Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Poultry egg is basic ingredient
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-01
2002-02-19
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Poultry egg is basic ingredient
C426S330100, C426S656000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06348230
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an egg concentrate product and more particularly an egg concentrate product which substantially maintains the functional characteristics of whole eggs, and is convenient to use, and in a number of preferred embodiments has a long shelf life. The present invention also relates to a process of making such an egg product, and also a method of utilizing such an egg concentrate product in making bakery products and/or other food products where eggs are used.
b) Background Art
Fresh eggs are commonly prepared without being combined with any other food product, as in fried eggs, scrambled eggs, etc. Also eggs are commonly used in combination with other food ingredients to make various food products. Among such products are bakery food products, such as cakes, bread, muffins, pancakes, and also in making mayonnaise and other food products.
In general, shell eggs are considered to have quite desirable characteristics which contribute substantially to the quality of products such as cakes, mayonnaise, etc. Thus, cakes which are made “from scratch” are generally considered to be superior in comparison with, for example, cakes which are made from dried egg powder. Thus when dried egg powder is used in making a cake it may be desirable (or as a practical matter necessary) to add a certain amount of fresh egg product to make a desirable end product.
With regard to the use of eggs in bakery products (and also other food products), in addition to the taste and nutritional value provided by the eggs or egg products, eggs also can contribute as a foaming agent, an emulsifier, and a bonding agent (adding cohesiveness to the overall structure). In simpler terms, in acting as a foaming agent, the batter is able to be formed with “bubbles” when the product is subjected to shear by mixing. Then as the mixing continues, the larger bubbles are broken up into smaller bubbles. This increases the volume of the product, often to several times the original volume of the food product.
As an emulsifier, the eggs or egg products, can facilitate the mixing or dispersion of the ingredients. The cohesiveness which the egg product contributes relates its ability to act as a “glue” or bonding agent to maintain the food product as a foam structure. Thus, one of the desirable qualities in many types of cakes is for the cake structure to occupy a greater volume relative to its total weight, this being often referred to the “lightness” of the cake.
However, the use of fresh eggs in making such things as cakes is in some respects inconvenient and/or time consuming. This is particularly true in a high volume commercial operation where, a large quantity of eggs must be used for the batches of food product being produced. Accordingly, there have been various attempts over the last several decades to find ways to make the use of eggs or egg products more cost effective in a commercial operation.
When eggs are to be shipped to a commercial operation, quite commonly the whole egg is removed from the shell at the egg processing location and then shipped in refrigerated containers to be delivered to the user. Or the whole egg can be frozen and shipped to the operation. Thus, there are significant costs not only in the transportation of the egg product, but also the expense of maintaining refrigerating or freezing equipment at the point of use.
A possible alternative to refrigerating or freezing the eggs or egg product is to dehydrate the eggs or egg product to a powdered form so that it would have a longer shelf life. Also, the removal of the water content (thus reducing the weight of the egg product) lowers shipping costs. However, the drying of the fresh eggs results in loss of function, and sometimes in a substantial loss of function. The protein in albumen is a very complex material, and in drying it, it becomes reconfigured. The same is true of the yolk. Also, if the albumen and the yolk are dehydrated together, the two components would normally tend to combine with one another in a manner to result in a substantial loss of function.
For some commercial applications, the fresh whole eggs are treated in a manner to separate the yolk from the albumen. In a typical egg, the egg is made up of 33% “pure” liquid yolk and 67% “pure” liquid albumen. The albumen comprises 12% dry solids and 88% water.
With regard to the yolk, it is difficult to completely separate the yolk from all of the albumen. In a normal commercial operation where the yolk and albumen are separated some of the albumen will remain attached to the outer surface of the yolk, and the “separated” yolk is actually 33 parts “pure yolk” and 7 parts albumen. Thus, in a commercial sense when this separating process takes place, the albumen component is actually about 60% of the total egg mass, while the yolk component is 40% (33 parts yolk and 7 parts albumen). This 40 parts yolk is 43% solids and 57% water.
There are various commercial applications or use of the yolk by itself and also the albumen by itself. One obvious example of this is that the albumen of several eggs is used without the yolk to make an angel food cake. When the albumen is used separately as a food product, it is often dried before shipment. One of the obvious benefits of this is that since the unprocessed albumen is only 12% solid, dehydrating the albumen substantially reduces the shipping weight. (It should be noted, however, even after the albumen is dried there is still a residual water content which is bound more tightly in the albumen powder, and this is about 8% of the total weight of the dried albumen). Thus, when we include this 8% moisture of the 12% dried albumen, we find that in a theoretical sense that albumen is 89% water and 11% solids.
However, albumen powder is quite difficult to recombine with the water to bring it back close to its original form (12% solids and 88% water). In mixing the albumen powder with the water, the albumen powder tends to form into cohesive globules or particles, where the outer layer of the albumen becomes wet and forms a barrier to the dry albumen interior. Thus, these various globules or particles must be physically sheared to break through this outer “shell” and in turn form this globule into smaller particles, with these in turn forming an outer wet layer that has a smaller but yet dry interior. Thus, there is required greater mixing time and also a mixing apparatus which can apply greater shearing action to break up the particles.
Further, quite often the drying of the yolk usually causes a certain loss of “function” and taste. This loss of function can be reduced by using certain improved techniques in the process, but as a practical matter in a commercial environment, this still remains a drawback. This may also be true of dehydrating the albumen to a powdered form but improved processing substantially improves this.
When the egg is still in the shell (i.e. a shell egg) and delivered to the consumer as a shell egg, the egg is usually not pasteurized. However, when the egg is taken out of the shell, certain governmental regulations come into play, and this requires pasteurization. The pasteurization would normally exterminate or at least deactivate the pathogenic micro-organisms, and particularly salmonella. However, there may still be a certain amount of micro-organisms which, though not pathogenic, still have the capability of causing spoilage. Then, even though the whole egg or the yolk and/or albumen are pasteurized, in subsequent handling of the same, such as mixing and/or further processing, in a commercial operation it is often difficult to maintain proper isolation from micro-organisms that subsequently contaminate the egg product.
By way of further background information, the foaming capability of the whole egg and also the albumen separately and the yolk separately is of interest. The albumen, by itself has quite good foaming or whipping capability. However, when a small amount of yolk is added to the albumen (e.g. as little as 1% yolk to 99% albumen), t
Bokkel Derk Te
Campbell James S.
Fisher Clifford C.
Canadian Inovatech, Inc.
Hughes Robert B.
Hughes Law Firm PLLC
Weier Anthony J.
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