MARGARINE & SPREADS The global margarine market has developed to include low- fat and low-salt spreads and products with added omega-3 fatty acids, plant sterols and certified oils, with a growing appeal to vegans searching for an alternative to butter OFI The global margarine/spread market is expected to grow with a single digit increase in CAGR between 2018 and 2028, according to a recent report by Persistence Market Research (PMR). Growth will be driven by consumer demand for food products high in nutritional value and low in fat and calorie content, and higher consumption in under-developed countries where margarine offers greater value for money Butter’s rival and multiple usages. Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès in 1869, who product called krona, made by churning a “The global market for margarine/spread responded to a challenge by Emperor blend of dairy cream and vegetable oils, is dominated by North America, which Napoleon III to create a butter substitute was introduced in Europe and, in 1982, a holds a significant market share, followed for the armed forces and lower classes. blend of cream and vegetable oils called by Europe and Asia-Pacific,” PMR says. The recipe was a mix of skimmed milk, Clover was introduced in the UK by the “North America is the largest consumer, water and animal fat. Milk Marketing Board. The vegetable oil especially due to the high consumption In 1871, Mège-Mouriès sold his patent and cream spread ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not in food processing. Europe is the second to Dutch firm Jurgens. Jurgens realised Butter!’ was introduced into the USA in largest consumer. Developing regions, that for the naturally white margarine to 1981 and in Canada and the UK in 1991. such as Asia-Pacific and South America, are become a butter substitute, it needed Today, margarine and spreads are constantly growing at a high consumption to look like butter and began dyeing typically made from cottonseed, olive, rate. China and India are the largest margarine yellow. Jurgens eventually palm, rapeseed, soyabean and sunflower producers and consumers of margarine/ became a world-renowned maker of oils. The product has gone through many spreads in the Asia-Pacific region.” margarines and soaps, becoming part of developments to improve its health PMR says a growing number of vegan consumer goods giant Unilever. profile. Most brands have phased out the customers are also looking for butter Between 1900 and 1920, commercial use of partially hydrogenated oils and are alternatives, with margarine and spreads oleomargarine was produced from a now also trans fat free. Many brands have offering a plant-based alternative which combination of animal fats and hardened launched refrigerator margarine spreads has less saturated fats and cholesterol. and unhardened vegetable oils, according that contain only a third of the fat and “Immense competition exists in the to Wikipedia. The depression of the 1930s calorie content of traditional spreads. global margarine/spread market due to and WWII led to a scarcity of butter and Other varieties include those with high market concentration. Only 18 major animal fats, leading to an almost complete added omega-3 fatty acids, those with low companies hold most of the market share.” switch to vegetable oils and fats. or no salt, those with added plant sterols Some of the prominent players in Voluntary fortification of margarine and stanols (claimed to reduce blood the global margarine/spread market are with vitamins had been carried out cholesterol) and some made from certified Boulder Brands, Bunge, ConAgra Foods, by manufacturers since 1925 but in sustainable oils. Dairy Crest, Land O’Lakes, NMGK Group, 1940, with the advent of WWII, certain Smart Balance, Unilever and Upfield governments made the addition of Definitions Foods, PMR says. vitamins A and D compulsory to safeguard To be classified as margarine, the product nutritional health. must have a vegetable fat content of 80% Development of margarine During the 1950s and 1960s, or more, similar to butter, Wikipedia says. Margarine has a history dating back some competing producers vied to produce Over the years, producers have reduced 150 years and is a non-dairy product used margarine that tasted more like butter. the fat and calorie content of margarines. as a flavouring, for cooking and in baking In the mid-1960s, the introduction of These lower fat options are officially called to produce products such as pastries, two lower-fat blends of butter oil and ‘spreads’. The EU limits the terms ‘butter’ doughnuts, cakes and cookies. vegetable oils in Scandinavia, called Lätt & and ‘margarine’ to products with a fat It comes as a soft and spreadable Lagom and Bregott, began the debate on content of not less than 80%. It defines spread in tubs, as a liquid cooking blend in what should be called ‘margarine’ leading spreadable fats as “a water-in-oil emulsion bottles and in hard blocks used in baking. to the introduction of the term ‘spread’, derived from vegetable/animal fats, with The first margarine was created by Wikipedia says. In 1978, an 80% fat a fat content of at least 10% but less than 20 OFI – MAY 2020 www.ofimagazine.com MARGARINE & SPREADS 90%, that remains solid at a temperature of average person ate over 8.2 kg/year of considerably by increasing the sustainable 20°C and is suitable as spread”. butter and just over 0.91 kg of margarine. sourcing of oils, reducing the emissions Margarines may not have a milk fat By the end of the 20th century, an from transport and production, and limiting content of more than 3%. For blends average American ate around 2.3 kg/year waste and water usage in their factories,” and blended spreads, the milk fat may be of butter and 3.6kg/year of margarine. the International Margarine Association of between 10% and 80%. the Countries of Europe (IMACE) says. Spreads that contain 60-62% of fat may Trans fatty acids “Today, margarines are a smart be called ‘three-quarter-fat margarine’ Trans fatty acids (TFAs) occur naturally environmental choice compared to animal- or ‘reduced-fat margarine’. Spreads that in small amounts in meat and milk based spreads like butter. They use about contain 39-41% of fat may be called fat but also as a result of the partial half the land required for producing butter ‘half-fat margarine’, ‘low-fat margarine’, or hydrogenation of fats and oils to improve products, and the carbon footprint is less ‘light margarine’. Spreads with any other their texture and shelf-life for use in than one-third the size of butter’s.” percentage of fat are called ‘fat spread’ or spreads, fast food, snack food and baked IMACE says its members also prioritise ‘light spread’. goods. Trans fats are used in shortenings the sustainable sourcing of palm, coconut, for deep-frying in restaurants, as they can soyabean, rapeseed and sunflower oils Butter vs margarine be used for longer than most conventional used in margarines and spreads. In the past, the popularity of margarine oils before becoming rancid. Partially was of great concern to dairy farmers, hydrogenated oils (PHOs) have the right Going vegan who lobbied legislators to ban the yellow consistency to replace animal fats such According to Global Market Insights, dyeing of margarine. Bans on adding as butter and lard at a lower cost. Many world plant-based product demand should colour became commonplace in Canada, baked foods also require semi-solid fats to register over 3.5% gains by 2025 owing Denmark and the USA. suspend solids at room temperature. to the growing adoption of vegetarianism By 1900, artificially coloured butter In the early 1990s, concerns over the and veganism. was contraband in 30 US states, Mental negative health impact of TFAs grew, with “Switching to a plant-based diet is one Floss writes. Some states even required industrial trans fat linked to an increased of the most important moves to help the margarine to be dyed pink. The Canadians risk of heart disease. environment.” IMACE says. “By sustainably banned all margarine from 1886 to 1948, In 2003, the World Health Organisation sourcing the oils used in margarines, we except between 1917 and 1923 when recommended that trans fats make up no can protect the planet’s natural resources WWI left butter in short supply. Even after more than 0.9% of a person’s diet and, and, at the same time, ensure security of the ban was relaxed, Quebec ensured that in 2018, it introduced a six-step guide to supply for the long term.” the ban on dyeing margarine remained in eliminate industrially-produced TFAs from Vegan butter is steadily carving a niche place in the province until 2008. the global food supply. in the plant-based world. In Australia, it did not become legal to Many countries have introduced TFA Colorado-based Earth Balance sell coloured margarine until the 1960s. limits. In 2015, for example, the US Food started out in 1998 as a small company The harder spreadability of butter has and Drug Administration determined specialising in its non-genetically modified also helped the growth of margarine. that PHOs are not ‘generally recognized ‘Original Butter Spread’ made with a blend Many popular table spreads sold today as safe’ (GRAS), setting a deadline of of vegetable oils. It now produces a range are blends of margarine and butter or 18 June 2018 as the date from which of plant-based spreads including Pressed other milk products, Wikipedia writes. In manufacturers could not add PHOs to Sunflower Oil, Pressed Extra Virgin Olive some European countries butter-based foods. The compliance date for products Oil and Pressed Avocado Oil spreads, table spreads and margarine products are produced before 18 June 2018 was as well as Soy Free, Organic Whipped marketed as ‘butter mixtures’.