Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Fat or oil is basic ingredient other than butter in emulsion...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-18
2002-01-01
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Fat or oil is basic ingredient other than butter in emulsion...
C426S804000, C536S119000, C554S168000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06335048
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to improvements to non-digestible cooking oils. More specifically, this invention relates to a process for producing an improved form of Olestra that remains in a liquid and flowable state after storage for prolonged periods at room temperatures, yet advantageously re-solidifies after melting and cooling to return to a semi-solid form that is desired to control passive oil loss.
2. Description of the Background Art
Non-caloric or reduced calorie fat and oil substitutes offer many advantages to consumers who desire to reduce their caloric intake. Many consumers desire to have a lower-calorie diet without forgoing the consumption of, for example, fried snack foods such as potato chips, tortilla chips and the like. One such substitute, Olestra, has recently been approved for limited marketing and use (for the preparation of savory snack foods) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Olestra” refers to a substantially non-caloric fat and oil substitute that is a mixture of octa-, hepta- and hexa-esters of sucrose with fatty acids derived from edible fats and oils or from fatty acid sources that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Olestra is described in 21 C.F.R. §172.867, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Olestra is manufactured by the Procter & Gamble Company and marketed under the OLEAN trademark. Numerous U.S. patents assigned to Procter & Gamble describe the manufacture and many uses of Olestra, and those skilled in this area of food science are familiar with methods for preparing Olestra. For example, Olestra can be prepared by trans-esterifying sucrose with seven or eight fatty acids obtained from cottonseed or soybean oil. Olestra is non-caloric because the digestive enzymes found in humans cannot cleave the polymer into smaller molecules that can be used by the body. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,186 (“Low Calorie Fat-Containing Food Composition”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,196 (“Vitaminized Compositions for Treating Hypercholesterolemia”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,300 (“Compositions Containing Novel Solid, Non-Digestible, Fat-Like Compounds”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,131 (“Non-Digestible Solid Particles For Passive Oil Loss Control”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,667 (“Non-Digestible Fat Compositions Containing Diversely Esterified Polyol Polyester For Passive Oil Loss Control”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,995 (“Solid Non-Digestible Polyol Polyesters Containing Esterified Hydroxy Fatty Acids Such as Esterified Ricinoleic Acid”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,884 (“Reduced Calorie Potato Chips and Other Low Moisture Fat-Containing Foods Having Less Waxiness and Improved Flavor Display”); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,733 (“Low Moisture Fat-Containing Foods Such as Potato Chips having Less Waxiness and Improved Flavor Display”), each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other patents disclosing processes for synthesizing polyol polyesters include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,517,360 and 4,518,772 to Procter & Gamble, each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Olestra has been found to be particularly useful for the preparation of reduced calorie fried snack foods such as potato chips and tortilla chips. Reduced calorie potato chips and tortilla chips can be prepared by frying potato slices or masa pieces, respectively, in Olestra, at temperatures generally between about 350 and 400° F. Advantageously, Olestra can be substituted for the commonly-used natural fats and oils (typically cottonseed oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, etc.) within the preexisting fryer equipment and with minimal variation to the overall cooking process. Potato chips and tortilla chips that have been cooked (fried) in Olestra rather than natural fats and oils provide flavor and textural characteristics that are well-accepted by consumers, while providing far fewer calories.
The regular ingestion of certain forms of polyol polyesters is known to produce undesirable passive oil loss. The control of passive oil loss is a requirement of any commercially-viable Olestra. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,667, for example, certain prior art liquid Olestra compositions failed to control passive oil loss while certain solid Olestra compositions impart an undesirable “waxy” mouthfeel and thus, too, are not commercially acceptable. A mixture of solid and liquid Olestra is provided by the manufacturer for passive oil loss control. This mixture is a semi solid at ambient temperatures, and is not pumpable. Accordingly, one goal of the present invention was to provide a flowable Olestra composition that controls passive oil loss when used in snack food manufacturing processes, yet provides good mouthfeel and other properties favored by consumers.
Olestra has other uses in the manufacture of savory snack foods, such as a substitute for the oil used in flavorful toppings. Additionally, like naturally-occurring oils, Olestra can be sprayed onto baked snack chips (e.g. baked tortilla chips or baked fabricated potato chips) to improve the adhesion of salt and/or other toppings thereto.
Modern commercial-scale snack food manufacturing facilities represent enormous capital investments. Large commercial-scale fryers can contain hundreds of gallons of cooking oil. Typical commercial-scale snack food manufacturing facilities receive cooking oil (which is liquid and thus highly flowable and pumpable at room or typical ambient temperatures) in railway car-sized shipments. These facilities include large storage tanks (capable of storing thousands of gallons of liquid cooking oil) for storing the liquid cooking oil at room or ambient temperature prior to use and, as explained more fully below, during transient “down-times” in the manufacturing process. Cooking oil is relatively expensive and comprises a major element of the overall cost of producing fried snack foods. The energy costs of heating cooking oil within the fryer further contributes significantly to the manufacturing costs. Thus, cooking oil must be handled properly so as to maintain and prolong its useful life and to reduce manufacturing costs.
Oxidation of cooking oil resulting in the formation of lower molecular weight aldehydes and ketones is the chemical reaction primarily responsible for limiting the useful life of cooking oil. Cooking oil used past its useful life imparts undesirable flavor notes to the foods cooked therein. Unnecessary exposure of cooking oil to high heat or oxygen therefore must be avoided in order to eliminate unnecessary degradation and to lower overall energy costs. Accordingly, after production is completed it is common to remove (pump) the cooking oil from the fryer back to the storage tank. The oil is allowed to cool to near ambient temperatures in the storage tank. The oil subsequently is pumped back to the fryer and reheated in the fryer when the manufacturing process is to re-commence.
One disadvantage and difficulty presented by the substitution of Olestra into the snack food manufacturing process is the fact that Olestra as supplied by Procter & Gamble is a relatively viscous semi-solid at ambient temperatures commonly encountered in manufacturing settings, e.g. temperatures below about 100° F. Olestra typically must be heated to at least about 120° F. to lower its viscosity sufficiently to render it a pumpable semi-solid, and preferably, to about 140° F. to melt it, to allow it to be pumped as a liquid to the storage tanks mentioned above using pumps typical for this application. A self priming pump like a drum pump is not designed for, nor is it practical to unload a large tank or vessel of semi solid Olestra. Additionally, Olestra must be melted slowly to minimize localized heat stress, and it can require many hours to melt the quantity used in a commercial fryer.
In as much as the Olestra returns to the unpumpable, viscous semi-solid state when cooled, practical handling of liquid Olestra within the manufacturing plant would require the railroad tank cars, storage tanks and the system of oil transfer pipes within the facility to be fitted with heaters. In addit
Fulcher John G.
Gupta Monoj K.
Swarvar Larry C.
Paden Carolyn
Recot Inc.
Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck
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