Tallow Enhancement Process Investigation

Summary

Like most other animal fats, beef tallow is a highly saturated fat with approximately 70% of its component fatty acids being saturated. Tallow also contains significant amounts of free cholesterol. Tallow was once a popular frying medium because of its superior thermal stability and the pleasant flavour characteristics it imparted to foods fried in it. However, due to concerns about adverse health effects of saturated fat and cholesterol on cardiovascular health, tallow has rapidly lost its place in the food service industry, and to a large extent, has been replaced by healthier vegetable oils. 

An extensive literature and patent review was conducted to investigate value-adding opportunities for beef and sheep tallow by identifying feasible processes for converting tallow to healthier oil and for extracting significant flavour compounds from crude or fractions of tallow. The feasibility of fractionation technologies and transesterification processes are discussed, as well as potential food applications for highly monounsaturated tallow-based products. The potential for producing and imparting desirable tallow flavour to foods cooked in tallow-based products is also discussed.