Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Beverage or beverage concentrate
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-25
2003-04-15
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Beverage or beverage concentrate
C426S490000, C426S534000, C426S654000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06548102
ABSTRACT:
The present invention generally relates to edible soy compositions and more specifically to soy compositions having lowered or reduced total fat content and increased protein content, and to processes for making soy products with a reduced-fat and protein enriched content.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Soybean beverages and preparative processes thereof are generally known, reference for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,187. Reduced-fat soymilks are also known and can be produced by, for example, supplementing the non-fat portion of conventionally produced soymilk by, for example, the addition of a soy protein concentrate or a carbohydrate. The added non-fat component decreases the fat content and increases the relative protein-to-fat ratio by dilution. Other processes for oil seed fat-removal or fat-reduction are also known, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,005,076 and 5,591,477. Also U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,939, discloses the use of a natural flocculent chitosan to treat soy waste to recover material useful in feed and fuel stocks.
Currently available natural or organic soybean milks typically have a protein-to-fat ratio of about 1.8:1. To ingest the Food and Drug Administration's recommended 6.5 grams of protein in an 8 ounce serving of soy beverage, a consumer would also consume over 3.5 grams of fat. Label regulations for reduced-fat soy beverages limit the fat content to no more than 2 grams per 8 ounce serving, which equates to a protein-to-fat ratio of about 3.25:1. A 3.25:1 ratio was not heretofore readily attainable without resort to adding the above mentioned supplemental soy protein concentrate or carbohydrate. Organic or natural labelling considerations limit the ingredients in soymilk base to soybeans and water and optionally the inclusion of other organically approved process aids or ingredients. Soymilk consumers have expressed concern over the use of other “non-natural” chemical compounds and the effects of residual chemicals in the final reduced-fat soybean products. There is considerable consumer demand for foods that are “organic” which contain only “natural” ingredients.
Soybeans or soy seeds historically contained, for example, from about 13%-26% oil and about 38%-45% protein on a dry weight basis. Soybean oil historically comprised on average 60% polyunsaturated fatty acids, 25% monounsaturated fatty acids, and 15% saturated fatty acids. Reduced-fat soy products have been produced from full-fat soybeans by, for example, extraction with solvents such as hexane or alcohol. Soybeans and liquid soy products, such as soymilks, contain the above mentioned fatty oils in a highly emulsified or dispersed droplet form. The droplets are very stable, very small fat globules that are emulsified by compounds found in the soybeans themselves such as lecithin and other phospholipids. Homogenization of soybean milk is not necessary to prevent the “creaming” phenomena of fatty components as observed in cow's milk. Indeed the use of a centrifuge separator, for example, as commonly used to separate cow's milk into skim milk and cream components, is largely ineffective at separating the cream and skim components of conventionally prepared soymilk.
There remains a need for simple and efficient processes for producing reduced-fat soy products with enhanced protein content generally, and more specifically, processes which separate a high-protein reduced-fat soy milk component from a high-fat cream component contained in liquid soybean preparations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Applicants have discovered a process whereby adding particular amounts of emulsifiers, for example, certain food grade emulsifiers such as those obtained from soy beans, to the a raw or full-fat soy milk can destabilize the natural emulsion system to cause demulsification and agglomeration of small emulsified soy bean oil globules into larger clusters. The demulsification and agglomeration enables facile separation of the resulting high-fat and low- or non-fat components. Applicants have further discovered a process for increasing the protein-to-fat ratio of soybean milk by separating a portion, for example, about 0.01 to greater than about 99 percent, and preferably from about 0.1 to greater than about 50 percent, of the suspended or emulsified fat content from raw or full-fat soybean milk. The present invention provides processes for increasing the protein content and decreasing the fat content of soybean milk by, for example, a factor of 2 or more.
Accordingly, the present invention provides, in embodiments:
A process comprising:
mixing a soybean liquid with at least one demulsifier; and
separating the resulting cream component from the reduced-fat soy milk component;
A reduced-fat or low-fat content soymilk prepared by the above process; and
An increased-fat or high-fat content soy cream prepared by the above process.
These and other aspects of the present invention are illustrated herein.
DEFINITIONS
The following definition(s) are used, unless otherwise described:
An “emulsifier” is a compound or material which can emulsify two or more dissimilar phases, such as a water-oil mixture, with for example a surface-active agent, such as a soap, and which emulsifier promotes the formation and stabilization of an emulsion.
A “demulsifier” is a compound or material which can destabilize an emulsion, for example, the well emulsified oil or fat particles contained in the starting soy liquid or full-fat soy milk. A demulsifier can be, under the proper conditions such as temperature, concentration, and the like conditions, an emulsifier compound or substance. Demulsifiers as used in the present invention can include, for example, one or more known emulsifiers, surfactants, tensides, detergents, and the like materials, and which materials are capable of achieving the above mentioned destabilization of emulsified fatty oil droplets or particles contained in the starting soy milk. Preferred demulsifier are those materials suitable for human or animal consumption as in, for example, foodstuffs or nutraceuticals.
“HLB” or hydrophile-lipophile balance is a well known metric to those skilled in the art of surfactant and emulsifier technology. HLB rates the specific emulsification power of emulsifier compounds. The HLB of the demulsifier compounds of the present invention corresponds to the known HLB system.
“Soybean milk” or “soy milk” includes any liquid formulation prepared from soybeans.
“Skimmed” is the partial removal of fat from the soy milk, for example, fat removal ranging from about 0.01 to greater than about 99 percent.
from about less than about 10 percent to greater than about 99 weight percent based on the total fat content in the starting soy milk.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention provides an efficient and effective method for increasing the protein-to-fat ratio of soybean milk by separating a portion of the suspended or emulsified fat content from the bulk of the soybean milk. The selective depletion is achieved with a demulsifier compound or material.
In embodiments the present invention provides a process comprising:
mixing a soybean liquid with at least one demulsifier; and
separating the resulting cream component from the reduced-fat soy milk component. In an embodiment the above mentioned mixing is preferably accomplished with heating at from about 60 to about 90° C., and preferably from about 70 to about 85° C., for a period of from about 1 minute to about 10 hours.
The soybean liquid can be, for example, a full-fat soybean and water mixture with a protein-to-fat weight ratio, such as from about 2.0:1 to about 1.8:1 based on the combined weight of the full-fat soybean and water mixture. The reduced-fat soy milk component can be, for example, a reduced-fat soybean milk with a protein-to-fat weight ratio of from about 4.5:1 to about 3.25:1.
The mixing can be accomplished, for example, at a temperature above room temperature, and preferably at from about 60 to about 90° C., and more preferably from about 70 to about 85° C. The separation or separating of the resulting cream component from
Fenske Douglas J.
Fenske William D.
Pratt Helen
Schwegman Lundberg Woessner & Kluth P.A.
Sunrich, Inc.
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