Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Inhibiting chemical or physical change of food by contact... – Treatment with heavy metal or compound thereof
Patent
1986-11-14
1989-07-18
Czaja, Donald E.
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Inhibiting chemical or physical change of food by contact...
Treatment with heavy metal or compound thereof
426 74, 426615, A23L 1304, A23B 700
Patent
active
048492361
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
INDUSTRIAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method enabling the freshness of vegetables to be easily maintained by increasing the germanium content of vegetables.
PRIOR ART
Since freshness is one of the most important factors for vegetables circulating within a market when considered as goods, various inventions have so far been accomplished with the aim of enabling the freshness of vegetables to be maintained.
Namely, it is conventional to adapt such conditions as manner of storage, storage location, temperature and ventilation for vegetables being stored so that their freshness may be maintained. In fact, the above-described conditions are adapted in suitable combinations, for example, vegetables are stored in a cool and dark place with mud still adhered to them or stored in a cool place with a supply of water.
On the other hand, freshness of vegetables is sometimes maintained by employing a special means adapted to keep certain species of vegetables. For example, a method has been adapted for radish sprouts in which they are held in a sponge bed containing a solution for water culture in the form wherein they have been recently supplied to the market in large amounts.
However, of the above-described conventional methods, the former has the disadvantage that it is necessary to set above-described conditions or a combination thereof in correspondence with the requirements of the particular vegetables to be kept fresh and/or to maintain the conditions for a long period. For example, a large amount of energy is consumed only for keeping vegetables at a low temperature during the carriage of such vegetables as are kept fresh by such means. This disadvantage becomes a main problem relative to the carriage of vegetables which have to be kept fresh.
It is obvious that the latter of the above-described conventional methods has no general-purpose utility and thus cannot be adapted for use with all vegetables.
The present invention has been accomplished for the purpose of providing a method which is capable of maintaining the freshness of vegetables by a simple method and which has general-purpose utility without involving any of the problems of the prior arts described above.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The method of the present invention is characterized by comprising the treatment of the surfaces and/or inner parts of vegetables with an organic or inorganic germanium compound by a suitable method.
The present invention will be described in detail hereinafter.
The vegetables to be kept fresh by means of the present invention are not particularly limited, and thus may include radish sprouts, chives, honewort and shallots, and in particular, the present invention can be used for those vegetables which suffer an extreme lowering in freshness when transported by conventional methods.
The germanium compound which is allowed to act on the vegetables described above may be an organic or inorganic compound but it is preferable for the facilitation of application to select a water-soluble germanium compound and to prepare an aqueous solution thereof.
As the inorganic germanium compound, germanium dioxide GeO.sub.2 which is easily available on the market may be exemplified and as the organogermanium compound, carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (GeCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 COOH).sub.2 O.sub.3 which can be produced by the processes shown by the following reaction formulas may be exemplified: ##STR1##
The element germanium (Ge) has been investigated for many years in the fieldsof physics and inorganic chemistry similar to silicon (Si) which in common with germanium is a homologue of carbon and has attracted much attention in other fields in recent years.
For example, certain items described below effectively used as Japanese and Chinese medicines and certain types of health food include a large amount of germanium and thus it has been proposed that germanium may be the main useful ingredient of the Japanese and Chinese medicine, etc.
Some of the organic derivatives of germanium exhibit remarkable pharm
Kakimoto Norihiro
Sakai Teizou
Sasaki Yoshinori
Czaja Donald E.
Kabushikikaisha Germax
Naigai Foods Kabushikikaisha
Paden Carolyn
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