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
2000-05-01
2002-05-21
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,...
C426S096000, C426S097000, C426S098000, C426S619000, C426S620000, C426S621000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06391374
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to soy-based food products. Specifically, the invention relates to soy-based food products that include pre-toasted defatted soy flakes, in combination with selected components that provide for a palatable food composition.
Soybeans are widely recognized by medical and health professionals for their health benefits. [Riaz, (1999) “Healthy Baking with Soy Ingredients”,
Cereal Foods World
, 44(2):88-92]. Various constituents of soybeans, including soy protein and isoflavones, have been linked to the health benefits of soybeans. As one example, soy protein has been found to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease when consumed at about 6.25 g/serving/day as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Attempts have therefore been made to incorporate various forms of soybean into food products.
For example, soy proteins have been incorporated into cereal food products. Some of these food products include soy protein isolates, soy protein concentrates and soy flour. In order to obtain these sources of protein, the defatted soy flake starting material, obtained after extracting soybean oil from soybeans, must be further processed or otherwise refined, which leads to an increase in the cost of the final product.
A further drawback of soybeans are their beany, bittery off-flavors, caused, in part, by lipid peroxidation catalyzed by lipooxygenase. Attempts to reduce the off-flavors in soybeans have included enzymatic pretreatment of the soy protein, or addition of yeast or sodium bicarboatlo the soy product. However, some of these treatments add to an increased cost of the final product, and may not result in a food product that is optimized with respect to texture, structure and overall palatability. Moreover, certain forms of processed soybeans are relatively unpalatable. For example, inclusion of primarily defatted soy flakes in a food product can lead to a gritty, unpalatable mixture. There is therefore a need in the art for an inexpensive, ready-to-eat food product that takes advantage of the low cost of defatted soy flakes as a starting material, includes all of the advantages of soy products, and has an optimal palatability. The present invention addresses this need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been discovered that defatted soy flakes, which traditionally have a gritty, unacceptable texture, may form the basis of a nutritious, delicious food product having an acceptable texture when combined with selected palatable components. Accordingly, in one form of the invention, a soy-based food product that includes defatted soy flakes, an exogenous source of protein and isolated starch is provided. Soy off-flavors may be advantageously reduced by pre-toasting the defatted soy flakes prior to combining them with the other components of the product. Such pretreatment advantageously substantially inactivates or otherwise denatures enzymes, such as lipooxygenases, present in the soy flakes, the activity of which contributes to the off-flavors. Moreover, soy off-flavors may be further reduced by including sodium bicarbonate in the food product. In yet another form of the invention, the food product may be a soy-based cereal food product and thus include a cereal grain in addition to the other components described above. In further forms of the invention, the food product may also include flavoring agents, as well as a coating that may include flavoring agents and a vitamin and/or mineral mixture. In yet other embodiments, a soy-based flaked food product includes a flaked food product having pre-toasted defatted soy flakes incorporated therein is provided.
In another aspect of the invention, methods for producing the food product are provided and include, in another form of the invention, providing, preferably pre-toasted, defatted soy flakes and incorporating the flakes into a flaked food product. In preferred embodiments, a method includes providing defatted soy flakes, preferably pre-toasted, combining the above-described components and processing the mixture into a flaked food product. The food product produced may include up to 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for 10 essential vitamins and minerals. The soy-based food product is low in fat, cholesterol free and an excellent source of protein.
It is an object of the invention to provide soy-based food products wherein soy off-flavors are reduced.
It is a further object of the invention to provide low cost, nutritious, palatable soy-based food products, and methods for their production.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to preferred embodiments and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications of the invention, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
The present invention provides a soy-based, flaked food product that includes pre-toasted, defatted soy flakes, an exogenous source of protein and isolated starch. It has been unexpectedly discovered that an exogenous source of protein and isolated starch, when combined with defatted soy flakes, masks or otherwise reduces the gritty texture of the soy flakes so that a nutritious, delicious food product is obtained having a desirable texture and taste. A cereal grain is also preferably included to further favorably enhance the texture and taste of the product. Moreover, the beany and bittery off-flavors associated with soy-based products are substantially reduced by a pre-toasting step. As soy flakes are utilized as a starting material, the food product described herein is an inexpensive way to enable consumers to enjoy the nutrition and other benefits of soy products. The preferred food product has a texture that is crisp and crunchy, and is able to hold its structure (i.e, will not fall apart and/or become soggy) in milk longer than flakes made from other products. The food product may be eaten anytime as a snack, with or without milk, or as a breakfast food. The preferred soy-based, flaked food product described herein is an excellent source of protein, a good source of fiber, is low in fat and is cholesterol-free. Methods for producing the soy-based, flaked, food products are also provided.
In one aspect of the invention, a soy-based, flaked food product is provided. The food product includes defatted, desolventized soy flakes (also known as “white” or “spent” flakes), isolated starch and an exogenous source of protein. A cereal grain is also preferably included in the food product. The defatted soy flakes may be obtained as a by-product of soybean oil processing as known in the art and as briefly described below.
In a typical operation, soybeans may first be cleaned and dried. The soybeans are then cracked, dehulled, and treated with steam to facilitate flaking, prior to being extracted with hexane to remove the oil. After lipid extraction, the flakes retain their carbohydrate and fiber components and only trace levels of fat remain. After solvent extraction, the flakes are flash-desolventized by quick heating with superheated hexane vapor as known in the art to remove hexane for safe consumption by humans and may typically be purchased in this form. This flash-desolventization step also denatures, to a certain extent, trypsin inhibitors and enzymes that play a role in contributing to off-flavors, such as lipooxygenase [Hettiarachchy, N. and Kalapathy, U., “Soybean Protein Products”, Ch. 8 in
Soybeans: Chemistry, Technology, and Utilization
, Liu, K. (Ed.), pp. 379-411, Chapman and Hall, NY (1997)]. Although further denaturation of these enzymes may
Biehle Atina Marie
Davis Aaron Lee
Gray Jonathan Arthur
Rozzi Nicholas Louis
Solco Avery Kent
Greenlee Winner and Sullivan PC
Purdue Research Foundation
Weier Anthony J.
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