Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Addition of dye or pigment – including optical brightener
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-15
2002-04-30
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Addition of dye or pigment, including optical brightener
C426S540000, C426S587000, C426S590000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06379729
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a water-soluble color-stabilized food containing ascorbic acid or its salt and at least one water-soluble color selected from the group consisting of coal-tar color, anthocyanin color and carthamus yellow, and particularly concerns with said food further containing sorbic acid and/or its salt or a salt of sulfurous acid so that the water-soluble color can be stably retained.
The present invention also relates to a water-soluble color-stabilized food containing ascorbic acid or its salt and at least one water-soluble color selected from the group consisting of coal-tar color, anthocyanin color and carthamus yellow, and particularly concerns with said food further containing sorbic acid and/or its salt and a salt of sulfurous acid so that the water-soluble color can be stably retained.
BACKGROUND ART
Color additives have been widely used for various products such as foods, pharmaceutical compositions, quasi-drugs, cosmetics, livestock feeds and so on. Colors widely used include synthetic colors with assured safety such as coal-tar color; and naturally occurring colors (hereinafter referred to as “natural colors”) such as anthocyanin color, flavonoid color, quinone color, betacyanine color and azaphyllone color.
However, these colors are known to discolor or fade due to photolysis by light irradiation, oxidation, heat or the like. In recent years, there is a tendency to pale the color of a food using a reduced amount of a color for representation of naturalness. As a food color becomes paler, the food discolors or fades more markedly by exposure to light, air oxidation, heat or the like. Therefore, the prevention of color fading is now more important than before.
Various measures have been considered to prevent the discoloration and fading due to colors with poor stability (an effect of preventing the discloration and fading will be hereinafter referred to as “stabilizing effect”). For example, the addition of specific materials has been proposed for stabilization of colors. Typical examples of such materials are synthetic compounds such as dibutylhydroxytoluene (BHT); ascorbic acid/erythorbic acid, and their derivatives; naturally occurring flavonoids such as catechin and chlorogenic acid; sulfurous acid (Adams, J. B., and Ongley, M. H., Campden Food Pres. Res. Assoc., Tech. Bull., p.23 (1972)) and the like.
The use of synthetic compounds, e.g. dibutylhydroxytoluene (BHT), tends to abate with the increase of nature-oriented tendency.
Ascorbic acid/erythorbic acid and their derivatives stabilize only a limited colors such as carotenoid colors. Moreover, when used for other colors, these compounds promote the fading of other colors, far from stabilizing other colors. This problem may arise in foods originally containing ascorbic acid or the like. Recently ascorbic acid or like vitamin C components are profusely incorporated into foods to improve the nutrition level, posing a serious problem of color fading (Comparative Examples 1-3).
Naturally occurring flavonoids such as tea extracts containing catechin, chlorogenic acid contained in coffee or sunflower seeds and caffeic acid derivatives produce a low stabilizing effect, especially a low thermally stabilizing effect.
Sulfurous acid reportedly effectively inhibits the fading of anthocyanin colors (Z Lebensm Unters Forsch (1992) 194,524-526). When used singly, sulfurous acid gives only a low stabilizing effect. When used in a large amount to increase the stabilizing effect, sulfurous acid significantly impairs the flavor of the food and may accelerate the fading of anthocyanin colors in the food (Ditto, FIG. 2).
A salt of sorbic acid is generally used as a preservative and scarcely stabilizes water-soluble colors when used singly. In other words, a salt of sorbic acid is not known as a color stabilizer.
Currently there is a demand for a method of coloring a food with a color so stabilized as to avoid discoloring or fading, especially a demand for means for stably coloring a food with a color without a likelifood of discoloring or fading, when ascorbic acid is originally contained in the food or added in a large amount.
Therefore, it is desired to develop a method of stabilizing a color in a food to effectively prevent the discoloration and fading and to give the color a high resistance to light and heat.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present inventors conducted extensive research to overcome the foregoing problems and found the following. When a food is colored with at least one water-soluble color selected from the group consisting of coal-tar color, anthocyanin color and carthamus yellow, the food is stably colored with said color(s) by incorporating sorbic acid and/or its salt or a salt of sulfurous acid into the food, especially into the food containing ascorbic acid or its salt.
The following was also discovered. When a food is colored with at least one water-soluble color selected from the group consisting of coal-tar color, anthocyanin color and carthamus yellow, a higher stabilizing effect is exhibited and high light and heat resistances not heretofore attained are shown by the water-soluble color when sorbic acid and/or its salt and a salt of sulfurous acid are incorporated into the food, especially into the food containing ascorbic acid or its salt. Based on these novel findings, the present invention was completed.
The foods of the invention contain ascorbic acid or its salt, and are colored with at least one water-soluble color selected from the group consisting of coal-tar color, anthocyanin color and carthamus yellow.
Specific examples of such foods are non-alcoholic drinks such as lactic acid beverages, lactic fermenting beverages, concentrated dairy beverages, fruit juice drinks, non-fruit juice drinks, fruit flesh drinks, functional drinks, clear carbonated drinks, fruit juice-containing carbonated drinks, fruit-colored carbonated drinks and like soft drinks; alcoholic drinks such as wine, wine soda, liqueur and cocktail; ices such as ice cream, popsicle-style ice candies and sherbets; Japanese-style confections such as rice crackers, those seasoned with soy sauce, millet-and-rice cakes, steamed buns and candies; Western-style cakes such as cookies, biscuits, crackers, pies, sponge cakes, Castella, doughnuts, waffles, custard puddings, caramels, candies, chewing gums, jellies, hot cakes and bread; snack foods such as potato chips; dairy products such as fruit yogurt and cheese; soybean processed foods such as bean milk; marmalade, jam, conserves and fruit syrup; pickles; meat-processed products such as hams, sausages, bacons, dry sausages and beef jerkies; fishery products such as fish-hams, fish-sausages, boiled fish paste, tubular rolls of fish paste, light puffy cakes made of ground fish and deep-fried fish; dried fishery products; sea foods such as seasoned sea-urchin eggs, squid guts pickled in salt and dried shellfish; products boiled in sweetened soy sauce, the products being inclusive of seasoned seaweeds, small fish, shellfish, dried cuttlefish, vegetables, edible wild plants, mushrooms and sea tangles; curried foods such as instant curry and retort curry (retort pouch foods); seasonings such as ketchup and mayonnaise; foods for electronic oven and frozen foods.
The foods for use in the present invention include foods containing ascorbic acid or its salt as the component of raw materials for foods and foods with ascorbic acid or its salts incorporated therein to improve the nutritive condition. These foods are found to contain ascorbic acid or its salt when analyzed to determine food components by a method (such as disclosed in “Method of Analyzing Food Additives in Foods”, edited by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Environmental Health Bureau, food chemistry section, issued by Kodansha Co., Ltd., 4th edition, pp. 283-302).
The term “ascorbic acid” used herein refers to ascorbic acid or erythorbic acid. The term “salt of ascorbic acid” is used herein to mean at least one member selected from the group consisting of sodium salt, potassium salt an
Higashimura Yutaka
Kumazawa Yoshiko
Onishi Kuniyoshi
Bhat Nina
San-Ei Gen F.F.I. Inc.
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
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