Margarine

Margarine, a food product that substitutes for butter, which it resembles in appearance, smell, taste, consistency, and chemical composition. The task of obtaining inexpensive substitutes for butter, similar in quality to the natural product, was first solved by the French chemist Mege-Mouries, who (in 1866) received from his government an offer to develop a method for preparing an inexpensive and stable substitute for butter during storage, suitable for feeding naval personnel and poor classes of the population. By mechanically removing the high-melting glycerides from specially treated beef tallow, Mege-Mouries obtained a substitute for clarified butter, which at that time was called M.; by churning this product with milk, he produced the so-called artificial butter. In 1870, Mege-Mouries opened a margarine factory in Poissy near Paris. As early as 1869, Mege-Mouries sold in England a patent for the method he had invented. In 1871, the factory production of butter substitutes according to Mege-Mouries' principle began in Austria and Holland, in 1872 in Germany, in 1876 in Sweden and Norway, and in 1888 in Denmark. In Russia, the beginning of the production of butter substitutes dates back to approximately 1874. Before the revolution, factory production was carried out in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, Kozlov, Odessa, and other cities. However, properly prepared butter substitutes of the Mege-Mouries type were still little known to the general population. The lack of general sanitary facilities in many tallow-rendering plants, the improper choice of location for some plants, the use of poor-quality raw materials, and deviations from the officially established rules for preparing M. resulted in the fact that the majority formed the opinion that M. was an unacceptable food product. Taking this into account and striving to find a greater market for M., manufacturers and merchants began to release products onto the market not under the name M., but under other names (for example, under the name "friture"). From the time of the October Revolution until 1925, butter substitutes were not produced in our country. Only in 1925 was a margarine factory opened in Leningrad, and in 1928 in Moscow. In 1930, one new factory was opened in Leningrad and Moscow, each with a daily production capacity of about 20 tons. According to the five-year plan, about 30 new factories should be opened in the USSR. In 1925, the average per capita consumption of M. was: in Germany - 6.7 kg, in Sweden - 6.6 kg, England - 7.1 kg, Holland - 7.4 kg, Norway - 17 kg, Denmark - 21 kg. In France in 1928, M. was consumed at a rate of about 0.5 kg per person per year. In the USA, M. is consumed at a rate of about 1 kg per person, approximately 7 times less than butter. In Japan, about 3,545,000 kg of M. is produced annually, with an annual production of butter of about 4,053,000 kg. Depending on the manufacturing methods and type of raw materials, two main types of products are distinguished: table margarines (of the butter type) and clarified margarines (of the clarified butter type). Table margarines are divided into margarines from animal fats (animal M.), margarines from a mixture of animal and vegetable fats (mixed M.), and margarines from vegetable fats (vegetable M.). Each of these types is subdivided into margarines prepared from pasteurized fresh milk or cream, and margarines prepared from pasteurized and soured milk or cream, and moreover into salted and unsalted margarines. The classification of clarified margarines is generally the same as that of table margarines. To clarified margarines can also be attributed the so-called "compounds" (compound), or artificial food fats (Kunstspeisefett), which are actually substitutes for clarified lard; these are mostly mixtures of various vegetable and animal fats, prepared without milk, containing small amounts of non-fat substances (water, salt) and resembling clarified lard in appearance, smell, and taste. Mege-Mouries prepared M. as follows: a mixture of 1,000 kg of pure ground best raw tallow from slaughtered on the same day bulls, 300 kg of water, 1 kg of potassium carbonate, and 2 sheep or pig stomachs was heated in a tank with steam to 45° and kept at this temperature for 2 hours, after which the rendered fat (premier jus) was drained for 2 hours of settling at the same temperature into another tank, and then poured into vessels for crystallization, where it remained for 12 hours at 20-25 ^°; the solidified fat was pressed in cloths at 25°, from which 50-60% of oleomargarine flowed out of the press, and 40-50% of "stearin" (pressed tallow) remained in the cloths; the washed and passed between cylinders oleomargarine constituted M. Mege-Mouries prepared artificial butter by churning in a churn a mixture of oleomargarine, cow's milk, water containing an infusion of cow's udder, and a solution of orlean; the resulting emulsion was treated with cold water; for this purpose, the product was transferred to an apparatus consisting of a kneading machine and 2 cylinders located under a water shower; the washed mass coming out of the apparatus represented artificial butter. Subsequently, the American modification of Mege-Mouries' method, proposed by Mott, entered factory practice: the fat is rendered in a double-walled boiler heated with hot water at 51° without adding any foreign substances; crystallization, continuing for 12-14 hours, is carried out at a temperature not exceeding 21°, and pressing is done at 29-32°. 100 parts of oleomargarine cooled to 21° are churned in a churn with 17-20 parts of sour milk and 2-3 parts of orlean, after which the emulsion is transferred to a vessel with crushed ice, thoroughly mixed with it, and left for 2-3 hours; then the mass is stirred and pressed until all the ice melts and all the water formed during the melting of the ice is separated; finally, the mass is again churned with sour milk, pressed, and packed into barrels lined inside with parchment, or else molded (for retail trade) into blocks, cubes, or sausages and wrapped in parchment. At present, thanks to significant improvements in equipment, it is possible to obtain M. that very closely resembles butter in appearance, consistency, structure, smell, and taste. The complete mechanization of production eliminates the possibility of workers' hands coming into contact with M. at all stages of its manufacture and packaging. The storage conditions for M. are generally the same as for butter, but its changeability during this time is significantly greater. Already after 14 days, M. loses the aroma of butter (P. Pollatschek). For the supply of M. of the first freshness, the production and distribution of it by some English firms is organized in such a way that the daily factory output of M. is fully used up by trade establishments the very next day. In connection with rising prices for tallow, the fat composition of M. has sharply changed in the sense of partial or even complete replacement of tallow with other fats. At present, in order to obtain the maximum yield from raw tallow, the fat is rendered at a temperature of 60° and higher, and to obtain larger quantities of oleomargarine, crystallization and pressing with the use of higher pressure are carried out at 32° and higher; usually for preparing M., a mixture of various vegetable and animal fats is used [refined oils: coconut, palm kernel, babassu, cottonseed, peanut, sesame, soybean, sunflower, poppy, rapeseed, corn, linseed, cottonseed and coconut "stearins", hydrogenated vegetable oils, whale, seal, cod, herring fats, non-hydrogenated beef, mutton, and pork lard, as well as pressed lard (Presstalg)]. Instead of cream and whole milk, skim or dry milk is used; instead of fresh egg yolk, which gives M. the properties of butter when frying, preserved liquid and dry yolks, preparations from yolks ("heliozytin") and from various products (soybeans, etc.) containing lecithin are used, and instead of vegetable colors (orlean, turmeric), cheaper coal tar colors are used. To give M. a special aroma, flavoring substances containing esters of unsaturated lower acids, etc., are proposed. For the purpose of enriching M. with vitamins, the addition of specially prepared preparations for this purpose ("vitamin", "phosphatide", "heliozytin") is recommended. In Moscow, M. is currently prepared approximately according to the following factory recipe: Hydrogenated vegetable oils (sunflower or cottonseed) .......910 kg Oleomargarin................70 » Refined cottonseed oil.....168 » »

Sunflower oil........252 » Milk ...................350 l Dye........ ..........600 cm³ Egg yolks............. . 7 kg Due to the variability of the fat composition of margarine, it is impossible to establish analytical constants for it, which complicates quality control of the product. This is particularly important when improper fat materials are used for the manufacture of margarine, as was observed in 1910 in Germany, where there were cases of mass poisoning from margarine containing the poisonous fat maratti (Maratti-Fett).-Although in composition margarine is not identical to butter, nevertheless when properly prepared it is very close to the latter in taste qualities, digestibility, assimilability, and caloric value. Due to the absence of vitamins A and D, attempts to vitaminize margarine, although successful, have not yet led to widespread industrial production of such margarine. Margarine, however, differs significantly from butter. Not being fully equivalent in food value to butter, margarine cannot therefore completely replace the latter, especially in the diet of children and the sick. For preparing margarine that meets sanitary requirements, only entirely high-quality materials should be used. NKZdr. RSFSR (circular No. 98, sec. B, of 4/IV 1929) has issued 'Sanitary Rules for the Opening, Organization, and Operation of Margarine Production Plants'. According to these rules, a plant cannot be opened without a written conclusion from the sanitary-prophylactic administration of NKZdr. stating that there are no obstacles to its opening. The distance of the plant from industrial establishments and other institutions that pollute the air must be at least 21 m; production is only permitted in establishments designed exclusively for this purpose. Production premises must be spacious, have air exchange 2-3 times per hour, a height of at least 3.5 m, and a light coefficient of at least 1:8; the interior decoration of the premises must satisfy the aforementioned sanitary requirements. Direct communication between plant premises and lavatories is not permitted. Vats for oils and fats must be equipped with devices for removing odorous and volatile substances. Work tables and counters should be painted with light oil paint, and their covers should be lined with tinned sheets or made of marble, thick glass, or polished stone. For transporting raw lard, there should be vans with tinned iron inner surfaces. All metal equipment items must also be tinned with tin containing not more than 1% lead. In the crystallization and pressing rooms, as well as in the fermentation rooms, thermometers must be displayed, and in storage rooms, instruments for determining air humidity must also be present. In all production and storage premises, there must be washbasins with soap and towels, and there should be no materials not used in production. Workers must wear clean, light-colored fabric smocks or aprons and head coverings. The plant must maintain books: one for recording received materials, another for recording finished products and waste. The receipt of raw materials, production, release of margarine, and waste are under constant supervision by the sanitary physician attached to the plant from the local health department. According to the draft developed by the Scientific-Technical Council of the Food and Agricultural Industry at NTU VSNKh USSR together with representatives of the Scientific-Technical Council of the Oil Industry and representatives of NKZdrav RSFSR, the above classification is applied to table margarine. The melting point of individual fats contained in margarine, as well as the fat rendered from margarine, must not exceed 36°; at 10-15° margarine should be a dense plastic mass and present on cross-sections a smooth, slightly glossy, slightly moist surface, free from salt crystals. Margarine should have the property of being easily spreadable surfaces, when frying it should not cause strong splattering and cracking, and it should foam like butter. The color should be uniformly pale yellow or yellow. The addition of preservatives (except NaCl) is not permitted. To margarine is added 5% sesame or the same amount of cotton oil or 0.3% starch. The presence of these ingredients, which give specific color reactions with corresponding reagents (see Fats, Starch), facilitates the possibility of distinguishing margarine from butter. The acidity of the fat rendered from margarine must not be more than 2.5%; the total fat content in unsalted margarine must be at least 84%, and in salted margarine at least 82%; the salt content not more than 2.5%; the total amount of egg yolks, dye, and components of milk not more than 1%. Coloring is only permitted with dyes approved by NKZdr. circular of 4/II 1925 No. 32.-Margarine must be wrapped in parchment meeting the requirements of OST 151 for parchment paper 'A'; for fractional distribution, specified quantities (250, 500 and 1,000 g) of margarine packaged in parchment must be prepared; on a visible place on the packaging, the name of the product (its type and variety), the name of the fats contained in its composition, as well as the name of the firm and place of production must be clearly indicated.