Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Foam or foamable type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2002-06-04
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Foam or foamable type
C426S578000, C426S654000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06399134
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention is directed to aqueous-based frozen confections that have very soft textures, including the use of a special stabilizer composition, to methods for preparing such frozen confections, and to products containing such confections.
BACKGROUND ART
Frozen aqueous-based ice confections including popsicles, ice lollies, slushes, sorbets, and combination products in which such materials are adjoined to products such as ice cream, and the like, are well known. Such products are a sweet medium for carrying various flavors and/or juices in a convenient, solid, refreshing and cooling manner and usually have interesting shapes.
Ice confectionery products may be single serve items, such as on a stick, in a push up tube, or otherwise wrapped for easy consumption. Ice confectionery products may also be in the form of desserts, more or less elaborate, for consumption at a table. Ice confectionery products may also be used as a basis for the preparation of other foods and drinks including, but not limited to, alcoholic beverages.
In order to prepare and to preserve such products through distribution and sales channels, it is normal to use deep freezing processes. Typical procedures are described in Arbuckle (1986) “Ice Cream”, 4
th
Edition, AVI Publishing and in similar publications. It is also normal for such products to inadvertently receive temperature fluctuations or heat shocks during distribution, sales and/or domestic transport and storage. Either, or both, of these aspects can, and do, lead to the generation of hard textures which is a significant drawback. Hard textures lead to a number of problems. These include, but are not limited to, the following aspects:
Suppression of flavor releases causing loss of immediate impact.
The need for prolonged chewing to break up the mass, causing a leaching out of flavor during the consumption process, and the generation of a residual flavorless mass in the mouth.
Suppression of refreshing aspects, such suppression being caused by a slow release of other formulation elements, for example fruit acids.
Product messiness caused by random fracturing under high cleavage pressures. This includes product pieces falling off and onto the ground or the clothing. This can be a special problem as such products may be highly colored and are popular with children.
Random fracturing includes causes difficulties in cutting attractive pieces with well-defined edges, and difficulties serving uniform portions from a larger table dessert.
Product messiness also arises by de-laminations occurring at the junction of the hard ice confection and any softer adjoined products such as ice cream and the like.
Several methods have been previously proposed in attempts to overcome the problems of hardness in aqueous-based ice confections. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,191,352 as in European Patent Application 0,560,052 gelatin was used to prepare a low calorie stick. Arbuckle p. 88 also refers to gelatin as imparting smoothness of texture and the prevention of large crystals of ice forming during freezing. Arbuckle's comments on this page are regarding ice cream, but Arbuckle acknowledges on p. 291 that the freezing process of ices is similar to that of ice creams.
There are significant drawbacks, however, with the gelatin approach.
Gelatins, have relatively high set points of between 25-30° C. [see Ward A. G., and Courts A., (1977) The Science and Technology of Gelatin, p. 312, Academic Press, London, New York, San Francisco]. This inhibits the choices of production operating procedures. This relatively high set point means that operating temperatures have to be even higher in order to process the material in a fluid form.
Another drawback is that water ices containing gelatin still have high viscosity when processed at temperatures close to their set point. Such high viscosity inhibits pouring, coating, layering, enrobing, spraying, pumping, dipping, sucking, or molding types of operations. When operating close to the material's set temperature, one also observes large variations in the viscosity with any incidental minor temperature fluctuations. This leads to gross changes in product characteristics and resultant high variability in weight, portion, volume and shape control.
Operating at relatively high temperatures, either to avoid setting, or at even higher temperatures to reduce fluid viscosity, also seriously hinders co-processing with ice cream and related frozen ice confection products because these co-products will melt readily when contacted with such high temperatures.
Gelatin, being an animal protein, also has special issues with certain vegetarian, religious and other persuasions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,678 thixotropic gels such as alginate or xanthan were used. Thixotropic gels have essentially similar issues in terms of physical properties as gelatin. These include operating close to the set points, and suffering the drawback of viscosity sensitivity to temperature etc. Further, thixotropic gels require the addition of controlled shear forces in order to initiate short-term, time related thinning of the viscosity for the generation of the appropriate fluidity characteristics.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,559, product softness was achieved by adding milk solids. Milk solids have the drawback of altering the characteristics of aqueous-based ice confections in several ways including, but not limited to:
Reducing the desirable clarity of the article.
Changing the perceived color of the article because of added whiteness.
Changing the flavor of the article.
Inhibiting the utilization of components that would change the nature of the milk protein, for example fruit acids that would lead to coagulation or clotting.
Reducing the contrast that can be achieved in combination products such as with ice cream or similar types of products.
In European Patent No. 0 500 940, a combination of both softness and ruggedness was achieved by a special process with the generation of loose aggregates of ice crystals and shock cooling with liquid nitrogen. Ruggedness is not always a desirable attribute. Liquid nitrogen systems have other drawbacks being expensive in installation and operation and requiring special factory process line enclosure, and vent control, both for insulation and to prevent possible oxygen deprivation to employees. Such enclosures further inhibit access to operating lines for change parts and maintenance.
In European Patent Application 0,710,074, a freeze-coating method was proposed. This involved three steps. First a core material was pre-cooled. This was then used to support the aqueous-based ice confection after an immersion operation, using conduction from the core material to freeze a layer of the ice confection into place. Finally, fast cooling of the whole was employed to inhibit growth of the initial ice crystals, during the phase transformation of the remaining water. This final stage being preferably by liquid nitrogen dipping.
In PCT publication WO 98/04149, a freeze coating process was also utilized, in which a rheometry value of more than about 1.0 was required in the coating, which was then adhered to the milk containing ice confection in an immersion process and rapidly cooled to −15 ° C. or lower.
The freeze-coating techniques, such as the above two last references, have a number of disadvantages of which the following are examples, but which do not represent an exhaustive list:
Not all aqueous-based ice confections desire to be presented with an interior core support material.
Controls of temperatures and times are critical. This is not always easy in the event of process line stoppages.
The freezing point depression of certain ingredients introduces limitations in the flexibility of compositions.
Although initially small ice crystals do contribute to softness of texture, the ice crystals re-align, grow and change shape during temperature fluctuations that occur during storage and distribution.
There are geometry restraints to an immersion process. The aqueous-based ice confection principally can on
Best Eric Thomas
Renati Ronald P.
Tonner George F.
Bhat Nina
Nestec S.A.
Winston & Strawn
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