Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-23
2003-10-28
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
C426S486000, C426S489000, C426S429000, C426S430000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06638560
ABSTRACT:
INTRODUCTION
The separation of fats and oils from oil-containing natural edible raw materials of various types and the use of the extracted fat and defatted residue as food ingredients is a time-honored practice in food preparation. Olive oil, produced by pressing olives at certain ripeness, dates back at least as far as written history, and in several parts of the world continues to this day to be produced in the time-honored manner. Over the course of human history, many other sources of oil were discovered and developed, including sunflower, safflower, sesame, nutmeat and grape seeds.
Throughout history, oil has been a valued adjunct in cooking by virtue of its ability to impart flavor and mouth-feel to food, promote evenness of cooking, and retard food degradation over time. Fats and oils have also been prized for nutritional reasons because they contain more than double the energy content, i. e. about 9 Kcal/gm, of carbohydrates and proteins. Also, many fats and oils contain essential fatty acids which the human body cannot endogenously produce and yet needs for proper function.
Nutritional trends over the past several decades in the United States other industrially developed countries indicate that for the most part, inadequate caloric intake is no longer a nutritional problem. Indeed, the very reverse appears to be true in that for the United States in particular, a startling increase in obesity has been observed over the last two decades. This trend has aroused concern among public health officials and has led to the creation of a large and rapidly growing diet food industry, increasingly restrictive changes in food labeling regulations, and major changes in dietary recommendations by food authorities.
Past innovators in the area of extracting fats and oil from seeds (including nut kernels or meats) have concentrated on maximizing the amount of high-quality, fat recovered without regard to damage done to the structure of the seed matrix, which was often deliberately sacrificed in order to increase efficiency and because maintaining structural integrity of the residual matrix has relatively little importance, such residual matrix being used principally as cattle feed. Thus, the seeds or meats were comminuted or even finely ground to facilitate a rapid and high yield extraction so that the sub-divided residue completely lost its natural coherent structure. Consequently, the only nutmeats available in reduced fat form were comminuted or ground.
Due at least to an important extent to the convergence of the latter practice with the above trends, seeds in nut or shelled form, e.g. peanuts, tree-nuts and the like, have suffered a definite decrease in consumption in the United States. It is a reasonable conclusion that more peanuts, cashews, and other nut products would be consumed if high quality, reduced-fat versions of the same were available. Obviously, the ideal nut snack or candy additive for many people would have the same texture, flavor, and appearance of a normal full-fat nut, but with appreciably less fat.
This invention relates to a process for extracting by means of propane, butane, and/or isobutane as solvent large amounts of fat from edible products which either retain their natural structure in entirety or have been relatively lightly sub-divided into marketable granules of fairly large physical dimension which are characterized by a substantially intact cellular structure. The present process has produced, among other products, partially defatted whole peanuts, partially defatted whole cashews (and other nuts), and partially or wholly defatted nutmeat granules and pieces. By leaving the cellular structure essentially intact after extraction, i.e. by neither finely (comminuting nor reconstructing a finely divided form into a granular product, the texture and appearance of the starting raw material can be preserved but with a reduced fat content.
The primary concern of the present invention is to produce from oil- or fat-containing edible raw material, without the use of any toxic substances, partially and/or fully defatted nut products which are substantially similar in shape and structure to the starting raw material, and have acceptable texture and flavor as compared with the raw material, yet with significantly less fat or oil content.
Historically, methods for recovering vegetable fat and oil can be separated into three general time periods:
(a) Pressing with a fixed mechanical or hydraulic press was the predominant approach from the earliest days to the latter part of the 19th century, and is still in limited use today for the production of some very high value oils. This technique was restricted to batch operation and was never suitable for large-scale production. Moreover, oil yields are limited by the achievable pressure, and residual oil levels in press-cake are often in the neighborhood of 20% or even more, though lower values are sometimes possible. The raw material is usually, but not always, broken up into fine meal under the pressures generated in the press. When not broken up into fine meal, the pressing operation results in a grossly distorted flattened product which, even after puffing or re-expansion, still shows evidence of folds or creases on the surfaces resulting from the pressing operation.
(b) Expelling, e.g. with a continuously operating screw or the like, was initially developed late in the last century and grew into a major form of processing in the first half of the current one. It continues to be used extensively around the world today and improvements to the technology continue to be made. It lends itself very well to large economies of scale and continuous production, resulting in low unit costs. Often the raw material is toasted prior to or during the expelling process in order to coagulate proteins and better release the oil therefrom. The raw material is invariably ground into meal by the process. Residual oil contents are lower than for pressing, often reaching as little as about 10%.
(c) Solvent extraction of oil was originally developed in Germany between the two world wars in order to maximize the yield of oil removed from an oleaginous material. In this process a product which may have been already partially de-oiled by expelling is often used as raw material. In that case, the product is substantially comminuted. If not comminuted as a consequence of a prior partially defatting treatment, the raw material is comminuted before direct extraction is carried out. Usually, the raw material is flaked or ground and pelletized (to minimize fines) and is then contacted with a solvent which is most frequently hexane. The solvent dissolves more than 90% of the fat present in a matter of a few minutes. The solvent is then separated from extracted oil by desolventization (usually by means of heat), while the totally defatted meal is delivered into a desolventizer/toaster where it is subjected to a heat treatment to boil away remaining solvent. Processes of this type are used extensively throughout the world. They yield oil of edible quality and meal useful as animal feed, both products playing critical roles in the world food supply.
Some fatty commodities are processed in very unique ways, as, for example, cocoa, which is often converted first into chocolate liquor, part of which is subsequently pressed for separation into cocoa butter and cocoa powder.
Historically, virtually all processes for recovering vegetable fat and oil have begun with raw material which is either fully comminuted in advance of processing or undergoes comminution during the extraction process itself. The historical reason for this is twofold. First, research experience has confirmed ordinary common sense that penetration of a normally liquid solvent into a non-comminuted raw material is at best difficult to achieve. One report of such experience may be found in Othmer et al. Chem. Eng. Prog. 51:372 (1955), but many other like articles are in the technical literature.
One problem is that nutmeats like all living matter have a cellular structure where cells are
LandOfFree
Process for extracting and desolventizing natural... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Process for extracting and desolventizing natural..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process for extracting and desolventizing natural... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3153695