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
2001-01-31
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...
C426S524000, C117S077000, C117S927000, C023S29500G, C554S211000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06495189
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a method of producing a fat and oil composition in paste form or plastic form by cooling molten fat and oil or an emulsion comprising fat and oil, etc., in order to crystallize the fat and oil, and in further detail, to a method of producing a fat and oil with which it becomes possible to curtail and make efficient the production process when fat and oil processed foods, such as margarine or shortening, are produced.
2. Description of the Related Art
The process of producing fat and oil processed foods such as margarine, shortening, etc., usually involves crystallization, that is, the formation of crystals, of the fat and oil by cooling and kneading a molten fat and oil or emulsion to obtain a product in paste form or plastic form. Closed continuous-type scraped-surface heat exchangers and open chillers are given as the cooling and kneading device that is generally used at this time. Examples of the above-mentioned closed continuous-type scraped-surface heat exchangers are the Kombinator (Schroeder & Co., Germany), Votator (Cherry-Burrell Votator Division, USA)), Perfector (Gersternberg & Agger A/S, Denmark)), Chemetator (Crown Chemtech, Ltd., UK)), etc., and these are generally referred to as A units. Moreover, the Diacooler (Gersternberg & Agger A/S, Denmark)) is an example of the above-mentioned open chiller.
The above-mentioned closed continuous-type scraped-surface heat exchanger (A unit) uniformly kneads while scraping the surface as cooling and crystallization occur from around the molten composition, which has been introduced by a pump and is passing through the tubular heat exchanger unit. Nevertheless, thorough crystallization cannot be accomplished within the short cooling time of this type of cooling and kneading device. As a result, crystallization actually gradually proceeds once the product has been produced. However, this phenomenon of gradual crystallization following production is referred to as post-crystallization, and the crystals that are produced at this time generally become the cause of a marked reduction in the various commercial properties of fat and oil products with large crystal formation readily occurring, the product having a coarse texture, the product readily cracking, poor spreading performance, that is, spreadability, poor whipping performance, etc.
On the other hand, by means of the above-mentioned open chiller, for instance, the fat and oil composition is applied directly to the drum of the Diacooler and rapidly cooled and solidified and the fat and oil that is scraped off in the form of a thin piece is then kneaded under reduced pressure in the Complector (Gersternberg & Agger A/S, Denmark), etc., to obtain the product. Nevertheless, this type of cooling and kneading device is an open device and therefore, there are problems with hygiene. Moreover, the fat and oil that has been rapidly cooled and solidified must be kept in the hopper for several hours or longer for maturation and there is therefore a need to curtail the production time.
There are problems with producing fat and oil processed foods as previously described in that it takes a long time to thoroughly precipitate the crystals when the fat and oil is crystallized and if crystallization is performed in a short amount of time, the quality of the product will deteriorate due to post-crystallization. Various tests have been thus far performed that have involved, for instance, changing the shape or clearance of the heat exchanger unit, using- a series of several heat exchanger units, and changing the cooling temperature in order to improve cooling efficiency of closed continuous-type scraped-surface heat exchangers in an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problems. Moreover, attempts have also been made to promote crystallization by placing a holding unit between each cooling unit. Nevertheless, thus far it has not be possible to completely prevent post-crystallization and it usually is impossible to obtain a puff pastry or a sheet shape margarine product, wherein quality is particularly a problem, by using cylindrical units called resting tubes after cooling and kneading, or by gradually kneading as the fat and oil composition is being passed through a resting tube with a varying diameter as needed, because crystallization is not completed up to the point where post-crystallization no longer has a detrimental effect. Efficiency deteriorates over time and a considerable amount of labor is required in order to treat the fat and oil composition remaining in the resting tube when the lines are washed after production is completed, etc., leading to poor yield of the product. On the other hand, problems remain when an open chiller is used in that in addition to the above-mentioned hygiene problem, production takes a considerable amount of time because a maturation process is needed. A sufficient air content is not realized by conventional production processes, particularly with processed fat and oil products for butter cream, due to the effects of post-crystallization of the fat and oil crystals as previously described, and the fat and oil composition must be kept for several ten hours at a temperature that is 2 to 5° C. lower than the melting point of the fat and oil in order to impart a sufficient air content. A maturation process called “tempering” in Japan is generally necessary, and this leads to a large loss in terms of both energy and time.
Thus, although various research and production efforts have been previously made in order to eliminate the detrimental effects of post-crystallization on the various uses of fat and oil processed foods, a solution that is sufficient for realizing efficient crystallization of fats and oils has yet to be found and development of a technology with which crystallization can be completed in a short amount of time during production of fat and oil processed foods in order to eliminate the detrimental effects of post-crystallization is eagerly awaited.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above-mentioned various problem points are problems that cannot be avoided simply by crystallization by cooling during the production of fat and oil processed foods. Therefore, the inventors performed intense studies based on the idea that each of the above-mentioned problems can be solved not simply by relying on cooling only for crystallization, but by concomitantly using other methods in order to complete crystallization of the fat and oil composition in a short amount of time, and that actually, it is probably possible to curtail the crystallization time by applying pressure during crystallization, and as a result, they completed the present invention upon discovering that the crystallization starting temperature can be increased and therefore, the crystallization completion time can be markedly curtailed, by force application of pressure by some type of method during cooling and crystallization.
That is, the present invention is a method of producing a fat and oil composition, comprising the steps of melting fat and oil or emulsion comprising fat and oil and cooling this to crystallize the above-mentioned fat and oil and produce a fat and oil composition in paste form or plastic form, with pressure being applied by force to the above-mentioned molten fat and oil or emulsion comprising fat and oil during the above-mentioned crystallization.
By means of a preferred embodiment of the method of producing a fat and oil composition of the present invention, pressure is first applied after the above-mentioned fat and oil or emulsion comprising fat and oil has been pre-cooled to such an extent that crystals of the above-mentioned fat and oil do not precipitate. Moreover, by means of a preferred embodiment, pressure is within a range of 10 to 150 MPa and by means of a preferred embodiment, pressurization time is 1 to 60 minutes. Moreover, it is preferred that the fat and oil be kneaded simultaneously with crystallization of the fat and oil or after crystallization of the fat and oil by the
Hashimoto Shin'ichi
Ikehara Toshinori
Kato Masakazu
Nosho Yasuharu
Ueshima Kazuhiro
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Kaneka Corporation
Paden Carolyn
LandOfFree
Process for producing fat composition 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 producing fat composition, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process for producing fat composition will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2957138