Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Surface coated – fluid encapsulated – laminated solid...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-20
2002-12-31
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Surface coated, fluid encapsulated, laminated solid...
C426S540000, C426S577000, C536S002000, C514S054000, C514S057000, C514S777000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06500473
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates in its broadest aspect to the field of manufacturing food products and pharmaceutical products and specifically there is provided a novel colouring substance composition, which is useful for colouring such products.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART
Colouring agents containing natural or synthetic colouring substances are commonly used as additives in the manufacturing of food products and pharmaceutical products. A wide range of such colouring agents are commercially available making it possible for the manufacturer, where a particular colour tone is desired, to select a single colouring agent having the desired colour or a mixture of colouring agents, which in an appropriate combination impart the desired colour to the product. Or alternatively, the manufacturer may with to use an agent which, in addition to its colouring effect, has a health improving effect and hence select such a single health improving agent or a mixture of such agents.
The commercially available colouring agents can contain synthetic substances including substances that are also normally referred to as dyes or azodyes, or such agents can contain pigments or other colouring substances of natural origin, e.g. in the form of plant material containing a colouring substance, or as more or less purified colouring substances separated from plant, animal or microbial materials naturally containing such substances.
Occasionally, food grade or pharmaceutically acceptable colouring agents are provided that contain colouring substances in the form of synthetic or artificial compounds having substantially the same chemical composition as natural occurring colouring substances. This type of colouring agents are also referred to in the art as “natural identical” colours. However, in the present context, the expression “naturally occurring colouring agents” is used to designate pigments or other colouring substances which are derived from a natural source.
Any of the above types of available colouring agents including agents comprising food grade or pharmaceutically acceptable natural colouring substances can be hydrophilic or hydrophobic and thus, water soluble, sparingly soluble in water and aqueous media or essentially water-insoluble. A hydrophilic, water soluble colouring material as such can therefore only be used for colouring a product having an aqueous phase during and/or after manufacturing. Similarly, the use of a hydrophobic and/or water insoluble colouring material or substance as such requires that the product to be coloured has a hydrophobic or lipid phase in which the colouring substance is soluble. Certain colouring substances such as curcumin are substantially insoluble in water at neutral pH or below, but are soluble in alkaline aqueous media.
However, it may be desirable to obtain the colour tone of a particular colouring substance that is insoluble or sparingly soluble in an aqueous phase or a mixture of such substances in a food product or a pharmaceutical product that does not comprise a phase in which the colouring substance is sufficiently soluble to provide the desired colouring. There is therefore a continuous industrial need for colouring agents containing colouring substances that are water insoluble or sparingly insoluble in water, which are in the form of water-miscible or water dispersible compositions having a high colouring efficiency.
WO 91/06292 discloses a process of preparing a water dispersible composition comprising a hydrophobic/aerophilic solid pigment that is prepared by milling the pigment in an aqueous medium in the presence of a hydrocolloid, in particular gelatine, gum arabic, soybean protein and/or modified starch. Similar methods are disclosed in WO 97/26802 and WO 97/26803 where gelatine is used as the hydrocolloid. However, none of these disclosures refer to the use of beet pectin or other pectins of a similar type such as chicory pectin or Jerusalem artichoke pectin as a wetting agent and/or suspending agent in the manufacturing of compositions of water-insoluble or sparingly soluble colouring substances, including such compositions that are water dispersible.
It has now been found that compositions of colouring substances that are hydrophobic, water-insoluble and/or sparingly insoluble in water and which have a high colouring efficiency or other desired properties in food products and pharmaceutical products can be provided by using beet pectin, chicory pectin and/or Jerusalem artichoke pectin as a wetting and/or dispersing agent. It was surprisingly found that compositions comprising such pectins have a significantly superior colouring effect when comparing with other hydrocolloids or other pectin types such as the commonly used citrus pectin types.
A conventionally preferred hydrocolloid in the manufacturing of water dispersible compositions of hydrophobic solids is gelatine. However, being of animal origin with the associated risk that it may carry pathogenic or toxic substances and the fact that most gelatine types are not “kosher” grade implies that the incorporation of gelatine into food products, at least for some consumers, may be objectionable. It is therefore one significant objective of the present invention to provide the means for manufacturing coloured or pigmented food products and pharmaceutical products that do not imply that any such objections can be raised and at the same time provide water-dispersible colouring substance compositions having a high colouring efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention provides in a first aspect a composition comprising bodies of a colouring substance that are at least partially coated with a pectin selected from beet pectin, chicory pectin and Jerusalem artichoke pectin. In useful embodiments, the colouring substance is a solid pigment that, at least under certain conditions, is insoluble or sparingly soluble in water.
In a further aspect the invention pertains to a method of producing a colouring substance composition as defined above, said method comprising preparing a dispersion of the colouring substance by comminuting said pigment in an aqueous phase comprising beet pectin, chicory pectin and/or Jerusalem artichoke pectin in an amount of at least 1% of the colouring substance to obtain a dispersion containing the colouring substance in the form of bodies of the colouring substance that are at least partially coated with the pectins. In accordance with the invention it may be preferred that the colouring substance bodies obtained have an average largest dimension of at the most 10 &mgr;m such as the most 5 &mgr;m including an average largest dimension of at the most 1 &mgr;m.
In still further aspects, the invention relates to the use of the composition of the invention in the manufacturing of an edible product, the use of the composition in the manufacturing of a pharmaceutical or nutriceutical product, a pharmaceutical or nutraceutical product comprising the composition according to the invention and edible products comprising such composition.
In yet other aspects of the present invention colouring compositions are provided which comprise chlorophylin (30 ppm), turmeric (30 ppm) or bixin (20 ppm) which compositions, when tested in a soft drink system containing sucrose, 430.0 g; Na-benzoate, 0.7 g; K-sorbate, 0.9 g; Ascorbic acid, 0.1 g; Citric acid mono-hydrate, 8.6 g and demineralised water to 5 liter, results in a chroma value of at least 33, 30 and 25, respectively when measured with a Minolta Tristimulus CT 310 apparatus.
DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The colouring substance composition according to the invention comprises colouring substance bodies that are at least partially coated or encapsulated with beet pectin, chicory pectin and/or Jerusalem artichoke pectin. In preferred embodiments the colouring substance is water-insoluble or sparingly insoluble in water and aqueous media. Several of such substances are hydrophobic and/or aerophilic, implying that they are not readily wetted when contacted with an aqueous med
Jacobsen Soeren Jan
Kensoe Martin
Koehler Klaus
Soendergaard Claus
Bhat Nina
Chr. Hansen A/S
Foley & Lardner
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