as an emulsifier in chocolate and vegetable fat coatings at a level of up to 0.7%. (Agency Response Letter GRAS Notice No. GRN 000219). Palsgaard is proud to say that this breakthrough took place on the basis of Palsgaard’s initiative.
This change means that the US chocolate industry now has the possibility to introduce a new emulsifier into their recipes, but equally important, that chocolate manufactures exporting products into the US market, can now safely include Ammonium Phosphatide in their recipes.
Palsgaard offers Ammonium Phosphatide under the brand name Palsgaard®4448 and are able to provide application support, technical product information as well as samples for customer trials. Palsgaard works synergistically with other emulsifiers like PGPR (Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate), citric acid esters of mono-diglycerides and lecithin in a wide range of fat based confectionery products. By combining emulsifiers in recipes the confectionery industry can often obtain better effect than working with a single emulsifier system.
Especially for more difficult recipes like fat-reduced chocolate, sugar-free or sugar-reduced compounds the combination between Palsgaard and a high functionality grade PGPR (Palsgaard®4150) greatly improve workability of the chocolate mass during processing.