Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient is starch based batter – dough product – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-04
2001-01-09
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient is starch based batter, dough product, etc.
C426S560000, C426S448000, C426S465000, C426S473000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06171631
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to expandable food products prepared from starchy farinaceous compositions that puff upon exposure to microwave radiation. The invention also relates to methods of preparing the expandable products.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Consumers are offered a large number of food products that have been prepared and/or treated in numerous ways for considerations such as convenience, storage, stability, and organoleptic considerations, e.g., taste or feel during mastication, and appearance. Food producers are continuously seeking ways to differentiate their products from others by means of coloring, flavoring, design and/or other characteristics.
It is highly desirable to produce a product that has a 3-dimensional shape to mimic, e.g. the shape of well known images or characters. It is also important, as mentioned above, that the products simultaneously have the requisite aesthetic properties, e.g. taste and mouthfeel. Such products are desirable because they provide excellent product recognition. Various three-dimensional confections and candies are commercially available.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,772 discloses a puffable gellatinized dough pellets which pop upon microwave heating in a consumer microwave oven. The pellets include an outer methylcellulose skin or casing of sufficient tensile strength to allow buildup of internally generated steam pressure upon microwave heating. Upon sufficient buildup of steam pressure, the skin fails suddenly, allowing the pellet to puff explosively thereby simultaneously causing an audible popping sound. The pellets are prepared from starchy compositions such as cooked farinaceous dough or dehulled popcorn.
Molding processes have been used in the plastics industry to produce numerous products of varying size and shape. Such processes have also been used to make biodegradable articles from foodstuffs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,669 to Lim et al. discloses a biodegradable thermoplastic composition made of cereal grain that is treated with an organic solvent to extract lipids that may undergo undesirable reactions during thermal processing of the composition. The cereal grain may further be treated with a cross-linking agent that binds the proteins and/or starches together such that the resultant product has improved water resistance compared to articles made without the cross-linking agent. The thermoplastic composition may then be formed, e.g. by injection molding, into an article of desired shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,658 to Aung discloses a composition said to be suitable for forming shaped articles, e.g. biodegradable packaging material, comprising a mixture of flour, starch, and water. The flour and starch may be obtained from natural sources, e.g. cereal grains. The mixture heated and mixed under a sufficient pressure, temperature and moisture content and for a sufficient period of time that when the pressure is decreased the mixture expands to form a composition which is rigid when cooled and stable over a predetermined temperature. A shaped article, e.g. a may be formed from the composition by injecting the composition into a molding press and forming the composition into a shaped article.
Additional puffable food products and processes for preparing the food products are desirable. The present invention is directed to such products and processes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to expandable (“puffable”) food products prepared from starchy farinaceous compositions, e.g. farinaceous grains or grain products. The food products are preferably half-products, such as a cereal, snack or convenience food, that can be further processed by the consumer to their puffed form, e.g. by exposure to microwave radiation in a conventional microwave oven. Alternatively, the half-product may be heated in a conventional oven, e.g. 450° F. for about 20 minutes, to expand the half-product.
More particularly, the invention relates in part to expandable half-products comprising a starchy farinaceous composition having unidirectionally aligned starch molecules that are capable of forming a matrix of randomly aligned starch molecules upon exposure to microwave radiation. Preferably, the microwaved product expands to about twice the size of the unmicrowaved half-product, e.g. from about 2 to about 10 times the size of the unmicrowaved half-product.
The expandable half-products of the present invention can be prepared from a variety of starchy farinaceous compositions including natural or preprocessed farinaceous grain or any portion thereof, e.g. the grit, that contains starch. Certain farinaceous grain have been found to have the requisite degree of plasticity or become sufficiently thermoplastic during processing such that they can be molded into desired shapes, e.g. via injection molding.
In preferred embodiments, the farinaceous composition is a flour. In other preferred embodiments, the starchy farinaceous material is a whole grain, preferably a preprocessed whole grain. In yet other preferred embodiments, the starchy farinaceous material is prepared from a either the whole grain or a particulate portion of the grain, e.g. the grit, and has a particle size of from about 1 mm to about 3 mm. By comparison, flours generally have particle size ranges of about 50 to 80 microns.
The invention also relates to the expanded (“puffed”) food product prepared from the expandable half-product upon exposure of the half-product to microwave radiation.
Another aspect of the present invention is directed to processes for manufacturing the expandable food products, e.g half products. In a preferred embodiment, the process includes the steps of extruding a starchy farinaceous composition under sufficient temperature and pressure such that the starch molecules align in a unidirectional manner to form the expandable half-product. The extruder used can be any known in the art, e.g., a twin screw or single screw extruder, provided appropriate pressures can be achieved to produce the unidirectional alignment of the starch molecules.
A preferred process for preparing the expandable food products of the present invention utilizes an injection molding apparatus. When an injection molder is used, the process preferably includes the steps of extruding a starchy farinaceous material through a nozzle at a sufficient temperature and pressure such that the starch molecules in the starchy farinaceous achieve the unidirectional alignment. The starchy farinaceous material then passes through a runner portion of the mold into gates that lead to the shaped portion of the mold. The filled molds are preferably cooled, as the cooling step assists in maintaining the unidirectional alignment of the starch molecules when the expandable half product is removed from the mold.
The half-products, whether prepared by extrusion or injection molding, are then ready for consumer use, e.g. the consumer can expand the half-products by microwaving in a conventional microwave oven. Preferably, the expanded half-product is at least about twice the dimensions of the unmicrowaved half-product, e.g from about 2 to about 10 times the size of the unmicrowaved half-product.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The expandable half-products and the puffed products according to the present invention can be prepared in a variety of shapes with greater detail than prior art products. The expandable half-product can be further processed by the consumer into the final product, e.g. by exposing the product to microwave radiation in a conventional microwave oven.
The expandable half-products of the invention include a starchy farinaceous composition. A non-limiting list of suitable for inclusion in the ingredients starchy farinaceous composition include grains or products prepared from these farinaceous grains or deposited from rice, wheat, corn, oat, barley, and combinations thereof. Rice exhibits plastic-like qualities, presumably due to its high starch content, and is a preferred grain for use with the present invention.
The starchy farinaceous material can be a whol
Engle Terry L.
Willoughby Chris L.
Bhat Nina
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
Kellogg Company
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