Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Gels or gelable composition
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-14
2004-12-21
Weier, Anthony (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Gels or gelable composition
C426S618000, C426S637000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06833151
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to pectins, to a process for their production, to acidic foods employing them and to a process for their production, and more specifically it relates to pectins obtained from root vegetables, and particularly tubers and corms, to a process for their production, to acidic foods such as acidic protein beverages obtained by adding citrus or other juices, organic acids or inorganic acids to protein beverages such as milk and soy milk, or acidic milk beverages, acidic frozen desserts and acidic desserts, as well as coffee beverages, lactic acid bacteria beverages, fermented milk, liquid yogurt and the like, and to a process for their production.
BACKGROUND ART
Root vegetables, and particularly tubers and corms, have long been known to contain starches and pectins (Ullmanns Enzyklopaedie der techn. Chemie, Bd. 13, 171, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Muenchen-Berlin (1962)), and they have been the subject of much research as production starting materials for pectins (Die Staerke 26 (1974) 12, 417-421, CCB 3, 1 (1978) 48-50, Getreide Mehl und Brot 37, 5 (1983) 131-137, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-161401, Chem. Eng. Technol. 17 (1994) 291-300, WO97/49298). Research has also been conducted in the past on their uses, mainly as gelling agents (ZSW Bd. 31 (1978) H.9 348-351, Getreide Mehl und Brot 37, 5 (1983) 131-137, WO97/49298).
As mentioned above, production of pectins from 35 tubers and corms has long been the subject of study as a research topic. However, in terms of its function as a gelling agent for jams and the like that has been examined as its major use, it has not excelled over pectin derived from fruits such as apples or citrus fruits, and its use has therefore not been practical to date. In addition, while uses and production processes for fruit-derived pectins have been investigated in depth, it is currently the situation that virtually no research has been carried out on the characteristic function of pectins obtained from root vegetables, and particularly tubers and corms, and on establishing the detailed production conditions.
For production of acidic protein foods it has been common in the past to use apple and citrus-derived pectins, water-soluble soybean polysaccharides, carboxymethylcellulose sodium, alginic acid propylene glycol aster and the like for the purpose of preventing agglutination and sedimentation of protein particles. However, for most stabilizers that are used, the pH range suited for satisfactory stabilization of protein dispersion is below the isoelectric point of the protein, and stabilizers have been desired which can stabilize acidic protein foods in a pH range above the isoelectric point.
On the other hand, it has been reported that protein components can be stabilized in the slightly acidic pH range from neutral to pH 5.2 by addition of organic acid salts (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 5-52170), but this technique entails problems such as loss of milkiness of the stabilized protein solution, and inability to achieve satisfactory acidity by the effect of the added organic acid salt.
In addition, milk proteins in acidic milk beverages such as liquid yogurt, lactic acid bacteria beverages or fruit milk are highly unstable and agglutinate, and time leads to sedimentation of the milk proteins and separation of the whey. Such agglutination occurs to a considerable degree during sterilization heating, resulting in total loss of product value.
Milk-added coffee that can be distributed at ordinary temperature has conventionally been made by mixing and dissolving raw materials such as coffee extract, milk components, sugars, emulsifiers and the like to make coffee compositions, and then subjecting them to a homogenizer and to a heating step at 110-135° C. for sterilization either before or after being packed into storage containers; however, the high temperature of the heating step produces a decomposition reaction of the coffee components, and lowers the pH of the coffee solution. When the pH of the solution is lowered to acidity of under pH 6.0, the milk proteins in the milk components of the coffee solution are denatured, causing separation and agglutination, and destroying the product value. In order to prevent denaturation of the milk proteins, alkali substances such as sodium bicarbonate have been preadded to the coffee solution to adjust the pH of the coffee solution to above 6.5 before heating, but since the milk-added coffee produced by such methods is heated for sterilization at a pH of above 6.5, the coffee aroma is altered such that it exhibits the unique aroma and flavor of “retort canned coffee”, which is different from the original regular coffee.
On the other hand, there has been a strong demand for development of heat sterilized milk-added coffee beverages that can be stored at ordinary temperature and exhibit excellent acidic flavor, and as production methods for acidic milk component-added coffee beverages there have been proposed a method of using fresh cream or butter as the milk component and adding an emulsifier such as sucrose fatty acid ester and crystalline cellulose (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-245703) and a method of stabilizing the milk proteins using acidic polysaccharides (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-74241); however, neither of these methods has succeeded in stabilizing the milk components without impairing the unique flavor and properties of the coffee.
Thus, while coffee normally exhibits the characteristic flavor and acidity of regular coffee in the weakly acidic pH range of 6,5 and below, when the pH of the coffee solution is adjusted to above 6.5 during preparation the characteristic flavor and acidity of regular coffee is lost, and the coffee obtained by heat sterilization has therefore had greatly reduced flavor compared to the original regular coffee. That is no technique has existed allowing prolonged stabilization of milk components without impairing the flavor and properties characteristic of regular coffee.
Thus, although techniques have existed for stabilization of protein dispersion in the pH range below the isoelectric point and from pH 5.2 to neutral, no technique has existed allowing satisfactory stabilization of acidic protein foods in the general pH range of higher acidity than the isoelectric point of the proteins.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pectin obtained by extraction from root vegetables and particularly tubers and corms and a process for its production, as well as acidic protein foods that are stable in the pH range above the isoelectric point of the proteins and a process for their production, and to provide heat sterilized milk-added beverages that can be distributed at ordinary temperature, wherein the milk components are stable for long periods. Here, “acidity” refers to the pH range of 6.5 and lower.
As a result of diligent research directed toward solving the problems described above, the present inventors have found that pectins obtained by hot water extraction under weakly acidic conditions from starch residue as a processing by-product of tubers and corms exhibit a characteristic function, and particularly that the use of potato-derived pectins can satisfactorily stabilize acidic protein foods in a pH range above the isoelectric point of the proteins at a lower viscosity than with fruit-derived pectins. Upon continued research subsequent to filing of Japanese Patent Applications No.
11-9984
and No.11-249464, it was further found that by using an emulsifier during extraction of the pectins it is possible to efficiently minimize or eliminate elution of starch contaminants in the starch residue. The present invention has been completed on the basis of these findings.
In other words, the invention relates to a process for production of pectins comprising adding an emulsifier during extraction of pectins from root vegetables and separating and removing the insolubles that are produced, as well as to pectins produced by the process, to a pro
Furuta Hitoshi
Takahashi Taro
Tobe Junko
Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.
Paul & Paul
Weier Anthony
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