The quality of a shortening depends on its physicochemical characteristics. These include amount of solids, texture and melting behavior, among others. The type of shortening, the processing and storage conditions strongly affect these characteristics. Different strategies can be used to formulate shortenings with low trans fatty acids content while maintaining their physicochemical characteristics. This article describes some of these strategies and aims to provide information about the different variables that need to be controlled to obtain a high quality shortening.