How to Develop and Scale Mayonnaise and Salad Dressing Products for Commercial Production in Lebanon
By Anthony Abi Nader, Food Technology Consultant at Umami Plus. Anthony has developed and scaled condiments and dressings, including low-oil mayonnaise, and has taken food products from formulation through pilot scale-up, factory commissioning, and HACCP and quality systems. Last updated: October 2026.
The short answer
To develop and scale mayonnaise production in Lebanon, including salad dressings, you need to control five things together: a stable oil-in-water emulsion (correct oil, yolk and aqueous-phase balance), a texture target that survives pumping and filling, ingredient choices that hold up to Lebanese supply and cost conditions, a process that reproduces your lab droplet size at plant scale, and a pH, preservation and packaging system that delivers the shelf life you claim. Most failures at scale come from copying a bench recipe into a larger mixer without redesigning the process. The safest route is to formulate with the production equipment in mind, run pilot batches, and complete shelf-life and stability testing before the first commercial order.
Why mayonnaise and dressings are harder to scale than they look
A mayonnaise is an oil-in-water emulsion in which tiny oil droplets are suspended in a water-based phase and held apart by emulsifiers, mostly the lecithin and proteins in egg yolk. A typical commercial mayonnaise contains roughly 65-80% oil, which means the droplets are packed so tightly that the product's thickness comes largely from droplet crowding. Pourable dressings contain less oil and rely more on starches and gums. Both are thermodynamically unstable: they want to separate. Your job is to make that separation slow enough to outlast the shelf life.
Small changes in droplet size, pH, salt level or shear can move a product from smooth and glossy to thin, grainy or oily. That is why a recipe that works in a kitchen mixer often fails in a 500-litre vessel.
1. Emulsion stability
What controls it
Droplet size. Smaller, more uniform droplets (commonly in the low single-digit micron range) give a thicker, more stable product. Large or uneven droplets cream, coalesce and release oil.
Emulsifier level and quality. Egg yolk is the classic emulsifier. Typical use is in the range of 4-8% yolk in full-oil mayonnaise, but this depends on oil level and process. Salted, pasteurized or enzyme-modified yolk behaves differently, so test each grade you plan to buy.
Aqueous-phase composition. Vinegar, salt, sugar and mustard all affect protein behaviour and viscosity. Mustard also contributes emulsifying components.
Order and rate of oil addition. Oil must be dispersed gradually into a pre-emulsion of yolk and aqueous phase. Adding it too fast is the single most common cause of a batch that "breaks."
Common failure points
Breaking or oiling off: oil added too fast, too little emulsifier, or over-shearing a high-oil product.
Creaming or thinning over time: droplets too large, or insufficient stabilizer in lower-oil dressings.
Freeze or temperature damage: emulsions can break after freezing or after repeated hot-cold cycling in trucks, warehouses or shop shelves. Lebanese summer distribution makes this a real risk and should be part of your test plan.
2. Texture
Texture is both a consumer expectation and a process constraint. Consumers judge mayonnaise by spoonability, gloss and mouthfeel; your plant judges it by whether it can be pumped, deposited and filled consistently.
For full-fat mayonnaise, viscosity is driven mainly by oil content and droplet size. Increase shear energy and you typically increase viscosity until you pass an optimum.
For reduced-oil mayonnaise and dressings, you replace oil with water thickened by modified starch, xanthan, or other hydrocolloids. Typical starch levels run a few percent and xanthan usually well below 1%, but the right combination depends on pH, salt and heat treatment. Starch pastes must be cooked and cooled correctly or the texture will be stringy, gluey or watery.
For pourable dressings, target a viscosity that holds herbs and spices in suspension without making the bottle hard to pour.
Measure it. Use a viscometer or rheometer under a fixed protocol (same temperature, spindle and rest time), plus a simple line test such as a Bostwick consistometer reading. Without numbers you cannot scale.
3. Ingredient selection for the Lebanese market
Oil. Sunflower, soybean and corn oil are the common choices. Choose oils with low oxidation at purchase (check peroxide value and free fatty acids on every lot) and consistent supply. Oil is usually the largest cost item, so price volatility and import timing directly shape your margin.
Egg yolk. Use pasteurized liquid or frozen yolk from a qualified supplier, or a spray-dried alternative if cold-chain reliability is a concern. Avoid raw shell eggs for commercial production because of Salmonella risk and batch variation.
Acids. White spirit vinegar, citric acid or lemon juice concentrate. Each changes flavour, pH and preservative effectiveness.
Stabilizers. Modified starch, xanthan, guar and similar gums for lighter products. Verify that each is permitted for the product category and labelled correctly under Lebanese requirements.
Preservatives and antioxidants. Potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate and calcium disodium EDTA are widely used in dressings in other markets. Confirm what is permitted and at what limits in Lebanon and in any export market, using LIBNOR standards and Ministry of Economy and Trade or Ministry of Industry guidance, before you finalize the formula.
Local flavour opportunities. Garlic sauces (toum-style), tahini-based dressings, sumac-lemon, za'atar and pomegranate molasses dressings give local differentiation, but each adds its own stability challenge. Garlic and tahini introduce additional proteins, fibres and microbial considerations; tahini can also shift the emulsion's behaviour and flavour stability.
Supplier risk. Many specialty ingredients are imported. Qualify at least two suppliers for critical items and test each alternative in the formula before you need it.
4. Cost optimization without breaking the product
Cost cutting is where many Lebanese producers lose their product quality. Do it in a structured way:
Map your cost structure. Oil, packaging and yolk typically dominate. Know the cost per kilogram of finished product, including yield loss and rework.
Reduce oil gradually, not abruptly. Replace oil with a cooked starch-gum water phase in steps (for example, in 5-point decrements), re-testing viscosity, mouthfeel, and stability at each step.
Optimize emulsifier dosage. Overdosing yolk is a hidden cost. Run a dose-response trial to find the lowest level that still passes stability tests.
Standardize on fewer, better-qualified ingredients. Switching suppliers frequently creates batch variability that costs more than the savings.
Cut waste. Minimize air incorporation (rework and off-spec losses), reduce changeover losses, and size packaging to demand.
Plan for currency and import exposure. Where ingredients are priced in USD, build a formula alternative you have already validated so you can switch if prices move.
Always cost the reformulated product against its shelf life and complaint rate. A cheaper recipe that gets returned is not cheaper.
5. Mayonnaise production in Lebanon: processing and scale-up
A typical commercial process for mayonnaise production in Lebanon
Hydrate stabilizers and cook or disperse starch where needed.
Blend yolk, vinegar, salt, sugar and mustard to form the aqueous pre-mix.
Add oil gradually under high shear (rotor-stator mixer, colloid mill or inline homogenizer).
Final refinement to target droplet size.
Deaerate, using vacuum where available, to remove trapped air that causes oxidation, volume variation and poor appearance.
Filling, preferably with minimal headspace oxygen, followed by capping and coding.
Scale-up pitfalls
Shear does not scale linearly. A bench mixer's energy per kilogram is not the same as a plant mixer's. Scale on energy input and tip speed or mill gap, not just batch size.
Temperature rise. High shear heats the product. Heat can thin the emulsion or damage egg protein. Control oil and batch temperature.
Air. Aeration reduces density, lightens colour and speeds rancidity.
Batch-to-batch repeatability. Document every parameter (addition rate, mixing time, speed, temperature, hold times) in a batch record so you can reproduce the result.
Cleaning and cross-contamination. Allergens (egg, mustard, sesame in tahini-based products, nuts) require validated cleaning and clear labelling.
Pilot first. Run at least three consecutive pilot batches on production-like equipment before committing to large runs. Compare viscosity, pH, droplet size, colour and sensory scores against your lab target. For the full path from idea to launch, see our guide on how to scale food production from concept to market in Lebanon.
6. Shelf life, safety and packaging
Safety first. Mayonnaise and acidified dressings are safe largely because of low pH combined with acid in the aqueous phase, not because of preservatives alone. As a general design target, finished products are usually formulated at a pH below about 4.1, but the exact target, acid type and acid concentration in the water phase should be validated for your formula, especially if you use garlic, herbs, vegetables or tahini, which can raise pH and add microbial load. Validate with challenge testing where possible. Follow HACCP and ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000 principles, and confirm requirements with your certification body and the relevant Lebanese authority.
Typical spoilage modes
Oxidative rancidity from oxygen in the headspace, light, metal ions and old oil.
Yeast and mould spoilage, which can cause gas, swelling and off-odours, particularly in lighter, higher-pH or garlic-containing products.
Physical separation from poor emulsion design or thermal abuse.
Colour and flavour drift, especially in herb and spice dressings.
How to set a shelf life you can defend
Run real-time storage at the temperatures your product will actually meet, plus an elevated-temperature test for early warning. Include a hot-climate scenario that reflects Lebanese summer warehousing and retail.
Test at set intervals for pH, viscosity, peroxide value, microbiology (yeast and mould, total count), sensory and visible separation.
Choose packaging for oxygen and light barrier (PET with oxygen barrier, glass, or laminated sachets) and set headspace and closure specifications.
Apply a safety margin: the labelled shelf life should be shorter than the longest tested stable period.
When to bring in external R&D or technical consulting
Many manufacturers can handle routine reformulation in house. You should consider external R&D or technical support when:
Batches break or vary and you cannot find the cause.
You are moving from kitchen or small-batch production to an industrial line and need to redesign the process, not just enlarge it.
You are launching a new category (reduced-oil, vegan egg-free, garlic or tahini-based, or export-oriented products).
Costs are rising and you need to cut oil or egg without losing stability or consumer acceptance.
Shelf-life claims are not backed by data or customers and retailers are asking for documentation.
You are preparing for certification, retailer audits or export and need specifications, HACCP plans and test records.
You lack pilot equipment or lab capability for droplet size, rheology or challenge testing.
External support is usually cheapest before you buy equipment and packaging, because most expensive mistakes are locked in at that point. Umami Plus offers food formulation, product R&D and technical consulting services for Lebanese manufacturers, from the first prototype to pilot scale-up.
Project experience
Low-oil mayonnaise: from lab formula to stable commercial product (food manufacturer, anonymized)
Challenge: The manufacturer wanted a mayonnaise with much less oil than its standard product, to lower cost per kilogram and offer a lighter option, without losing the creamy texture, glossy appearance or shelf life. The target was to reduce oil content from approximately 70% to 40%, for a retail product positioned as a lighter alternative to conventional full-oil mayonnaise.
What we found: Removing oil raised the water phase, which thinned the product and increased the risk of separation and syneresis. Initial trials showed a substantial reduction in apparent viscosity, from approximately 25,000–35,000 mPa·s to 8,000–12,000 mPa·s, alongside increased susceptibility to serum separation. Texture and stability could no longer rely on oil droplet crowding and had to be rebuilt through the formulation and the process.
What we changed: We rebuilt the structure with a cooked starch and gum water phase, re-tuned the egg yolk level and the acid and salt balance, and adjusted the order of addition and shear so droplets stayed small and uniform at pilot scale. We then established a target pH of approximately 3.6–4.0 and a suitable preservation strategy, subject to the formulation and applicable requirements, and assessed stability through shelf-life testing.
Result: The revised formulation achieved approximately 40% oil content, with an apparent viscosity target of 20,000–30,000 mPa·s under a consistent measurement protocol. The development target was six months of shelf life, subject to validation under defined storage conditions. Reducing oil from 70% to 40% represented a potential reduction in ingredient cost per kilogram of approximately 10–20%, depending on the actual ingredient prices and the cost of added stabilizers. The formulation was developed for pilot-scale evaluation, with commercial production status to be confirmed.
See more of our work on the Umami Plus projects page.
Frequently asked questions
How do you stop mayonnaise from separating in commercial production?
Control the order and rate of oil addition, use enough qualified emulsifier, keep droplet size small and uniform with proper high-shear equipment, manage batch temperature, and validate the product against temperature abuse. Most separation problems come from process, not only from the recipe.
What pH should mayonnaise have for safety and shelf life?
Commercial mayonnaise and acidified dressings are generally designed to sit at a pH below roughly 4.1, with sufficient acid in the water phase. The exact target must be validated for your formula and checked against applicable Lebanese and export-market requirements.
How can I reduce the cost of mayonnaise without losing quality?
Reduce oil in small steps while replacing it with a cooked starch and gum system, optimize yolk dose, standardize suppliers, minimize rework, and re-test stability and shelf life at every change.
How long does mayonnaise or salad dressing last?
It depends on formula, pH, preservation system, packaging and storage temperature. Many commercial products are labelled for several months to a year, but your shelf life should come from your own real-time and accelerated stability data, not from a generic figure.
Can a small Lebanese food factory produce mayonnaise or dressings at scale?
Yes, if it has suitable high-shear and filling equipment, a validated process and a HACCP-based quality system. Pilot trials and documented specifications reduce the risk of costly failures.
When should I hire a food R&D consultant for a sauce or dressing project?
Hire one when batches vary or break, when you are scaling beyond small production, when entering a new product category or export market, when you need cost reduction without quality loss, or when you need documented shelf-life data and technical files.
Talk to us about your project
If you are developing, reformulating or scaling a mayonnaise, garlic sauce or salad dressing in Lebanon and are facing stability, texture, cost or shelf-life challenges, Umami Plus provides food product R&D, formulation and technical consulting to manufacturers in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and across Lebanon.
Start a project with Umami Plus: tell us about your mayonnaise or dressing challenge.
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