Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Dormant ferment containing product – or live microorganism...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-13
2003-09-02
Wong, Leslie (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Dormant ferment containing product, or live microorganism...
C426S018000, C426S459000, C426S460000, C426S615000, C426S618000, C426S629000, C426S634000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06613366
ABSTRACT:
2.0 TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates in general to food products one of whose ingredients is edible sprouts, and more particularly to such food products which are prepared with methods to limit bacterial souring thus permitting these food products to be prepared at a temperature low enough to minimize damage to vital nutrients (especially enzymes) without the objectionable sour and bitter taste of background art products prepared without such methods. These methods do not involve either cooking or the use of chemical preservatives both of which are strongly objected to by those who have switched to an all-raw food diet.
This invention also relates to such food products which are prepared using low temperature water activity reduction methods to prevent souring and fungal growth. Being low temperature methods, heat damage to vital nutrients is minimized, and the shelf-stable food products thus produced are rich in health benefits. The methods and associated apparatus for producing these products are suitable for processing those sprouted seeds which require processing to modify their structure in order to make them suitable for human consumption. The types of structure modification contemplated herein include compression or flattening, weakening of the internal structure through prolonged soaking, and fracturing the internal structure through freezing.
3.0 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Ever since the publication of Dr. Edward Howell's book
The Status of Food Enzymes in Digestion and Metabolism
in 1946 (published by the National Enzyme Company, Forsyth, Mo. and republished by Omangod Press, Woodstock Valley, Conn. in 1980 under the title
Food Enzymes for Health and Longevity
), increasing numbers of health-conscious consumers in the organic foods movement have sought to follow an all raw food diet. In this book, Dr. Howell, through numerous references to research reports and studies conducted by himself and many others at hospitals, universities, and laboratories both here and abroad, attempts to prove the following points:
(1) Every living organism is born with a limited store of enzyme energy, and, as this store of enzyme energy is exhausted, various kinds of degenerative diseases begin to overwhelm the organism.
(2) Our digestive system was designed to utilize the enzymes present in raw food to begin the digestion of that food.
(3) When raw food is heated to a temperature in excess of 118° F. (48° C.), the enzymes present in that food begin to be destroyed. On page 72 of his book
Enzyme Nutrition, The Food Enzyme Concept
(Avery Publishing Group Inc., Wayne, N.J., 1985), Dr. Edward Howell writes of his work to determine the temperature at which enzymes are destroyed: “When I was in active medical practice, I developed a special electrothermotherapy immersion apparatus to apply high temperature treatment to specific parts of the body to stimulate local enzyme activity. This activity increases two to three times for every 10° F. increase in local temperature. I modified some of this apparatus to permit experiments to determine the thermal death point of protoplasm (living matter), and found that immersion in water at 118° F. (48° C.) destroyed enzymes in a half-hour. The temperature of 118° F. (48° C.) also blistered the skin, and prevented subsequent germination of seeds when they were immersed for a half-hour.” Subsequent research has shown that the destruction of many enzymes begins at a temperature of about 118° F. (48° C.), albeit at a slow rate. This destruction proceeds at an increasingly rapid rate as the temperature climbs past 118° F. (48° C.). And the longer that the enzymes are exposed to such elevated temperatures, the higher is the percentage of them that are destroyed. For example, the following table shows the activity of crystalline soybean beta-amylase enzyme after holding in a pH 5.5 acetate buffer for 30 minutes at various temperatures, and is fairly typical of the effects of heat on the activity of the enzymes in food. (J. Fukumoto and Y. Tsujisaka,
Kagaku to Kogyo
(Osaka) 28, 282 (1954); 29, 124 (1955).)
Temperature (C.)
Temperature (F.)
% Relative Activity
40°
104°
100
45°
113°
100
50°
122°
91
55°
131°
80
60°
140°
69
65°
149°
48
70°
158°
2
(4) When we eat enzyme deficient food, our bodies are forced to draw upon their own limited store of enzyme energy to begin the digestion of this food thus depleting it and hastening the onset of degenerative diseases.
(5) Raw unsprouted grains, seeds, and nuts contain large amounts of enzyme inhibitors which also deplete the body's limited store of enzyme energy when consumed.
(6) Therefore it is wise to consume as much of our food as possible in the raw form and to avoid consuming grains, seeds, and nuts (unless they have first been sprouted), in order to conserve and, to a small extent, replenish our store of enzyme energy thus postponing the onset of degenerative diseases. (It has been found, however, that the negative effect of the enzyme inhibitors in raw unsprouted seeds is more than overcome by the enzymes in an equal amount of raw sprouted seeds if they are consumed at the same time.)
Similar conclusions have been taught by such prominent health authors and researchers of the past and present as Dr. Max Bircher-Benner, Dr. Max Gerson, Dr. Kristine Nolfi, Dr. Norman W. Walker, Dr. Weston A. Price, Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, Professor Henning Karstrom, John H. Tobe, Linda Clark, Stephen Blauer, Paul and Patricia Bragg, Bob Johnson, T. C. Fry, Humbart Santillo, Viktoras Kulvinskas, Dr. Elton Baker, Leslie Kenton, Dr. Malcolm Carruthers, and Ann Wigmore. Whether or not the points which Dr. Howell seeks to prove are true, many health conscious consumers have been influenced by these teachings and have switched to an all raw or mostly all raw food diet.
Unfortunately, consumers who switch to a raw food diet have difficulty finding substitutes for cooked grain, nut, and seed-based products which are raw, rich in enzymes and vitamins, lacking in enzyme inhibitors, prepared without chemical preservatives, and yet have good taste and a long shelf life.
One of the important dietary staples in the diet of many health conscious consumers is bread and cracker-like products. Hitherto their choices in this category have been very limited:
(1) The commercial semi-raw sprouted grain breads. These breads are customarily prepared without preservatives at temperatures ranging from 130-180° F. (54-82° C.) and, if not frozen, have a shelf life of less than three weeks in the refrigerator. Unfortunately with such a high preparation temperature (necessary to inhibit the bacterial and fungal growths which would result in an unacceptable product), it is doubtful if more than a small fraction of the enzymes retain activity in the final product. As will be demonstrated, both DV, the Percentage Destruction of Viability Due to Heat, and DG, the Percentage Decrease in Growth Potential Due to Heat, of such products exceeds 95%.
Further, since these breads must be kept frozen during and after interstate shipment, they no longer contain appreciable amounts of Vitamin E, this vitamin being largely destroyed at freezing temperature. (
Good Health with Vitamins and Minerals, John Gallagher
, Summit Books, New York, N.Y., 1990, p. 70.)
(2) Homemade raw sprouted grain bread. Many recipes are available to enable the health-conscious consumer to make these breads in his kitchen. The main disadvantages of such homemade raw breads is that they taste somewhat sour and bitter due to the hitherto excessive and unavoidable action of lactic acid bacteria during the preparation process. According to page 52 of the 4th edition of
Food Microbiology
(McGraw Hill Book Company, 1988) which is incorporated by reference, “The most important characteristic of the lactic acid bacteria is their ability to ferment sugars to lactic acid. This may be desirable in making products such as sauerkraut and cheese but undesirable in terms of spoilage of wines. Because they form acid rapidly and commonly in considerable amounts, they usually eliminate
The Harvest Festival Ltd.
Wong Leslie
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