Potential of Using Synchrotron Radiation in the Field of Edible Oils and Fats

Abstract

: Synchrotron radiation has been used not only in the field of materials, life, and environ-mental sciences, but also in the field of daily necessities and foods in recent years. We focus on a crystallization of triglyceride which is main component of edible oils and fats and introduce our study of the in-situ crystallization and melting in a large synchrotron radiation facility. Due to health negative effect of triglyceride high in trans and saturated fatty acids, we are currently considering a molecular compound (MC) of triglyceride which becomes solid at room temperature despite its high oleic acid content as an alternative to it. With the aim of the MC’s industrial use, the crystallization under the rapid cooling condition assuming the manufacturing process was observed by synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction measurement. As a result, the conditions for efficiently crystallizing MC and its forma-tion process were clarified. In addition, we introduced other cases in edible oils and fats using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction measurement.