Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Extraction utilizing liquid as extracting medium
Patent
1998-12-14
2000-04-11
Weier, Anthony J.
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Extraction utilizing liquid as extracting medium
426430, 426432, A23L 128, A23L 110, A23F 500
Patent
active
060485590
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a process to remove micotoxins from a load of green coffee, intending for what regards the present case as micotoxins at least those known as ochratoxins and aphlatoxins that may be present in the green coffee; as it is known, the quantities of these micotoxins in the coffee are in actual fact extremely small (e.g. a few ppb--parts per billion--that is, mg/ton may be found) and their presence may depend on the geographical area of production, on unfavourable weather trends or by shortcomings in the working and storage processes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are no known industrial processes suited to removing the above mentioned micotoxins from green coffee, although it has been acknowledged that they are extremely harmful for human health, so much so that some regulations, for example in Finland and Hungary, prescribe strict limits on the contents of micotoxins in loads of coffee, under pain of destruction of the loads at the entry frontiers or prohibition of their importation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The applicant, in pursuing an industrial process to remove micotoxins from coffee, has conducted research and tests and has experimentally achieved the following results: i) some solvents used in removing caffeine from green coffee are also suited, in given conditions, to reducing micotoxins; ii) these solvents have an immediate and fast action in removing micotoxins, but are slow in removing caffeine; iii) these solvents do not remove caffeine if, when they come into contact with the green coffee, they are already saturated with caffeine.
On the basis of these results and the recognition of the fact that a part of the micotoxins is concentrated in the waxy layer covering each of the green coffee beans, the process that is the subject of the present patent application has been developed that, as characterized in the claims, comprises the following stages: container in which the coffee is preferably subjected to continuous mixing at temperature conditions ranging from environmental temperature and 200.degree. C.; required to make the green coffee beans porous and permeable; the micotoxins and extracting the solvent immediately after it has removed the waxes and a first desired amount of the micotoxins contained in the coffee;
A first alternative to said stage c) is a stage: upkeeping it for at least the time necessary to remove the entire amount of micotoxins.
A second alternate process comprises the repetition of stage c) to extend the removal of micotoxins to a higher degree.
Experiments prove that the process according to the first embodiment illustrated removes a first desired part of the micotoxins, most of them, and may remove a small part of the caffeine, though without producing a caffeine-free coffee; the process complying with the first and second alternative offers the opportunity to essentially remove all the micotoxins, though to different degreees, and a quantity of caffeine that is still not such as to produce a caffeine-free coffee; in the second alternative the point of the process at which it is no longer convenient to continue with a further stage c), or it is convenient to interrupt an ongoing phase c), is easily identifiable in order to avoid removing the last micotoxins and also an undesirable amount of caffeine.
The solvent containing the micotoxins removed from the green coffee must be treated in order to recover it, separate the micotoxins and appropriately dispose of the latter.
The most commonly used solvents in removing caffeine from green coffee are dichloro methane, ethyl acetate, supercritical carbon dioxide, the same oils extracted from coffee and a water based solution saturated with all the components of coffee. These same solvents are suited to removing the micotoxins, to different degrees and in suitable conditions.
The invention finally offers the opportunity to free coffee from micotoxins .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is illustrated in detail with an example of embodiment and with th
REFERENCES:
patent: 4308291 (1981-12-01), Werkhoff et al.
R.J. Clarke, "coffee vol.2: Technology", pp. 69-70, Elsevier Applied Science, 1987.
Demus S.p.A.
Weier Anthony J.
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