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There continues to be a desire for low fat potato chip solutions. Multiple low fat process solutions on potato chips exist today. These include steam stripping, centrifuge post frying, surface starch to reduce oil absorption, and higher temperature post frying to promote oil draining from chip surface. All of these have tradeoffs: 1) cost/capacity, 2) product, and/or 3) limited reduction.
PepsiCo is looking to explore technologies within food, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries to enable extraction or prevent absorption of lipids into a porous matrix. PepsiCo's secondary goal is to explore technologies that can reduce porosity or prevent creation of highly porous matrix when a solvent (such as water) is removed from a starch-based substrate like potato due to thermal energy.
The primary goal of the search is to identify new technologies for oil extraction or preventing absorption of lipids in a porous matrix. Significant advancement in the technologies listed above or a combination of the technologies that improve fat reduction with minimal impact to product attributes would also be of interest.
Collaborators should have bench testing capability. PepsiCo can partner to help with scaling up of technology if it has been demonstrated at pilot scale and has potential to be scalable.
Overview of the current frying process:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws_K9Cxs-uE
Components and equipment used for the process:
Our goal is exploring technologies for oil extraction or preventing absorption of lipids in a porous matrix such as potato chips during cooking & dehydration processes such as frying. These technologies can be outside of the food industry (such as pharmaceutical, petrochemical) to enable oil/hydrophobic fluid removal/reduction.
- Tech that limits absorption of hydrophobic fluids (e.g. high temperature post frying to promote oil drainage)
- Tech that extracts hydrophobic fluids (e.g. steam stripping, centrifuge, super-critical CO2 extraction, ultrasonic)
- Tech that prevents creation of a porous matrix when exposed to thermal energy (e.g. pre-treatments such as pulse electric field)
- Reduce absorption of lipids by >20% into porous matrices due to vapor vacuum condensation
- Tested at pilot scale and has potential to be scalable (not just a bench-top technique)
- Technology compatible with food (materials used can be replaced with food grade)
- When fully implemented by PepsiCo, the solution will not involve more than 2 pieces of equipment (unit operations) in addition to the current process. Modification of current unit operations is preferred. The goal of these is to have minimal footprint.
- First principle/bench-top techniques that are not scalable
- Technologies explored in the past (such as steam stripping, centrifuge post frying, surface starch to reduce oil absorption, higher temperature post frying to promote oil draining from chip surface) unless there is significant advancement in the field or a combination of techniques enabling increased reduction/ improved efficiency
- Use of coatings to prevent oil absorption as the primary mechanism of oil reduction unless more than 35% reduction or if the coatings don’t get dissolved in oil
- Use of any salt-based marination techniques. (Non-salt-based marination would be of interest.)
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
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