Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient is starch based batter – dough product – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-08
2004-09-28
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient is starch based batter, dough product, etc.
C426S321000, C426S326000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06797308
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to stabilization of cooked pasta compositions against the development of toxins from pathogenic bacterial contaminants. The stabilized pasta compositions are attained by the incorporation of nisin-containing cultured whey derived from a nisin-producing culture. The cooked pasta compositions of this invention, which include both filled and unfilled pasta compositions, are stable at refrigeration temperatures for 90 days or longer, and preferably for 120 days or longer, and require no further cooking (i.e., the pasta is fully hydrated and only requires warming before serving).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pasta products are generally shaped dried doughs made from durum or wheat flour mixed with water and, sometimes, eggs and/or milk. Pasta products are generally available as fully dried (generally about 10 percent or less moisture) or refrigerated (generally about 30 percent or less moisture) products.
Such products should, of course, be prepared free of pathogenic organisms, especially toxin-producing anaerobes. Pathogenic organisms that may contaminate food products include, by way of nonlimiting example,
Clostridium botulinum, C. perfringens
, (Lucke et al., in “Ecology and Control Foods” (A. H. W. Hauschild and K. L. Dodds, eds.) Marcel Dekker, New York, 1993, pp. 177-207; Smart et al., J. Appl. Bacteriol. 46, 377-383 (1979); Roberts et al., J. Fd. Technol., 14, 211-226 (1979); Tompkin, Food Technology, 34, 229-236, and 257 (1980); Bryan et al., Amer. Public Health, 61, 1869-1885 (1971); Microbial Ecology of Food Commodities—Microorganisms in Foods 6: Blackie Academic and Professional, 1998, p. 115),
Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis
, and similar microorganisms. Among these, spore-forming, toxin-producing microorganisms are of particular concern, because any spores produced by viable cells may survive and grow to produce toxins subsequent to manufacturing or domestic heating steps. Such microorganisms include species of the genus Clostridium.
Conventional fully dried pasta products (i.e., dried pasta with about 10 or less percent moisture) are generally stable with regard to such microorganisms when stored at ambient temperatures. Refrigerated pastas are available both unfilled and filled. For refrigerated pastas, the moisture content is maintained at about 30 percent or less in order to control microorganisms. Generally such unfilled refrigerated pastas are stable for up to about 150 days at refrigeration temperatures; refrigerated pastas filled with a high moisture filling generally have shorted shelf lives (generally less than about 120 days at refrigeration temperatures). Both fully dried and refrigerated pasta must be cooked in boiling water to fully hydrate (i.e., increase moisture content up to about 50 percent) the pasta prior to consumption.
Nisin is a peptide-like antibacterial substance produced by microorganisms such as
Lactococcus lactis
subsp.
lactis
(formerly known as
Streptococcus lactis
). Its structure is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,505 to Yamauchi et al. The highest activity preparations of nisin contain about 40 million International Units (IU) per gram. Commercial preparations of nisin are available. For example, one commercial preparation, NISAPLIN™ containing about 1 million IU per gram is available from Aplin & Barrett Ltd., Trowbridge, England; another commercial preparation, CHRISIN™, containing about 1 million IU per gram is available from Chr. Hanson A/S (Denmark). Nisin has no known toxic effects in humans. It is widely used in a variety of prepared dairy foods. Experimental use in preserving other foods has also been reported. Details on these applications are provided below.
A number of efforts have been reported since 1975 directed to reducing uncoupled acid production in dairy fermentations by controlling the post-fermentation acidification of yogurt. In some of these studies, a nisin producing culture was introduced in an attempt to inhibit these effects. Kalra et al. (Indian Journal of Dairy Science, 28: 71-72 (1975)) incorporated the nisin producing culture
Streptococcus lactis
(now known as
L. lactis
subsp.
lactis
) along with the yogurt culture before fermentation. Others introduced nisin in milk prior to fermentation (Bayoumi, Chem. Mikrobiol. Technol. Lebensm., 13:65-69 (1991)) or following fermentation (Gupta et al., Cultured Dairy Products Journal, 23: 17-18 (1988); Gupta et al., Cultured Dairy Products Journal, 23: 9-10 (1989)). In all cases, the rate of post-fermentation acidification was only partially inhibited by these treatments and the yogurt continued to become more acidic throughout its shelf life.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,505, yogurt was produced from raw milk by incorporating a nisin-producing strain,
Lactococcus lactis
subsp.
lactis
, along with the traditional yogurt culture consisting of
Streptococcus salivarius
subsp.
thermophilus
(ST) and
Lactobacillus delbrueckii
subsp.
bulgaricus
(LB). This patent teaches that the lactococci are needed to secrete the nisin, whose effect is to retard the activity of ST and LB. The resulting yogurt therefore contains the lactococci used to produce the nisin. Nonetheless, the acidity of yogurt containing the nisin-producing bacteria increased by 64 to 96 percent in 14 days in various experiments inoculated with differing amounts of
L. lactis
subsp.
lactis
, compared to the initial acidity at the completion of fermentation. Other studies (Hogarty et al., J. Fd. Prot., 45:1208-1211 (1982); Sadovski et al., XX International Dairy Congress, Vol. E: 542-5-44 (1978)) also noted acid production and development of bitterness at low temperature by some mesophilic starter lactococci in dairy products.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,487, the use of nisin, as a representative of the class of lanthionine bacteriocins, to control undesirable microorganisms in heat processed meats is disclosed. In tests involving dipping frankfurters in nisin solutions, the growth of
L. monocytogenes
was effectively inhibited upon storage at 40° F.
Chung et al. (Appl. Envir. Microbiol., 55, 1329-1333 (1989)) report that nisin has an inhibitory effect on gram-positive bacteria, such as
L. monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus
, and
Streptococcus lactis
, but has no such effect on gram-negative bacteria such as
Serratia marcescens, Salmonella typhimurium
, and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
when these microorganisms are attached to meat.
Nisin has been added to cheeses to inhibit toxin production by
Clostridium botulinum
(U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,199). This patent discloses a detailed example in which chicken frankfurter components are shown to require the presence of both added nitrite and added nisin in order to prevent or delay botulinum toxin production when challenged with
C. botulinum.
Nisaplin™ has been found to preserve salad dressings from microbiological contamination, such as challenge by
Lactobacillus brevis
subsp.
lindneri
, for an extended shelf life period (Muriana et al., J. Food Protection, 58:1109-1113 (1995)).
More recently, whey from nisin-producing cultures has been used to preserve and stabilize food compositions, including fermented dairy products, mayonnaise-type spreads, cream cheese products, meat compositions, and meat/vegetable compositions. These uses of whey from nisin-producing cultures are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,351 (Oct. 24, 2000) entitled “Stabilization of Fermented Dairy Compositions Using Whey from Nisin-Producing Cultures”; and applications entitled “Stabilization of Mayonnaise Spreads Using Whey from Nisin-Producing Cultures”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/386,680, filed Aug. 31, 1999; “Stabilization of Cream Cheese Compositions Using Nisin-Producing Cultures”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/386,795, filed Aug. 31, 1999; “Stabilization of Cooked Meat Compositions Using Whey From Nisin-Producing Cultures”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/386,793, filed Aug. 31, 1999; and “Stabilization of Cooked Meat and Vegetable Compositions Using Whey From
Bell James L.
Brooks Scott
Pasch John Howard
Roman Michael Gerard
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.
Tran Lien
LandOfFree
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