SBIR Phase II: New Crystallization Modifiers for Low Calorie Fats in Food Products

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to facilitate the commercialization of low fat replacement EPG technology to help solve some of the largest obesity and related health issues facing the US while providing a patentable new additive platform for the $600 billion food industry. With high caloric density foods being the primary cause for the obesity epidemic, the facilitation of rapid development of 92% lower calorie fat replacers such as EPG will have a powerful impact on the health of a large portion of society, reducing health care cost for US citizens and providing a positive economic impact for the US. The highest initial impact will be the introduction of additive modified EPG fat replacers to the confectionary segment where the need for decreased caloric content is greatest due to the absence of compatible low-calorie fats. Locally, the development of this technology will result in growth of 20 + high technology jobs in South Carolina. During Phase II, Tetramer will work with undergraduates and high school students through the NSF Phase II supplemental programs, which have trained 25 undergraduate students and 9 high school students who have all gone into STEM careers. The objectives of this Phase II research project are to provide critically needed additive control technology to allow the dramatically reduced caloric intake (up to 92% ) of esterified propoxylated glycerol technology (EPG) to be used in many food products that today contain high calorie natural fats and oils. During Phase I activities, Tetramer discovered that the new EPG approach to mitigating the growing obesity epidemic in the US was hampered by the fact that being a new technology EPG processes differently than high calorie fats such as palm kernel oil or cocoa butter. This creates a manufacturing mismatch for a significant number of the products in the projected $2.6 Billion fat replacement market. To date the commercially available additives do not work, thus requiring a new additive molecular architecture ?toolbox? to optimize the processing variables. Tetramer will use it's synthetic organic chemistry and material science expertise to synthesize and optimize additives that will allow EPG?s to provide 92% lower calories, while still maintaining the same sensory, physical properties and processing efficiency as the natural oils they will replace. End use applications will be developed through collaborations with food industry leaders.