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Frozen Calcium Fortified Treats: Ice Creams, Frozen Soy and Frozen Yogurts

Believe it or not, indulgent desserts can be good for you. By fortifying with calcium, trimming the fat content, and reducing or replacing sugar, ice-cream manufacturers can produce delicious desserts that aid in keeping bones and teeth strong without contributing to other health problems. Calcium also can be added to regular ice creams, as well as frozen yogurts and soy desserts, to support the consumer’s calcium intake.

High-calcium frozen dairy and soy desserts can easily be formulated (and in fact are commercially manufactured) to provide as much as 25 percent of an adult’s daily requirement for calcium. Click here for a table of the U.S. Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) for calcium, which depend on a person’s age and state of health.   


Precipitated Calcium Carbonates (PCCs) In Calcium Fortified Frozen Desserts
Ice cream and other frozen desserts must have an unadulterated flavor and a smooth, creamy texture without grittiness or chalkiness. Precipitated calcium carbonates (PCCs) from Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI) maintain the wonderful taste and texture while providing the needed extra calcium. 

The best calcium fortifier is a PCC that builds and reinforces the internal structure vital to the success of a frozen dessert, while at the same time yielding excellent taste. Based on work done in soft-serve ice creams with 5 percent and 10 percent butterfat, and in a frozen soy as well, SMI recommends 1.9 micron scalenohedral PCCs. Scalenohedral PCCs have an open structure that results in high surface area and high oil absorption, which adds structure and thickening to fluids.

The particle size of the scalenohedral PCCs is still fairly small—smaller than most ground calcium carbonates (GCCs) used in foods, which are typically 4 microns or larger, and which yield unacceptable results.

In addition to the normal formulating and taste testing done, rheological studies were included in the frozen dessert study carried out in the SMI Healthcare Laboratory. Dynamic sinusoidal oscillatory testing at -10°C demonstrated that the scalenohedral PCCs increased the storage modulus (G’) of the frozen mixtures, an indication of the building of internal structure. Click here to read more about this ice cream rheology work.



Specialty Minerals Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) Products For Frozen Desserts
The SMI scalenohedral PCC that was most effective in improving the texture of both the ice cream and frozen soy was ViCALity® Extra Light PCC. This product, manufactured in SMI’s plant in Adams, Massachusetts, is USP and FCC certified for calcium carbonate, and also is certified as Kosher. It is a low-lead PCC, with less than 500 ppb (parts per billion) lead. A sister product, CalEssence® 160 PCC, is also manufactured at Adams, with the same certifications, but has less than 125 ppb lead. These low lead levels are important for products that must comply with the lead-level regulations of the State of California in its Proposition 65.

Calopake® Extra Light PCC is an EP and EU E170i compliant product, manufactured in SMI’s plant in Birmingham, U.K. It meets the lead requirements of the U.S. Pharmacopeia, but is not recommended where Proposition 65’s stricter lead limits are of concern.

Also successful in ice cream calcium fortification is the small particle size, solid PCC, ViCALity Albafil®, and its ultra-low-lead equivalent, CalEssence® 70 PCC. These are 0.7 micron in size, and result in nicely smooth frozen dairy and non-dairy treats.

 

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