{"id":72337,"date":"2026-06-29T01:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/72337\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T01:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:34:12","slug":"how-scientists-are-working-on-a-way-to-make-britains-favourite-snack-healthier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/72337\/","title":{"rendered":"How scientists are working on a way to make Britain\u2019s favourite snack healthier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IndyEats\"<\/p>\n

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\"IndyEats\"<\/p>\n

The humble sausage toll could be set for a modern makeover.<\/p>\n

Scientists are working on a way to make one of Britain\u2019s favourite snacks healthier without ruining its distinctive flaky pastry.<\/p>\n

An estimated 10-15 million sausage rolls are sold in the UK each week, but a single one can contain more than 60% of an adult\u2019s recommended daily saturated fat intake.<\/p>\n

Now, researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are developing a new way to make their layered pastry, stating this could “significantly” cut the amount of saturated fat.<\/p>\n

If successful, the team has said the process could be applied to a range of popular pastries to make them healthier.<\/p>\n

\"ScientistsScientists are working on a way to make one of Britain\u00b4s favourite snacks healthier (Heriot-Watt University)<\/p>\n

Professor Stephen Euston, from Heriot-Watt\u2019s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, said: \u201cWe want to lower the level of saturated fat while keeping the taste and texture that people love.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focused on sausage rolls, but this also applies to other baked goods that contain laminated pastry such as croissants, Danish pastries and sweet or savoury turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cReducing the saturated fat content of these ubiquitous snacks could have a very positive impact on the nation\u2019s health and waistlines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The puff pastry used in sausage rolls and other baked goods relies on fat for its distinctive flaky texture.<\/p>\n

The team is hoping to find a way to replace the solid fats currently used with healthier liquid oils like sunflower or rapeseed, which are lower in saturated fat.<\/p>\n

This involves using a process called oleogelation to turn them into a \u201csolid-like fat\u201d.<\/p>\n

The team hopes this will mimic the behaviour of traditional fats, and deliver the same flaky texture.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking flaky pastry is surprisingly complicated,\u201d Prof Euston explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fat is not just there for flavour; it plays a crucial structural role in the pastry.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need the fat sitting between the layers of dough so that when the pastry bakes, steam forces those layers apart and gives you that flaky texture people expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply replacing the fat with a healthier oil doesn\u2019t work, because liquid oils lack the structure needed to separate the pastry layers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NowNow researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are developing a new way to make their layered pastry, saying this could ‘significantly’ cut the amount of saturated fat (Heriot-Watt University)<\/p>\n

The team said they are focusing on oils from crops that can be grown in the UK, in order to minimise the impact of the approach on the environment.<\/p>\n

As well as potential health benefits, Professor Euston said the research could benefit bakers as well.<\/p>\n

Traditional laminated pastry often has to be chilled repeatedly during production so that the fat layers do not melt as the dough is folded.<\/p>\n

Prof Euston said: \u201cWe are hoping our oleogels will stay stable at higher temperatures, which means manufacturers may not have to chill the pastry as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are lucky, they might not need to chill it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 10-month project is seeing researchers at Heriot-Watt working with industry collaborators New Food Innovation and AB Mauri.<\/p>\n

The team has been funded by the UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UKRI EPSRC), with the aim of moving their modified pastry from the lab into the kitchen, and putting its taste to the test with real people.<\/p>\n

Dr Andrew Bourne, UKRI ESPRC\u2019s executive director for innovation and partnerships, said: \u201cUKRI EPSRC\u2019s Impact Acceleration Awards use public funding to turn promising research into practical solutions, and this project does exactly that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy taking innovative food science out of the lab into the kitchen and testing it with everyday consumers, it has the potential to make the nation\u2019s favourite snacks healthier and make a genuine difference to our health and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside pastry, the researchers are also exploring whether the same technology could reduce saturated fat in vegan cheese alternatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up to IndyEat’s free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releasesGet our food and drink…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,33018,4008],"class_list":["post-72337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-britain","tag-sausagerolls","tag-science"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116830828303432612","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}