Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Foam or foamable type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-09
2002-09-10
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Foam or foamable type
C426S101000, C426S524000, C426S656000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447829
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to novel ice confections. In particular the invention relates to novel ice confections containing an antifreeze protein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is highly desirable to be able to manufacture ice confections having novel shapes, properties and/or textures. Until now, however the ability to provide such a high degree of novelty and interest to the products has been limited. In particular products have to be manufactured with the ability to survive packaging, storage and distribution.
In the confectionery industry sweets such as boiled sweets and gobstoppers are very popular. However to date it has not been possible to reproduce such products within a frozen confection.
The problem in preparing such frozen ice confection products is that when they are made of conventional frozen confectionery mixtures, for example water ice mixtures or ice cream mixes, they do not have the desired eating characteristics. In particular such products tend to be rather wet at their surface, relatively soft to eat and not long lasting in the mouth. Also these products often cannot be co-packed as they tend to stick together during storage.
We have now shown that inclusion of specific antifreeze proteins into selected ice confections results in the formation of a strong, close-packed continuous network of ice crystals within the ice confection. As a result the ice confection is provided with specific defined mechanical properties. In particular the ice confection becomes hard and once of a certain dimension becomes difficult to bite or chew, but must be sucked, exactly like a boiled sweet of the confectionery industry.
WO 98/04146 (Unilever) discloses that AFPs can be incorporated into frozen food products such as ice confections to provide desirable product properties providing that the product and processing conditions are varied such that the ice crystals provided in the product have an aspect ratio of more than 1.9, preferably from 1.9 to 3.0. The specific examples given are all aerated ice cream compositions. As shown by comparative Examples A to C below, the addition of antifreeze proteins to aerated ice cream does not significantly change the mechanical properties of the ice cream. WO 98/04146 does not teach that it is possible to provide specific ice confection products having novel mechanical properties and that such ice confections enable an ice confection equivalent to a boiled sweet to be manufactured.
WO 96/39878 (The Pillsbury Company) discloses a method for making a frozen composition for storage, the method not requiring a hardening step prior to storage. The frozen composition contains an antifreeze protein, in particular Type I AFP. Examples show the preparation of an aerated ice cream and an aerated frozen yogurt. As shown by comparative Examples A to C below, the addition of antifreeze proteins to aerated ice cream does not significantly change the mechanical properties of the ice cream. WO 96/39878 does not teach that it is possible to provide specific ice confection products having novel mechanical properties and that such ice confections enable an ice confection equivalent to a boiled sweet to be manufactured.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,792 (Warren et al) discloses the addition of fusion proteins, and in particular the fusion protein protein A-Saf5 into foods which are to be consumed frozen, for example, ice cream, frozen yogurt, ice milk, sherbet, popsicles and frozen whipped cream. No examples are given where a final ice confection product is provided containing such fusion proteins. It is shown in Example 3B that when a popsicle formulation is used within the “splat assay”, growth of the ice crystals is restricted.
Surprisingly we have now found that the addition of specific antifreeze proteins to defined ice confections, for example to water ices, ice milks, and unaerated ice cream, results in the formation of a strong, close-packed continuous network of ice crystals within the ice confection providing significant, advantageous changes to the mechanical properties of the ice confection. In particular an ice confection which is the frozen equivalent of the boiled sweet can be provided which has to be sucked and not bitten or chewed. As a result the product is retained for longer in the mouth and is found to be particularly refreshing.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly the invention provides an ice confection product having a volume of from 1 to 20 ml and a thickness of greater than 5 mm comprising an antifreeze protein, wherein &Dgr; modulus/original modulus≧0.4, and/or &Dgr; strength/original strength≧0.4, providing that when &Dgr; modulus/original modulus≦6.0, &Dgr; modulus≧50 MPa, and/or when &Dgr; strength/original strength≦2.0, &Dgr; strength≧0.2 MPa.
Preferably &Dgr; modulus/original modulus≧0.4; providing that when &Dgr; modulus/original modulus≦6.0, &Dgr; modulus≧90 MPa.
Most preferably &Dgr; modulus/original modulus≧1.0; providing that when &Dgr; modulus/original modulus≦6.0, &Dgr; modulus≧100 MPa.
Preferably &Dgr; strength/original strength≧0.7, most preferably &Dgr; strength/original strength≧1.5.
By modulus is meant the apparent elastic modulus (E) as determined using four point bend test. Example 1 gives the standard procedure for performing a four point bend test.
Therefore &Dgr; modulus (&Dgr;E) means the change in modulus between two ice confections whose formulation and process of manufacture are identical in all respects except that the first ice confection includes in its composition an antifreeze protein, and the second ice confection has no antifreeze protein included in its composition (the control composition). Original modulus (E
orig
) is the modulus measured in the control composition.
By strength is meant the flexure strength (&dgr;
u
) which can be defined as the maximum stress that a material can withstand, under the particular conditions. The flexure strength is given by the stress at a point of maximum force on the force versus displacement curve recorded during a four point bend test.
Therefore &Dgr; strength (&Dgr;&dgr;
u
) means the change in strength between two ice confections whose formulation and process of manufacture are identical in all respects except that the first ice confection includes in its composition an antifreeze protein, and the second ice confection has no antifreeze protein included in its composition (the control composition). Original strength (&dgr;
u orig
) is the modulus measured in the control composition.
In addition to changes in the apparent elastic modulus and flexure strength, an increase in product hardness is provided by the ice confections according to the invention.
For ice confections frozen with agitation, for example in an ice cream freezer (such as a scraped surface heat exchanger), the increase in hardness can be measured using the Vickers hardness test. Details of the Vickers hardness test are given in Example 3.
The degree to which the Vickers Hardness (H
v
) of the ice confection is increased by the addition of the antifreeze protein depends in part on the ice content of the ice confection.
However, generally &Dgr;H
v
/H
v orig
≧0.3, providing that when &Dgr;H
v
/H
v orig
≦5.0, &Dgr;H
v
≧0.3.
Preferably &Dgr;H
v
/H
v orig
≦1.0, providing that when &Dgr;H
v
/H
v orig
≦5.0, &Dgr;H
v
≧1.25.
Most preferably either &Dgr;H
v
/H
v orig
≧6.0 or &Dgr;H
v
/H
v orig
≦6.0 and &Dgr;H
v
≧2.0.
Where &Dgr;H
v
is the change in Vickers Hardness between two ice confections whose formulation and process of manufacture are identical in all respects except that the first ice confection includes in its composition an antifreeze protein, and the second ice confection has no antifreeze protein included in its composition (the control composition). H
v orig
is the original Vickers Hardness measured in the control composition.
By close-packed continuous network of ice crystals is meant that any given ice crystal is connected to at least one other ice crystal.
In unaerated ice confections which ha
Daniel Adrian
Oldroyd Jon Richard
Bhat Nina
Good Humor - Breyers Ice Cream, division of Conopco, Inc.
McGowan, Jr. Gerard J.
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