Global emulsifiers specialist Palsgaard A/G expects this March to begin operating a new margarine pilot plant at its Singapore operation.

“With this new pilot plant we will be able to offer the same service to margarine manufacturers in Asia as we are currently doing in Europe and the Americas,” says Haydee Carlos, managing director of Palsgaard Asia-Pacific.  “We will help them test and develop innovative margarine and shortening products, e.g. a low-fat puff pastry margarine with only 35% fat or low-fat spreads with only 10% fat or high-ratio shortenings.”

Officials say the FH Scandinox-manufactured plant is literally a well equipped “mini factory” with two tube chillers and two pin machines and a capacity of 60kg of margarine per hour. The plant lets Palsgaard application technologists simulate the customer’s own production equipment–regardless of what type of margarine the manufacturer is producing, be it liquid or brick margarine for retail or foodservice applications

With the pilot plant and Palsgaard’s dedicated emulsifiers the company will be able to help customers create new recipes for various types of margarine, which meets customer demands and even tailor them to the customer’s own setup.

Haydee Carlos further explains: “Making a successful margarine depends not only on the qualities of the emulsifier and the raw materials but equally on the production process and the order in which the ingredients are added. This is why it’s so important for us to have the pilot plant. This way we can fully understand our customer’s setup and provide him with the best possible advice on how to optimize his production processes.”

In addition to the new margarine pilot plant Palsgaard Singapore already houses a well equipped bakery application lab with an electric dough roller machine for puff pastry. This allows Palsgaard to carefully test the effect of its margarine emulsifiers in their final application, making sure that the margarine manufacturer will have satisfied customers.