Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Inhibiting chemical or physical change of food by contact... – Animal flesh – citrus fruit – bean or cereal seed material
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-13
2001-06-19
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Inhibiting chemical or physical change of food by contact...
Animal flesh, citrus fruit, bean or cereal seed material
C426S032000, C426S055000, C426S056000, C426S059000, C426S092000, C426S574000, C426S641000, C426S652000, C426S656000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06248383
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a meat quality-improving agent comprising an enzymatic hydrolyzate of a protein. More specifically, the present invention relates to a meat quality-improving agent which can be used in meat stored under freezing, ground meat processed foods, fried meat foods, heat- and pressure-sterilized foods, and the like. Further, the present invention relates to a method for improving meat in which the above meat quality-improving agent is used.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, a muscle protein of meat is denatured by heat, thereby usually posing various problems, including dripping, grilling shrinkage, dryness in texture and toughness. Although these changes by heating bring out the inherently good taste of meat and make the meat more palatable on one hand, they on the other hand cause meat processing-related problems, including giving considerably poorer appearance, toughened texture, dry texture by the loss of juiciness, and decreased yield. These problems are more markedly notable in fried foods and pressure- and heat-sterilized foods, which have undergone stringent heating conditions, causing undesirable phenomena, such as yield reduction and breakdown of meat tissues. In addition, in processed foods using ground meat, so called “oil dripping” or “water release” occurs in which an animal fat, i.e., lard, contained in, or added to, raw material meat melts and flows out during heating.
Generally, a majority of the raw materials which can be used in such processed meat foods are frozen meat. When stored under freezing conditions in a long term, the water binding capacity of meat is decreased, so that the above-described problems incurred in meat processing become more markedly notable.
Conventionally, polymerized phosphates or saccharides have been added for improvement of the water binding capacity of frozen meat. However, since such substances must be added in large amounts to obtain sufficient effects, there arise the problems of drastically deteriorated flavor and texture of processed meat foods. Many of the currently generally produced processed meat foods, such as ham and sausages, are widely supplemented with protein materials, such as vegetable proteins, egg proteins, milk proteins and blood proteins, and mucopolysaccharides, such as carrageenan and gelatin, as binders for the purpose of improving bindability, water binding capacity, and yield. These binders, together with polymerized phosphates as curing agents, are added to meat to improve its water binding capacity and increase its yield. However, its texture is such that the meat is plainly chewy, losing the fibrous texture of meat and juiciness (meat texture).
In addition, although thermally coagulating proteins, such as egg albumen powder and soybean protein, and polysaccharides having gelation properties, such as carrageenan and gelatin, have water binding capacity in themselves, when added to the frozen meat of which the water binding capacity is once decreased, the decreased water binding capacity of frozen meat cannot be improved to the pre-freezing level without decreasing its flavor and texture.
Conventionally, as methods of suppressing a decrease in texture of meat which can be used in pressure- and heat-cooked foods, there have been disclosed some methods including a method comprising treating raw material meat with an animal protein, such as gelatin, albumin or casein (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-64567); a method comprising adding a mucopolysaccharide other than animal proteins, such as guar gum, xanthan gum or carrageenan to raw material meat (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-51757); and a method comprising immersing meat in a calcium-containing solution and a polymerized phosphate-containing solution as pretreatments, and then subjecting the treated meat to a heat-and-pressure treatment (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-341160).
Although the method of adding an animal protein is effective in suppressing the amount of dripping formed upon pressure- and heat-sterilization of meat, the method is undesirable because of toughened texture or uniform texture without the texture inherently owned by the meat. Although the method of adding a mucopolysaccharide is effective in tenderizing the meat and suppressing its breakdown, the method gives rise to tacky texture after pressurization and heating. The method of adding a calcium solution or polymerized phosphate has a defect in that the meat gets a flexible, uniform, ham-like texture, thereby losing the texture of inherently owned by the meat, and none of these conventional methods can sufficiently satisfy in the improvements of the texture of meat after pressure- and heat-sterilization.
An object of the present invention is to provide a meat quality-improving agent for improving the water binding capacity of meat, particularly meat of which its water binding capacity is once lowered by storing under freezing and meat to be subjected to pressure- and heat-sterilized treatment, for improving the texture of the meat, and for suppressing meat shrinkage upon grilling of the meat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for improving meat characterized by using the above meat quality-improving agent.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
In sum, the present invention pertains to the following:
[1] a meat quality-improving agent comprising an enzymatic hydrolyzate of a protein;
[2] the meat quality-improving agent according to item [1], which is used for meat stored under freezing, used for meat for pressure- and heat-sterilized foods, or added upon preparation of processed ground meat food;
[3] processed meat food including the meat quality-improving agent according to item [1];
[4] a method for improving meat quality, characterized in that the meat quality-improving agent according to item
[1] is added to meat having a low water binding capacity, frozen meat having a low water binding capacity, or meat of which the water binding capacity is lowered by storage under freezing, to improve its water binding capacity;
[5] a method for improving meat quality, characterized in that the meat quality-improving agent according to item
[1] is added to meat having a low water binding capacity, frozen meat having a low water binding capacity, or meat of which the water binding capacity is lowered by storage under freezing, to suppress meat shrinkage upon grilling;
[6] a method for improving meat quality, characterized in that the meat quality-improving agent according to item
[1] is added to meat for pressure- and heat-sterilized foods to improve texture of meat, or upon preparation of processed ground meat food to improve texture of meat; and
[7] a method for producing processed meet food, characterized in that a seasoning including the meat quality-improving agent according to item [1] is added thereto.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
1. Meat Quality-Improving Agent of the Present Invention
The meat quality-improving agent of the present invention comprises an enzymatic hydrolyzate of a protein.
The raw material protein for the present invention is not particularly subjected to limitation, and examples thereof include egg albumen protein, egg yolk protein, soybean protein, wheat protein, corn protein, rice protein, plasma protein, muscle protein, and milk protein. From the viewpoint of the flavor of hydrolyzates, the egg albumen protein is preferred.
As to the egg albumen, it may take any form without being not particularly subjected to limitation, including fresh egg albumen liquid, frozen egg albumen liquid, and powdered egg albumen, as long as it is separated from an egg. The fresh egg albumen liquid or frozen egg albumen liquid is preferred from the viewpoint of processability.
The enzyme is not particularly subjected to limitation, as long as it is a protease (protein-decomposing enzy
Hagi Takashi
Hatta Hajime
Kobayashi Masato
Morimoto Eriko
Muraki Toshiyuki
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Pratt Helen
Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd.
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