Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Foam or foamable type
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-04
2004-03-09
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
C426S573000, C426S576000, C426S577000, C426S578000, C426S589000, C426S602000, C426S605000, C426S650000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06703062
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to low-fat food emulsions, particularly to low-fat oil-in-water emulsions, and to processes for preparing these emulsions.
BACKGROUND ART
Although an increasing number of consumers prefer low-fat food products over full fat food products, it is difficult for manufacturers of low-fat products to replicate the desired flavor and fatty mouthfeel of full-fat products. This difficulty is particularly a problem in low-fat oil-in-water emulsions such as dressings.
It has been demonstrated that lowering the fat content of foods gives rise to flavor imbalance, as the rate of flavor release is greater in fat-reduced foods; in this respect, reference is made to an article by Shamil et al in Food Quality and Preference 1991/2, 3 (1) 51-60 entitled “Flavor release and perception in reduced-fat foods”.
The greater rate of flavor release in reduced-fat oil-in-water food emulsions is demonstrated by the present inventors in
FIG. 1
, which is a graph of profiles of flavor intensity against time for dressings having different levels of fat (see line
1
(traditional zero fat dressing) and line
2
(traditional 55 wt % fat dressing)).
During oral processing, full-fat (eg 55 wt % fat) dressings exhibit a gradual build up of flavor to a low peak of maximum flavor impact, followed by a slow dissipation of flavor. In contrast, traditional very low-fat/zero-fat (0.85% fat) dressings exhibit a rapid dissipation of flavor creating a very high peak of maximum flavor impact at an early stage of oral processing.
The profile exhibited by full-fat dressings equates to a taste and mouthfeel that are preferred by consumers: the profile exhibited by low-fat dressings equates to a flavor which is initially too intense, with no pleasing aftertaste.
Many important flavor molecules are lipophilic and hydrophobic. As fat levels are reduced in oil-in-water emulsions, a greater proportion of these flavor molecules are found in the water phase. When the emulsion is broken down, eg in the mouth during eating, the hydrophobic nature of the flavor molecules results in their rapid release into nasal airspace.
Developments in flavor technology have resulted in flavor molecules being encapsulated to control flavor release and to stabilise and protect the molecules. Commonly-used encapsulation techniques include spray-drying, bed fluidisation and coacervation. (See the reference “Encapsulation and Controlled Release” by Karsa and Stephensen, Royal Soc Chem, ISBN 0.85/86-6/5-8.)
These techniques involve entrapping a flavor molecule within a covering or microcapsule. The resulting encapsulated product is often in the form of small dry particles, which are added to foodstuffs. Upon heating or eating the foodstuffs, the particles are thermally or physically broken down to release the flavor molecules. The release is normally rapid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,439 discloses encapsulating flavor oils in a colloid gel, which is made from water and animal protein polymers or plant polysaccharides. The flavor oil is mixed with the gel components under high shear pressure to create a stable colloid gel matrix, in which the flavor oil is physically encapsulated and retained by the hydrophilic nature of the gel. A solution of the encapsulated flavor oil may be injected into meat to impart flavor thereto.
Co-pending application PCT/EP98/00645 (WO98/34501) describes non-frozen, low fat food emulsions having a delayed flavor release. In this reference, delayed flavor release is achieved by preparing biopolymer gel particles which contain small oil droplets containing flavor molecules. A delayed flavor release was obtained. The delayed flavor release was found to be due to (hindered) diffusion due to the presence of the gel biopolymer material surrounding the oil droplets containing a large proportion of the flavor molecules. The particles remained (to a large extent) intact for 60 to 90 seconds after consumption.
Although the solutions as proposed in PCT/EP98/00645 are for many purposes satisfactory in terms of delayed flavor release, it still leaves the desire for a solution for achieving more control on the flavor release pattern for some applications.
The present invention seeks to provide a low-fat food emulsion having a rate of flavor release which is more comparable to that of a full-fat food emulsion (than to the release rate found in traditional low/zero fat products) and which flavor release rate can be delayed and controlled, thereby creating a low-fat food emulsion having the texture and flavor of a full-fat food emulsion or novel flavor profiles different from those of zero or full fat products.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a low-fat food emulsion or dispersion comprising a continuous aqueous phase and a dispersed (or emulsified or suspended) phase which comprises fat particles, gel particles and fat-soluble flavor molecules, wherein at least 50% (but preferably substantially all) of the fat particles are located within the gel particles, and wherein at least 35% of the flavor molecules are located in a plurality of the gel particles to thereby delay the rate of release of the flavor molecules from the emulsion or suspension, and wherein at least part of the gel particles is gradually broken down in the mouth upon consumption, such that after 10 seconds after consumption the majority of the particles is still intact and 60 seconds after consumption at least the majority of the particles is no longer intact.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the present invention, words like suspension, emulsion, or dispersion are used mixed, to describe the whole of the composition with in it the gelled particles. Although strictly speaking, as they are particles, they are suspended in the rest of the composition, and one should speak of a suspension. However, as they predominantly are made up of a gelled water phase (with in them oil droplets), this could also be regarded as an emulsion, which is why these words are also used herein to describe the system.
The actual amount of flavor molecules which is located in the gel particles will depend on the oil/water partition coefficient of the flavor molecules concerned. In the above, it is preferred that a plurality (i.e. more than 50%) of the flavor molecules are located in a plurality of the gel particles (which may be the case when the flavor molecule has a better solubility in oil than in water). The higher the percentage of the flavor molecules that is located in the gel particles, the better the delayed release is obtained.
For the purpose of the present invention, fat-soluble flavor molecules include flavor molecules which are totally soluble in fat or oil and flavor molecules which are only partially soluble in fat.
The gel particles are prepared from material comprising at least one food grade gel-forming biopolymer. The gel particles should be made such that they break down in the mouth upon consumption. This can be achieved by e.g. ensuring the particles are physically weak, so that they break down following shear forces that are present in the mouth. Weak particles can be obtained e.g. by using low concentrations of biopolymers when preparing them. Alternatively, the gel particles can be made from a material that breaks down following a trigger present in the mouth, e.g. gel particles from starch and/or derivatives thereof may be broken down by amylase present in the saliva, or particles made of gelatin may melt as a result of the temperature in the mouth. The biopolymer chosen for the gel particles may consist of a mixture and may also break down following a combination of break down triggers. An example of the latter are large, weak gelatin particles which break down following melting and as a result of shear forces. Starch, gelatin, agar (when used in low concentrations) and mixtures thereof are preferred biopolymers in this invention. Other biopolymers that could be used include carrageenan which can be made to melt close to mouth temperatures (via ion concentration and type), gell
Appleqvist Ingrid Anne
Brown Charles Rupert
Homan Jennifer Elizabeth
Jones Malcolm Glyn
Malone Mark Emmett
Bhat Nina
Lipton division of Conopco, Inc.
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