Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Surface coated – fluid encapsulated – laminated solid... – Isolated whole seed – bean or nut – or material derived therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-01
2004-04-20
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Surface coated, fluid encapsulated, laminated solid...
Isolated whole seed, bean or nut, or material derived therefrom
C426S061000, C426S089000, C426S549000, C424S439000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06723358
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to compositions, the use and the manufacturing of edible products, that contain encapsulated or embedded components, such as nutraceutical components, pharmaceuticals, biologically active components, and/or live microorganisms. The products according to this invention are intended to be consumed either directly as a food or they may be used as additions to food, such as topical applications or in beverages. They are not intended to undergo additional severe processing that might thermally or mechanically destroy the encapsulant. The products made according to this invention exhibit eating qualities, such as a chewable texture, as it occurs in for example streusel or chewable vitamin pills, and a cookie-like taste.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Encapsulation of food components is described in
Encapsulation and Controlled Release of Food Ingredients
, edited by S. J. Risch and G. A. Reineccius, ACS Symposium Series 590 (1995). U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,690 to Carr, et. al. describes a continuous extrusion process using starch-based material to encapsulate components. The resulting products are in the form of particulates, which have gelatinized starch as a continuous domain, in which discontinuous domains of biologically active core material is entrapped.
Encapsulation of heat sensitive components, for example nutraceutical components, such as for example microorganisms, into matrixes that are edible, is generally difficult for a number of reasons. First, conventional encapsulation processes which expose matrix material and encapsulants to high temperatures, causes thermal destruction or loss of encapsulant. Thus, either large overdoses of encapsulant, which would be very expensive, would be required, or the encapsulant would not sustain the encapsulation process at all. Second, if the encapsulant can be encapsulated into a matrix under sufficiently low temperatures, the resulting product is a solid, that is characterized as substantially hard and glass-like. The hardness and glassiness is caused by cooking a starch-based material with a sufficient amount of water to gelatinize the starch and subsequently separating the starch-based materials into discrete particles and drying them so that the water content of the starchy mass is sufficiently low. However, the temperature at which the particles are consumed, or the eating temperature, is generally lower than 50° C., which is far below the glass transition temperature, T
g
, of the cooked, dried starch. Therefore, products of this kind exhibit a dense and glassy, very hard texture, that may be very suitable to encapsulate components. However, when chewed they cause severe problems, because they are not chewable and exhibit a texture similar to that of uncooked rice or pasta. They can therefore be only swallowed as microtablets without chewing. They could also be used as dense pellets for a variety of processing applications, where a controlled release of the heat sensitive encapsulant is desired. The physical hardness of the products and their mechanical stability are advantageous for many processing applications. However, chewing or masticating of these products would be very unpleasant and their incorporation into other food products is not practical.
The present invention provides an edible product, that is chewable, has a pleasant taste and texture and contains encapsulated components, particularly nutraceutical, pharmaceutical or biologically active components. The chewable product can be used either as a food product itself, or as part of a food product, i.e. as an ingredient or as a topping, that may be applied to surfaces of food. A main physical characteristic of the product made according to the present invention is that the product is substantially less hard than foods products such as uncooked rice and raw pasta. The chewable, flavorful product can be eaten either alone as a food itself, or for example as medical food, as food having a pharmaceutical effect, as a dietary supplement, or in combination with other foods, such as a topping or in pasty foods or beverages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a product that contains an encapsulated nutraceutical component, pharmaceutical component, biologically active component, or live microorganisms, or a combination thereof. In preferred embodiments, the product contains an encapsulated microorganism. The products of the present invention contain the one or more encapsulants in a pleasantly tasting and chewable surrounding matrix.
The matrix composition of the present invention comprises a plasticizer, such as oil and/or water, and a substantial amount of a free flowing mixture of at least one fat, one starch and one sugar, that are preprocessed, i.e. mixed and heat treated so as to substantially prevent gelatinization of starch and to provide a pleasantly tasting product. An example of the free flowing mixture is fine ground-up cookies having a particle size of 100% smaller than about 1 mm.
The mixture may contain additional components to enhance preprocessing or to improve sensory attributes, such as flavor, sodium chloride, nonfat dry milk, whey protein, high fructose corn syrup, dextrins, and leavening agents, as well as other components known to those skilled in the art of producing pleasantly tasting cookie type products.
The matrix may further comprise components that either facilitate processing, or mask the unpleasant taste of the encapsulants, or prevent exposure to oxygen or air, or which enhance the sensory attributes of the final product. These components include, for example, lipids, such as oils or fats, chocolate liquor, chocolate, cocoa powder, compound coatings, flavors, concentrated fruit juice, or particulates, such, as for example ground nuts or almonds. The water may be pH adjusted to obtain a good tasting product.
A chewable texture is obtained rather than a hard, glassy matrix because the starch is substantially ungelatinized. However, a flavorful product is obtained without destroying a heat sensitive encapsulant because the starch is admixed with ingredients comprising fat or oil and sugar and the mixture is heated to develop flavor at high temperatures prior to admixing with the heat sensitive encapsulant.
In accordance with the method of the present invention, a product containing a substantial amount of a free-flowing material in which the starch component is substantially ungelatinized may be obtained by grinding a baked product, such as cookies or cookie-type products, to obtain a free-flowing particulate mixture or flour. The reduced particle size facilitates the formation of a dough or crumbly mass upon mixing of the free-flowing mixture with a plasticizer such as water and/or oil. In embodiments of the invention, the particle size of a cookie-type product or cookies may be reduced to obtain a dry, free-flowing particulate mixture having a particle size of about 100% smaller that 1 mm.
Admixing of the free-flowing mixture, such as ground-up cookie flour, with at least one plasticizer such as water and/or oil and the encapsulant with the other components to obtain a dough or crumbly mass may be performed continuously using an extruder or continuous mixer. The dough or crumbly mass may be formed or pressed into discrete particles. Moisture may be removed from the particles to an amount sufficiently low so as to obtain a sufficient shelf life. The products made according to the invention exhibit a granular, crumbly structure having a pleasant taste and are chewable.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An edible, starch-based matrix composition that contains at least one encapsulated component and that is chewable, rather than hard and glassy is obtained from a ground pre-processed, free-flowing particulate mixture and at least one plasticizer without substantially gelatinizing the starch. The free-flowing mixture may be obtained by admixing and heating at least one fat, at least one starch, and at least one sugar without substantially gelatinizing the starch. The encapsulate
General Mills Inc.
Hollander Barry I.
O'Toole John A.
Taylor Douglas J.
Tran Lien
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