Plant gum material and use thereof in food products

Details Plant gum material and use thereof in food products Plant gum material and use thereof in food products

1989-10-25

1992-07-28

Paden, Carolyn

Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products

Fermentation processes

Of plant or plant derived material

426573, 426577, 4352404, 43524046, 536 2, 536 3, 536 52, 536114, A23L 10532

Patent

active

051339790

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the use of a plant gum material, produced from plant cells in tissue culture, as an additive to formulations in the food industry. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of this plant gum product as a substitute for gums such as gum arabic (a widely-used emulsion stabilizer) and guar gum (a widely-used thickener) in the food industry, and examples are provided herein of the use of this plant gum product as an emulsion stabilizer, emulsifier, thickening agent and texture modifier, however the invention is not limited to these uses.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Complex carbohydrates and polysaccharides have numerous functions in food products such as emulsifiers, emulsion stabilizers, thickening and gelling agents and suspending agents (Sandford and Baird, 1983). Most polysaccharides function by altering the properties of aqueous solutions or dispersions primarily via their ability to bind water molecules and ions; they also interact with each other through "junction zone" formation (Rees, 1972).
Several plant families include species that exude gums, and those that produce copious quantities represent a ready supply of gums. In addition to exudate gums, gums are also obtained from seeds, for example guar gum and from algae, e.g. agar. More recently, gums have been produced by microbial fermentation under controlled conditions, and xanthan gum which is produced in this manner has recently achieved commercial significance. In general, these gums or mucilages are carbohydrate-enriched polymers of high molecular weight composed of acidic and/or neutral monosaccharide building units joined by glycosidic bonds.
Gum arabic is the dried exudate from species of the acacia tree (Acacia senegal) found in various tropical and semitropical areas of the world. The acacia trees produce large quantities of gum arabic under adverse conditions, lack of moisture, poor nutrition and high temperatures. The gum is collected as a natural exudate from the surface of wounds generally produced deliberately in cultivated trees. The exudate is dried to form a product which is completely soluble in hot or cold water, yielding a viscous solution of mucilage finding wide use as a thickening agent and emulsion stabilizer in a wide range of foods, beverages and confectionery and also in adhesives, inks, textiles, printing and cosmetics.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Suspension-cultured plant cells secrete a mixture of complex carbohydrates and glycoproteins into the culture medium. The major classes of complex carbohydrate polymers are proteoglycans (e.g. arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs)), polysaccharides (e.g. neutral and acidic pectins), hetero- and homo-glucans, heteroxylans, and hetero- and homo-mannans (McNeil et al., 1984). It has now been found that a mixture of these polymers produced by cells derived from tissues of plants in a variety of plant families is a useful substitute for plant gums in the food industry, and may be used, for example, as a substitute for gum arabic as an emulsifying, stabilising and/or thickening agent.
Plants of many plant families can be taken into callus (solid) culture and then into liquid suspension culture. It is known that AGPs and other complex carbohydrates and proteins are secreted by many such cell lines (Clarke, et al., 1979; Fincher, et al., 1983). In accordance with the present invention, the cells of any of the complex carbohydrate-secreting plants are cultured in tissue culture in an appropriate growth medium so that a mixture of complex carbohydrates and (glyco)proteins is secreted into the culture medium. In one particular aspect of the present invention, it has been found that tissue cultures derived from the pear, Pyrus, sweet cherry, Prunus avium, and the rose, Rosa, secrete high yields of complex carbohydrates. This may be related to a capacity of the trees themselves to produce gums as a wound response.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for the production of a plant gum product

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