GB2320175A - A food preservative - Google Patents
A food preservative Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2320175A GB2320175A GB9626087A GB9626087A GB2320175A GB 2320175 A GB2320175 A GB 2320175A GB 9626087 A GB9626087 A GB 9626087A GB 9626087 A GB9626087 A GB 9626087A GB 2320175 A GB2320175 A GB 2320175A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- control agent
- preservative
- bacterial control
- sulphite
- edible
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
- A23B—PRESERVING, e.g. BY CANNING, MEAT, FISH, EGGS, FRUIT, VEGETABLES, EDIBLE SEEDS; CHEMICAL RIPENING OF FRUIT OR VEGETABLES; THE PRESERVED, RIPENED, OR CANNED PRODUCTS
- A23B4/00—General methods for preserving meat, sausages, fish or fish products
- A23B4/14—Preserving with chemicals not covered by groups A23B4/02 or A23B4/12
- A23B4/18—Preserving with chemicals not covered by groups A23B4/02 or A23B4/12 in the form of liquids or solids
- A23B4/24—Inorganic compounds
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
- A23B—PRESERVING, e.g. BY CANNING, MEAT, FISH, EGGS, FRUIT, VEGETABLES, EDIBLE SEEDS; CHEMICAL RIPENING OF FRUIT OR VEGETABLES; THE PRESERVED, RIPENED, OR CANNED PRODUCTS
- A23B4/00—General methods for preserving meat, sausages, fish or fish products
- A23B4/14—Preserving with chemicals not covered by groups A23B4/02 or A23B4/12
- A23B4/16—Preserving with chemicals not covered by groups A23B4/02 or A23B4/12 in the form of gases, e.g. fumigation; Compositions or apparatus therefor
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
- A23P—SHAPING OR WORKING OF FOODSTUFFS, NOT FULLY COVERED BY A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS
- A23P10/00—Shaping or working of foodstuffs characterised by the products
- A23P10/30—Encapsulation of particles, e.g. foodstuff additives
- A23P10/35—Encapsulation of particles, e.g. foodstuff additives with oils, lipids, monoglycerides or diglycerides
Landscapes
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
- Food Science & Technology (AREA)
- Zoology (AREA)
- Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
- General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Inorganic Chemistry (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Biophysics (AREA)
- Molecular Biology (AREA)
- Meat, Egg Or Seafood Products (AREA)
- Food Preservation Except Freezing, Refrigeration, And Drying (AREA)
Abstract
The invention relates to a sulphur dioxide-releasing preservative (e.g. a sulphite) which is coated with an edible material and a method of making such coated preservatives. The coated preservative provides a way of increasing the shelf life of foodstuffs to which the preservative is added compared to the shelf life of the product to which the uncoated preservative is added.
Description
A food preservative and
a method of making a food preservative.
The present invention relates to a preservative for controlling bacterial growth in foodstuffs, in particular but not exclusively comminuted meat products such as breakfast sausages or burger products. The invention further relates to a method of making the preservatives.
Fresh meat products are typically stored and displayed in chilled compartments. Meat products tend to have preservatives added to increase the shelf-life of the products. Several factors effect the shelf-life of the product, the main factors being the rate of fat oxidation, the degradation of flavour, maintenance of colour, and the bacterial count in the product.
In order to control the bacterial count (the amount of yeasts, moulds and bacteria) within the meat product various agents can be used, such as sodium sulphite. The amount of bacterial control agent used has to be limited in order to comply with food regulations. Longer shelf-life is commercially very valuable, but a balance must be struck between shelf-life and quantity of control agent used. The present invention seeks to provide a way of controlling the bacterial count in a food or drink product in order to increase the shelf-life of the product.
According to the present invention there is provided a food preservative comprising a bacterial control agent coated in an edible material, wherein the bacterial control agent is selected from the group consisting of: sodium sulphite; sodium hydrogen sulphite; sodium metabisulphite; potassium metabisulphite; calcium sulphite; calcium hydrogen sulphite; potassium hydrogen sulphite; or other sulphur dioxide-releasing preservative.
It has been found that by coating the bacterial control agent in an edible shell the bacterial count within a product can be kept below a predetermined limit for a longer time period compared with using the same amount of uncoated bacterial control agent. This is particularly advantageous as the bacterial count can be kept within reasonable limits without any increase in the amount of bacterial control agent used in the food product.
Preferably, the edible coating comprises an edible fat. This is a particularly preferred embodiment as the coated bacterial control agent can be formed simply whilst providing the full benefit of the extended period of control of bacterial count.
A particularly preferred embodiment of the invention has the preservative further including a predetermined amount of uncoated bacterial control agent selected from the same said group of control agents. Often, the uncoated bacterial control agent will be the same agent as the coated bacterial control agent. It has been found that using a mixture of the uncoated control agent and the coated control agent, the initial growth of bacteria growth can be more effectively controlled.
There is also provided a method of preparing the preservatives according to the invention, comprising the steps of: (i) preparing a particulate bacterial control agent selected from the group consisting of: sodium sulphite; sodium hydrogen sulphite; sodium metabisulphite; potassium metabisulphite; calcium sulphite; calcium hydrogen sulphite; potassium hydrogen sulphite; or other sulphur dioxide-releasing preservative; (ii) coating the bacterial control agent in edible material.
Preferably, step (ii) comprises coating the bacterial control agent by a method selected from the group consisting of: (a) mixing the bacterial control agent in a molten material and cooling the mixture to form the edible coating from the molten material; (b) fluidising the bacterial control agent in an agglomerater and then coating the edible material thereonto, e.g. by spraying the coating over the bacterial control agent; (c) spray chilling the bacterial control agent with the edible material; (d) extruding the bacterial control agent after dispersing the bacterial control agent in an amorphous mass of the edible material.
In a further embodiment of the method of preparing the preservative, the method further includes the step of: (iii) introducing a predetermined amount of uncoated bacterial control agent to the product of step (ii).
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 shows an Mesophilic Aerobic Count in fresh
sausage against time;
The present invention relates to the control of yeasts, moulds and bacteria in comminuted meat products, in particular but not exclusively, sausages and burger products. The bacterial control is effected by use of active preservatives which inhibit growth of the bacteria; the preservatives being selected from the group consisting of: sodium sulphite; sodium hydrogen sulphite; sodium metabisulphite; potassium metabisulphite; calcium sulphite; calcium hydrogen sulphite; potassium hydrogen sulphite; or other sulphur dioxide-releasing preservative. Such preservatives can only be used in limited amounts in fresh food products.
In the exemplified embodiments of the invention which follow, the preservative sodium metabisulphite is used though the other preservatives mentioned above could also be used. Sodium metabisulphite is available in food-grade quality commercially in particulate form, hereinafter referred to as "free metabisulphite". In this application the term "particulate" encompasses granulated and powdered.
The encapsulated or coated sodium metabisulphite is formed using a food grade shell-forming component, such as a hydrogenated fat. In some of the exemplified embodiments of the invention a Hard Palm Kernel Oil 38 is used which is a hydrogenated fat based on palm kernel oil. Suitable products are available commercially, for example from
Anglia Oils Limited of Hull, England. The food grade encapsulating material must be suitable for the type of production process involved in preparing the food stuff to which the encapsulated preservative is to be added. For example, when the preservative is to be added to fresh sausages, the encapsulation must be resistant to the manufacturing process of sausages. The preservative may be added as a seasoning early in the manufacturing process or later as the pure preservative.
The coating must also be permeable to the active agent in the preservative which inhibits the bacteria. In the present invention, the active agent is sulphur dioxide and thus the coating must be permeable to sulphur dioxide; either the gas must be able to escape through pores in the coating or the material must be permeable to the gas.
The coating may degrade and break down over time thus allowing release of the active agent.
To form the encapsulated sodium metabisulphite the following technique was used: a mixture of 18% hydrogenated fat, 20% salt and about 60% particulate sodium metabisulphite was formed. The fat was melted, normally subsequently to forming the mixture, but sometimes prior thereto. The mixture was mixed in a blender to achieve a substantially homogeneous blend. The mixture was cooled to form a powdered product of encapsulated sodium metabisulphite. Whilst cooling 2% wt Neosyl, a freeflowing agent was added. This product was used in tests to determine the effectiveness of the encapsulated sodium metabisulphite, the result of which are illustrated graphically in Figure 1.
In this particular preparation a Hobart Mixer (5
Litre) was used. The sodium metabisulphite and salt (NaCl) are added to a mixing bowl warmed to 30-35"C and mixed for one minute. The fat is melted and poured slowly into the centre of the dry mix whilst mixing at a moderate speed.
The fat used being Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (BPKO 38).
The mixture is mixed for about fifteen minutes - until small spherical particles are formed on cooling. Neosyl (a free flowing agent) is then added and the particles are mixed for a further minute. The free-flowing powder is passed through lmm and 300 pm sieves. The fraction between these two sizes is retained for use.
The graph shows levels of bacterial activity with: 1) A control (no added preservatives); 2) Free metabisulphite - 100% free metabisulphite; 3) 100% encapsulated sodium metabisulphite;
As can be seen in Figure 1, the control shows that the bacterial count rises continually and rapidly during the first fourteen days of the test upto a very high level.
The 100% free metabisulphite provides a level of bacterial activity which is initially kept at a very low level for the first nine days, but the count then rises sharply over the following nine days. The 100% encapsulated sodium metabisulphite keeps the amount of bacterial activity to a low level for eighteen days.
As will be appreciated, the encapsulated sodium metabisulphite demonstrated a dramatic improvement in the control of bacterial activity over prolonged time periods in the sausages. In some circumstances an even greater degree of control can be achieved in the first period by using a mixture of encapsulated sodium metabisulphite and free sodium metabisulphite. It is imagined that in some circumstances it will be most effective to use such a mixture of encapsulated and free preservative in the food product.
The above described method of encapsulating the sodium metabisulphite is clearly a very simple technique with the degree of encapsulation varying throughout a batch, but generally being controlled by the speed of mixing and the ratio of sodium metabisulphite to fat in the mixture.
Other similar techniques which have also proved successful are described hereinafter and are called the
Modified Hobart Mixer Method and the Gardner Mixer Method.
The same ingredients and weight were used in these methods as in the method above described (Hobart Mixer) method except that the fat used was Beaded Palm Oil (42-45"C) rather than HPKO 38.
The modified Hobart Mixer Method again uses a Hobart
Mixer (5 litres capacity). The sodium metabisulphite, salt (Glacial) and Beaded Palm Oil (in solid form) are added to the mixing bowl and mixed for one minute. The mixing bowl is then heated to approximately 40"C for five minutes. The mixture is then cooled while mixing for five minutes to form small spherical particles. 2% Neosyl is then added and the particles mixed for a further 1 minute. The powder is then passed through a 1.7mm sieve.
The Gardner Mixer Method uses a 1 litre Gardner Mixer.
The sodium metabisulphite, salt and Beaded Palm Oil (solid form) are added to the mixer and mixed for one minute. The mixer walls are then heated to about 400C for five minutes.
The mixture is then cooled while mixing for five minutes to form individual small spherical particles. 2% Neosyl is then added and the particles are mixed for a further minute. The fxee-flowing powder is then passed through a 1.7mm sieve.
It has been found that these techniques of producing the coated sodium metabisulphite are particularly effective in preparing an effective encapsulated compound. It has been found that using the above techniques that the addition of the granular (e.g. glacial) salt (NaCl) is very beneficial in forming the particles of the coated bacterial control agent. The product is more homogenous and more reliably encapsulated than the product formed without salt added. One hypothesis of why this is the case is that the salt provides a nucleus/surface for the attachment of the fat and in the mixing process, fine crystals of the preservative become trapped between the salt and the fat layers. Recent tests show that removal of salt increases sulphur dioxide-release initial tests resulted in a 47% increase though confirmatory testing is required.
Other techniques of encapsulation can also be used, for example, a spray chilling technique has also been tested. Spray chilling is a very widely used technique for encapsulating products and offers a great degree of control of the nature of the shell formed by the technique.
Somewhat surprisingly, for the purposes of the present invention the sodium metabisulphite produced by the simple mixing technique described in detail above was shown to offer more advantageous control of the bacterial activity in the sausage compared to sodium metabisulphite encapsulated by spray chilling. It is predicted that full optimisation of the spray chilling parameters will provide a spray chilled encapsulated product with similar effectiveness as the simply mixed encapsulated product.
Other techniques could also be used for encapsulating the preservative, for example using an agglomerater, which is another widely known technique in the food industry.
The agglomerater would be used to fluidise the bacterial control agent and then the fat sprayed thereonto. It would also be possible to encapsulate by an extrusion method where the preservative material is dispersed in an amorphous mass of the coating material such as described in
US-A-4,230,687. Again the parameters in the encapsulating technique could be optimised for the most effective control of the bacterial activity in the food product. It may even be possible to use a spray drying technique - though this is likely to be complicated by the heating steps involved in this technique.
The percentage of free sodium metabisulphite to encapsulated sodium metabisulphite can also be optimised to obtain the greatest degree of control of the bacterial activity in the foodstuff. This can be done by the trial and error method for each particular foodstuff/type of preservative.
Claims (18)
1. A food preservative comprising a bacterial control agent coated in an edible material, wherein the bacterial control agent is selected from the group consisting of: sodium sulphite; sodium hydrogen sulphite; sodium metabisulphite; potassium metabisulphite; calcium sulphite; calcium hydrogen sulphite; potassium hydrogen sulphite; or other sulphur dioxide releasing preservative.
2. The food preservative according to claim 1, wherein the edible material comprises an edible fat.
3. The food preservative according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the preservative further includes a predetermined amount of uncoated bacterial control agent selected from the said group.
4. The food preservative according to claim 3, wherein the uncoated bacterial control agent is the same agent as the coated bacterial control agent.
5. A foodstuff including the food preservative according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
6. The foodstuff according to claim 5, wherein the foodstuff is a meat product.
7. The foodstuff according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the foodstuff is comminuted meat product such as a sausage or burger product.
8. A method of preparing the preservative according to any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising the steps of: i) preparing a particulate bacterial control agent
selected from the group consisting of sodium sulphite;
sodium hydrogen sulphite; sodium metabisulphite;
potassium metabisulphite; calcium sulphite; calcium
hydrogen sulphite; potassium hydrogen sulphite; or
other sulphur dioxide releasing preservatives; ii) coating the bacterial control agent in an edible
material.
9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the edible coating is an edible fat.
10. The method according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein step (ii) comprises coating the bacterial control agent by a method selected from the group consisting of: a) mixing the bacterial control agent in a molten
material and cooling the mixture to form the edible
coating from the molten material; b) forming a fluid of the bacterial control agent in an
agglomerater and covering, for example spraying, the
edible coating material thereonto; c) spray chilling the bacterial control agent with the
edible material; d) extruding the bacterial control agent after dispersing
the bacterial control agent in an amorphous mass of
the coating material.
11. The method according to any one of claims 8, 9 or 10, further including the steps of: iii) introducing a predetermined amount of uncoated
bacterial control agent to the product of step (ii).
12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein a predetermined amount of a forming-material is added.
13. The method of claim 12, using the technique of claim 10 a).
14. The method of claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the forming-material is a granular material and/or is salt (NaCl).
15. A preservative producible by the method of any one of claims 8 to 14.
16. A preservative as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawing.
17. A foodstuff as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawing.
18. A method of preparing a preservative as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.
Priority Applications (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9626087A GB2320175B (en) | 1996-12-16 | 1996-12-16 | A food preservative and a method of making a food preservative |
| IE19970876A IE970876A1 (en) | 1996-12-16 | 1997-12-10 | A food preservative and a method of making a food preservative |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9626087A GB2320175B (en) | 1996-12-16 | 1996-12-16 | A food preservative and a method of making a food preservative |
Publications (3)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB9626087D0 GB9626087D0 (en) | 1997-02-05 |
| GB2320175A true GB2320175A (en) | 1998-06-17 |
| GB2320175B GB2320175B (en) | 2001-02-28 |
Family
ID=10804516
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9626087A Expired - Lifetime GB2320175B (en) | 1996-12-16 | 1996-12-16 | A food preservative and a method of making a food preservative |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2320175B (en) |
| IE (1) | IE970876A1 (en) |
Cited By (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP1815752A1 (en) * | 2006-02-02 | 2007-08-08 | Nestec S.A. | Improvement of cold liquid solubility of fat-containing powders |
| US9661864B2 (en) | 2005-02-17 | 2017-05-30 | Unilever Bcs Us, Inc. | Process for the preparation of a spreadable dispersion |
| US9924730B2 (en) | 2010-06-22 | 2018-03-27 | Unilever Bcs Us, Inc. | Edible fat powders |
| US10219523B2 (en) | 2010-12-17 | 2019-03-05 | Upfield Us Inc. | Process of compacting a microporous fat powder and compacted fat powder so obtained |
| US11278038B2 (en) | 2003-07-17 | 2022-03-22 | Upfield Europe B.V. | Process for the preparation of an edible dispersion comprising oil and structuring agent |
Families Citing this family (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HUE026515T2 (en) | 2010-12-17 | 2016-06-28 | Unilever Bcs Europe Bv | Edible water in oil emulsion |
Citations (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4812445A (en) * | 1987-02-06 | 1989-03-14 | National Starch And Chemical Corporation | Starch based encapsulation process |
| US4871558A (en) * | 1986-03-17 | 1989-10-03 | Ajinomoto Co., Inc. | Oil or fat coated substance and method of making the same |
| EP0687417A1 (en) * | 1994-06-16 | 1995-12-20 | Frisco-Findus Ag | Inhibition of bacterial growth |
-
1996
- 1996-12-16 GB GB9626087A patent/GB2320175B/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1997
- 1997-12-10 IE IE19970876A patent/IE970876A1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Patent Citations (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4871558A (en) * | 1986-03-17 | 1989-10-03 | Ajinomoto Co., Inc. | Oil or fat coated substance and method of making the same |
| US4812445A (en) * | 1987-02-06 | 1989-03-14 | National Starch And Chemical Corporation | Starch based encapsulation process |
| EP0687417A1 (en) * | 1994-06-16 | 1995-12-20 | Frisco-Findus Ag | Inhibition of bacterial growth |
Cited By (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US11278038B2 (en) | 2003-07-17 | 2022-03-22 | Upfield Europe B.V. | Process for the preparation of an edible dispersion comprising oil and structuring agent |
| US9661864B2 (en) | 2005-02-17 | 2017-05-30 | Unilever Bcs Us, Inc. | Process for the preparation of a spreadable dispersion |
| EP1815752A1 (en) * | 2006-02-02 | 2007-08-08 | Nestec S.A. | Improvement of cold liquid solubility of fat-containing powders |
| WO2007088195A1 (en) * | 2006-02-02 | 2007-08-09 | Nestec S.A. | Improvement of cold liquid solubility of fat-containing powders |
| JP2009525374A (en) * | 2006-02-02 | 2009-07-09 | ネステク ソシエテ アノニム | Improved low temperature liquid solubility of fat-containing powders |
| US9924730B2 (en) | 2010-06-22 | 2018-03-27 | Unilever Bcs Us, Inc. | Edible fat powders |
| US10219523B2 (en) | 2010-12-17 | 2019-03-05 | Upfield Us Inc. | Process of compacting a microporous fat powder and compacted fat powder so obtained |
| US11071307B2 (en) | 2010-12-17 | 2021-07-27 | Upfield Europe B.V. | Process of compacting a microporous fat powder and compacted powder so obtained |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB9626087D0 (en) | 1997-02-05 |
| IE970876A1 (en) | 2000-02-09 |
| GB2320175B (en) | 2001-02-28 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 732E | Amendments to the register in respect of changes of name or changes affecting rights (sect. 32/1977) | ||
| PE20 | Patent expired after termination of 20 years |
Expiry date: 20161215 |