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
2000-12-13
2002-12-17
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...
C426S611000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06495188
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention pertains to edible shortening products such as margarine, which have a reduced trans-fatty acid content.
BACKGROUND ART
Edible shortenings were proposed many years ago as substitutes for natural products such as lard and butter. These shortenings may have a consistency ranging from creamy to hard and butter-like. Large quantities of such shortenings are sold for use in baking and as a substitute for butter. In order to be economical, edible shortenings are made from naturally occurring vegetable oils. By partially hydrogenating vegetable oils to a semi-solid or solid product, a range of “hardness” may be produced. Alternatively, non-hydrogenated vegetable oils may be blended with more fully hydrogenated, solid oils. Shortening intended as a butter substitute is a soft solid at room temperature, behavior termed “plastic” by those skilled in the art. Consumers easily discern relatively minor differences between butter and margarine, with respect to their consistency when cold and when warm, their spreadability, etc.
Hydrogenation of vegetable oils causes isomeration of non-hydrogenated cis-double bonds of unsaturated vegetable oil into their trans form. For example, oleic acid residues in triglycerides are converted into elaidic acid. Recently, trans-fatty acids have been implicated in raising the risk of heart disease by adversely affecting blood lipid levels.
The substitution of fat mimetics such as polyol fatty acid polyesters for partially hydrogenated oils has not proven totally successful. First, such mimetics frequently cause bowel discomfort. Second, the different structure of the mimetics causes difficulties in formulating shortening and margarine products which perform acceptably, and which will pass consumer scrutiny. These shortcomings are attested to in U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,281, where very specific combinations of fatty acids are employed in esterifying sucrose to form polyol fatty acid polyesters in order to produce acceptable products, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,516, wherein complex formulations are necessary to prepare a product containing polyester fat mimetics.
It would be desirable to provide a substitute for all or part of the “hard” hydrogenated vegetable oil fraction of semi-solid to plastic shortening and thus lower the trans-fatty acid content of the shortening, while maintaining the desirable baking characteristics and consumer-desired consistency. It would further be desirable to offer a margarine-like product with the spreadability and other physical and organoleptic characteristics of butter, and to produce a range of products in terms of hardness, etc.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
It has now been unexpectedly discovered that up to 100% of hydrogenated vegetable oils in shortening formulations may be replaced by esterified propoxylated glycerine (“EPG”). The products thus obtained have properties acceptable to the consumer. The replacement of the “hard fraction” of partially hydrogenated oil allows significant reduction of the trans-fatty acid content in vegetable oil-based shortening products.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
By the term “shortening” as used herein is meant an edible mixture of solid and liquid fats and fat mimetics, a substantial portion of the liquid fat being derived from natural sources such as corn oil, soybean oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, canola oil, cotton seed oil, etc. The “shortenings” are edible, any may take the form of fluffy, low density, air and water-containing soft products of the consistency of whipped butter or margarine; semi-solid “greasy” products having higher density but little or no air or moisture, such as are used for butter or lard substitution in baking or for frying; or products with the consistency of margarine or butter, having considerable water content but little air content, and ranging in consistency from soft and spreadable at room temperature or below, e.g., “soft” margarine, to solid and crumbly at room temperature, often exhibiting a “fracture” upon spreading as is observed with butter. In other words, the edible shortenings of the present invention may take all the forms and physical, chemical, and organoleptic characteristics of butter, lard, and their vegetable oil-based replacement products now commonly available in the marketplace.
By the term “fat content” is meant the total, in weight percent based on total shortening weight, of the fat constituents, including fat mimetics, of the shortening product. In margarines, for example, total fat is usually about 80% by weight of the product weight, the remaining 20% being mostly water, but also including, where necessary, emulsifiers, antioxidants, anti-spatter agents, coloring agents, flavorants, sugar, salt, proteins; odorants, nutraceuticals such as stanol fatty acid esters and/or sterol fatty acid esters, etc. Other ingredients are well known to one skilled in the art of shortening formulation. Oily antioxidants such as &agr;-tocopherol and &agr;-tocopherol acetate are not considered as part of the fat content of the shortening product.
By the term “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” is meant a partially hydrogenated vegetable oil containing trans-unsaturated fatty acids. Such semisolid and solid products typically have iodine numbers above 10 and below the iodine number of the vegetable oil from which they are derived, typically below 60 and more typically in the range of 15 to 50. The greater the degree of hydrogenation, the lower the iodine number. Iodine number may be measured conventionally, i.e., by the “Wijs method” set forth in AOCS Official Method Col. 1-25.
By the term “hardstock” is meant a fully hydrogenated vegetable oil characterized by a low iodine value, and hence substantially no remaining unsaturation. Iodine values lower than 10, and in particular about 2 or less are typical. Hardstock contains few trans-unsaturated fatty acids since there is very little if any unsaturation remaining.
By “EPG” is meant esterified propoxylated glycerine. Such products have the chemical structure
where R is
wherein R
2
and R
3
are individually selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and methyl and one of R
2
or R
3
is methyl, and R
1
is the hydrocarbon residue of a saturated or unsaturated carboxylic acid substantially free of trans-unsaturation. Thus, R
1
is a saturated or unsaturated, preferably unsaturated, hydrocarbon radical having 7-23 carbon atoms, preferably 12-23 carbon atoms, and more preferably 14-23 carbon atoms. Each R
1
may be individually selected, i.e., mixtures of fatty acid residues may be found in the same molecule, or some molecules may have all one type of fatty acid residue while others have all another type of fatty acid residue. Most preferably, the fatty acids are obtained from natural sources, i.e., by hydrolysis of naturally occurring fats and oils, e.g., glycerine fatty esters. Sources include animal fat, vegetable oil, etc. Some of the
groups may be replaced by hydrogen, i.e., the EPG may have less than three acyl groups on average. A minor portion of the acyl groups may have R
1
which contain from 1 to 6 carbon atoms.
The degree of alkoxylation is defined as the sum of a, b, and c, where a, b, and c individually are integers from 0 to 20. In general, a, b, and c need not be equal. It has been found, for example, that when oxypropylating glycerine, a 3:1 propylene oxide/glycerine ratio (stoichiometric) will result in oxypropylation (“oxypropylation” and “propoxylation” are used synonymously) of approximately 63% of the available glycerine hydroxyl groups. Thus, the majority of molecules will have one free hydroxyl group. By employing larger amounts of propylene oxide, the number of free hydroxyls decreases. At a 4:1 propylene oxide/glycerine ratio, 82% of the hydroxyl groups are propoxylated, and at 5:1, propoxylation is complete. Preferably, the degree of propoxylation is minimally 2, more preferably at least 2.2, and most preferably in the range of 3 to 8. If the degree of propoxylation is 2.2 or more, the products will be edible but only parti
Ferenz Michael R.
Mazurek Harry
ARCO Chemical Technology L.P.
Brooks & Kushman P.C.
Paden Carolyn
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