Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Reaction flavor per se – or containing reaction flavor...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-13
2001-11-13
Wong, Leslie (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Reaction flavor per se, or containing reaction flavor...
C426S314000, C426S330600, C426S417000, C426S650000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06316040
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a novel process for preparing a novel flavouring composition which is either utilized by itself or is blended with other flavouring compositions to be used to provide a charcoal or grilled flavour to foodstuffs, e.g. beef, fish, poultry, pork, etc.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Food flavourings are used in the food industry in a variety of ways. One general type of food flavouring is that which adds grilled or barbeque flavour to foods. Typical grilled flavours include those for the preparation of products wherein the content of meat is reduced or non-existent, for example in sauces, snack foods, meat substitutes, pet foods and the like. Such food flavourings can be sprayed onto the food stuffs, the food can be dipped in a solution of the flavouring, or applied in a variety of different manners. One such composition that provides an aspect of a grill flavour is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,342 (DiCicca, 1986). This patent describes a flavouring composition with charred flavour notes which is prepared by subjecting a film of fat or oil to temperatures in the range of 150° C. to 475° C. in the presence of oxygen for an effective period of time followed by collecting the fat or oil. The method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,342 involves a continuous flow, thin film apparatus where fat or vegetable oil flows down a tube where a thin film of the fat or vegetable oil is formed around the inside circumference of the tube with a constant flow of air through the centre of the tube. Furthermore, the process is oxidative since heating of the vegetable oil is done in the presence of a substantial amount of oxygen.
A development on the flavouring composition described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,342 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,538 (Schulman, 1989). It is disclosed that when one scales up the DiCicca process, there is an ineffective use of equipment and the reaction is inconsistent. As such, U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,538 teaches use of a rototherm to carry out the reaction in the presence of between 1-1½ parts of oxygen to 1 part fat or oil. Due to the presence of an equimolar ratio or more of oxygen, this reaction is an oxidative reaction carried out in a thin film heat exchanger. The period of time that the thin film remains in the heat exchanger is for a period of not exceeding 2 minutes and normally in the neighbourhood of 90 seconds. Upon exiting the heat exchanger the combustion products are quenched in less than 20 seconds and commonly in about 10 seconds.
This type of charcoal broil flavouring has achieved some commercial success. However, the product that is obtained utilizing this process has a limited flavour profile and level of flavour concentration. In addition, it is always desirable to have available new and different flavour notes that can be used either directly or in a blended form as a grilled food flavouring.
It has been known that some food flavourings can be made utilizing a fast pyrolysis reactor of the types disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,876,108 and 4,994,297 (Underwood, 1989 and 1991, respectively). The food flavouring disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,297 comprises liquid smoke, obtained from the pyrolysis of wood or cellulose feed stocks, using the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,108, to produce a flavouring that is related, but quite distinct from the grilled flavourings described herein. The Underwood composition is made utilizing short residence times and is carried out in an oxygen starved atmosphere. Due to the lack of oxygen, the resulting reactions are reductive, not oxidative. For practical reasons, one never achieves a total absence of oxygen in such a process due to the partial difficulties of voiding all oxygen from a reactor system and therefore it would be understood that an oxygen starved atmosphere would have a limited amount of oxygen, i.e. less than 4% molar ratio of oxygen to feed stock.
The product made in accordance with the disclosure of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,876,108 and 4,994,297 has also achieved a fair amount of commercial success primarily as a meat flavouring composition having considerable browning characteristics, but does not provide flavour notes that extend beyond those associated with smoked flavours. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,541 there is disclosed the production of a food browning material prepared from the pyrolysis of a sugar or starch feed stock. This product, while useful as a browning agent, lacks any appreciable flavouring ability and it is therefore quite distinct from the food flavouring as disclosed herein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed to the production of unique flavouring compositions. More specifically, this invention is related to the production of flavouring compositions with unique flavour notes using fast pyrolysis reactors and high stability vegetable oils or fats as feed stock.
It has unexpectedly been observed that use of apparatus of the type described in the Underwood patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,297, which is incorporated by reference), but utilizing as feed stock high stability vegetable oils or fats, instead of wood, results in flavouring compositions having uniquely distinct grilled flavour notes that are extremely smooth and lack harsh flavour notes. These flavour notes are distinct from the flavour notes or characteristics achieved using the similar feedstock in the apparatus and process of the DiCicca (U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,342) and Schulman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,538) patents. The distinct differences in flavour and enhanced concentration indicates that a new and different composition results from the present process. Such a unique grilled flavouring is highly desirable for use in the food flavouring industry, since a reduced amount of flavouring (additive) can be used to achieve the desired flavouring. In addition, more pronounced flavouring can be achieved using equivalent amounts to other available grill flavourings.
The present invention utilizes high stability vegetable oils, that is to say, saturated, or partially saturated vegetable oils. It has been determined that saturated or partially saturated vegetable oils achieve a usable product whereas the utilization of unsaturated vegetable oils including some of those disclosed in the DiCicca and Schulman patents result in products having harsh flavour notes and are unacceptable. Furthermore, the enhanced flavour profile and higher flavour concentrations of the flavouring compositions of this invention are obtained through a fast pyrolysis reactor operating in the relative absence of air and at elevated temperatures. No flavour precursors were necessary to enhance the meaty flavour notes of the disclosed flavour compositions.
Therefore, this invention relates to a process for the preparation of a flavouring comprising:
a) heating a spray or atomized droplets of a saturated or partially saturated vegetable oil to a temperature of at least 480° C. in an oxygen starved atmosphere in a fast pyrolysis system within 1.0 second;
b) maintaining the vegetable oil together with the pyrolysis products produced from the vegetable oil, at over 480° C. for a period of time less than one second;
c) rapidly quenching the pyrolysis products formed within 0.1 second;
d) separating and collecting said liquid extract.
This invention also embraces a process as defined above, wherein the vegetable oil is selected from the list comprising saturated or partially saturated palm oil, soya oil, peanut oil, canola, corn oil, coconut oil, animal fats, beef tallow, or butter. Furthermore, this invention relates to the use of saturated or partially saturated soya oil within this process.
This invention also provides a grilled flavouring composition which is made in accordance with the process as defined above. Furthermore, this invention is directed to a flavouring composition characterized in that it comprises a compound mix resulting in a gas chromatography fingerprint as that of Table 1.
Furthermore, this invention embraces a grilled flavouring composition which contains the flavouring composition made by the process as
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Ensyn Technologies Inc.
Wong Leslie
LandOfFree
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