CA1103513A

CA1103513A - Whey protein soft drink fortifier

Info

Publication number: CA1103513A
Application number: CA290,238A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Gabriele E. Scibelli
Original assignee: Stauffer Chemical Co
Current assignee: Stauffer Chemical Co
Priority date: 1976-11-05
Filing date: 1977-11-04
Publication date: 1981-06-23
Also published as: FR2369798B1; IT1090619B; NL7712182A; FR2369798A1; JPS5394061A; DE2748847A1

Abstract

WHEY PROTEIN SOFT DRINK FORTIFIER
Abstract Turbid protein fortified citrus flavored soft drinks can be prepared by adding to the soft drink a protein fortifier of either cheese whey protein concentrate when the final pH of the soft drink is within the range of pH 3.1 to 3.9 or a combination of 50%-95% cheese whey protein concentrate and cor-respondingly from about 50-5% non-fat dried milk when the pH
of the final drink is within the range of from 3.1 to 3.7. A
turbid protein fortified acidic soft drink having stable sus-pension of particles therein is provided.

Description

`

Backaround of the Present Invention ;~
The present invention relates to turbid protein fortlfied~ ~~
acidic soft drinks.
Acidic soft drinks either carbonated or non-carbonated, especially of the citrus flavored variety, are well known. `
Because of the large appeal of these beverages to the young and because of their low nutritive value, con~lderation has been given to fortifying these beverage~ with protein to make them more nutritious. Much work has been undertaken to provide a protein fortified acidic soft drink. Much of the work has been directed to preparing clear beverages.
; A clear beverage has been formed using cheese whey protein concentrate made from cottage cheese whey by ultra-filtr~tion (Eolsinger et al., Food Technology, February 1973, p. 59).
Protein fortification of orange juice under conditions that do not favor precLpitation of the protein is disclosed~in U.S. Patent 3,962,342. Acid soluble protein is combined with starch and a food stabilizer in the orange juice.

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,. ~ . . , . ~. , . i . :'. . . -35~3 Non-precipitation of protein in a milk-fruit juice beverage can also be accomplished with carboxymethyl cellulose (U.S. Patent 3,692,532).
- Navel orange juice debitterea with ve~etable oil can be used in a milk-orange juice beverage as taught in U.S.
; Patent 3,647,476.
Pear and mil~ combinations are dlsclosed in U.S.
Patent 3,174,865~ The use o pear pulp overcomes the settling problem.
Much of this effort has been directed at obtainlnng a clear protein enriched soft drink. However, it is desired to provide a turbid soft drink, particularly a citrus flavored-turbid soft drink, which turbidity can be attributed to sus pended protein material.
.
~` ~5 Many denatured whey proteins are known which would produce a protein enriched turbia soft drink. However, the market demands a product in which the turbidty is caused by a stable suspension, i.e., one that does not settle after one month.
Brief Summary of the Invention -~ In accordance with the present invention, it has been found that turbld protein fortified acidic soft drinks which have a stable suspension of particles ther~in can be prepared by admixing with said acidic soft drink a protein fortifier composition of either cheese whey protein concentrate when ~-the final pH of the drink is within the xange of 3.1 to 3.
and preferably a pH of 3.7 to 3.9 or a combination of from about 50% to about 95~ cheese whey protein and correspondingly, from about 50% to about 5% non-fat dried milk, preferably high heat non-fat dried milk, when the final pH of the drinX is within ' ' ; -2-P35:iL3 the range of from about 3.1 to about 3.7, said fortifier being used in an amount suf~icient to provide at least 0.1%
by weight protein in the final drink. Acidic soft drinks, preferably citrus based, can be protein fortified while providing a turbidity which does not settle upon storage.
Flavor of the drink is not adversely affected by the forti-ficationO Drinks of both milky and non-milky flavor can be provided. The acidic drinks can be either carbonated or non-carbonated.
As used herein, the term turbidity is intended to mean a cloudy or hazy appearance in a liquid caused by a suspension of colloidal or ine solids.
As used herein, stable suspension is intended to cover suspensions both before and after pasteurization which do not settle upon standing for one month.
Thus, in accordance with the present teachings, there is provided a protein fortifier composition for providing :. .
liquid acidic soft drinks having a final protein fortification and a turbid stable suspension therein, comprising from about ~0 50% to about 95~ cheese whey protein concentrate which has a protein solid concentration between about 25~ and 60~ by weight on a dry basis prepared by the ultrafiltration of acid cheese whey and from about 50% to about 5~ high heat non-fat dried milk, the percentages unless otherwise stated being by weight based on the combined dry weight of the protein concentrate and the non-fat dried milk.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the present teachings, a method is provided or fortifying liauid acidic soft drinks which have a pH within the range of from about 3.1 to about 3.7 with protein while providing a turbid stable suspension therein which comprises admixing with the acidic soft drink a protein fortifier composition which - b ~ 3~i~3 comprises from about 50% to about 95% of cheese whey protein concentrate which has a protein solid concentration between about 25% and about 60% by weight on a dry basis prepared by ultrafiltration of acid cheese whey in combination with from about 5% to about 50% high heat non-fat dried milk with the protein fortifier being admixed in an amount sufficient to add from about 0.1~ to about 5% by weight protein based on the total weight of the soft drink, the percentages unless otherwise stated being by weight based on the combined dried weight of the protein concentrate and the non-fat dried milk.
Deta led Description of the Invention The whey protein concentrate can be derived from any cheese whey. Cheese whey is the by-product of the acid, or rennet coagulation of milk protein ~i.e., casein) from milk ; in the manufacture of cheese. The whey obtained from the acid coagulation is called acid whey and that obtained from rennet, sweet whey.
The acid coagulation of milk protein from milk involves either the addition of lactic acid producing hacteria (e.g., -~ 20 Labtobacillus s~.) or the addition of food grade acids such as lactic ~i.e., direct) or hydrochloric acid acidification ;
Regardless of the method used ~o acidi~y milk, acidification ; is allowed to proceed~until a pH of about 4.6 is reached.
At this pH, casein becomes insolubilized and coagulates as ~ -cheese. The cheese produced by this method is commonly known , ;~
: ~, ~:, ~;"='' ~35~3 ~-4778 as cottage cheese. The whey obtained by the separation and removal of this cheese curd is called cottage cheese whey.
Sweet whey is obtained by the separation and removal of coagula;ted casein produced by the ad~ition of a proteo-lytic enzyme to milk. The proteolytic enzymes generally used are known as rennin and/or pepsin. Specific examples of cheese products produced by this general method are cheddar cheese~ swiss cheese and mozzarella cheese. - `
The whey protein concentrates can be prepared rom acid (cottage) or sweet (cheddar) whey or mixtures thereof.
Ii a milky flavor is desired, the sweet whey sourc can be used. If a blana flavor i5 desired, ~he acid ~hey is preferred.
Blends of acid and sweet can be used when a slight milky flavor is desired.
The preferred cheese whey for use in preparing the concentrates used in the present invention is l~U% acid (cottage cheese) whey or blends with up to 20% sweet cheese .:~
whey. The more preferred is 100% acid (cottage cheese) whey.
~ 20 The acid whey concentrate has a bland flavor which does ; not interfere with the~other flavors in tha drink.
The cheese whey product is required to be a protein -concentrate. As used herein, the term concentrate relates to a whey protein product having 25~ or more whey protein solids. Such concentrates can be made by a number of processes i~cluding: t~e delactosing of whey; an electrodialysis pro-cedure (e.g., as described by Stribley, R.C., Food Processing~
Vol. 24, ~o. 1, p. 49, 1963); by reverse osmosis; by gel filtration as described in U.S. Reissue Patent 27,806; by ultrafiltration. An illustrative method for ultrafiltration is describea by Horton, B.S. et al., Food Technology, Vol.

35~3 26t p. 30/ 1972.
It has been found that the most effective results are obtained using an ultrafiltered acid (cottage cheesej whey concentrate containing from about 40% to about 60%
and preferably 50% ~ 5~ whey protein. ~n a typical appli- -cation of such a preferred process r cottage cheese wh~y is neutralized to a pH 6.4 with 50% caustic. After storage, the pH is then adjusted to 7.2 and any solids or precipitates are removed by centrifugal clarifiers. The clarified liquor .' 7 is then pasteurized. The liquor is then fed into an ultra-~ filtration membrane unit. Appropxiate steps are take to -; limit microbial spoilage during ultrafil~ration. The retentate is condensed and spray dried. Protein products of 25~ or more whey protein can be prepared by this process.
Commercial products generally comprises 40-80% protein (N x ~.38), 10-30% lactose, 3-15% ash, and 0 4-4% fat. -- This product is available commercially under the name ENRPRO
and the designation "made from grade A milk" from Stauffer Chemical Company, Food Ingredients Division~ Westport, Connecticut. Products having high or lower protein contents - are also available.
The non-fat dried milk used in the present invention ~an be either low heat, medium heat or high heat non-fat dried milk, i.e., an indication of the heat exposure received during drying. In drying the milk, a portion of the non-casein milk protein is denatured. This denaturation of the non-casein proteins of milk by heat is used to determine the amount of heat exposure received by the milk. After precipita-tion of the casein, a determination is made of the amount of protein left in the whey. This procedure, developed by ~arland 35~3 ~4778 and Ashworth, ~. Dairy Science 28 879 (1945) is designated as the whey protein nitrogen test. With this test, high heat non-fat aried milk is defined for use herein as having not over 1.5 milligrams whey protein nitrogen per gram of milk powder. The other two known for~s of non-fat dried milk, i.e., low heat and medium heat, are categorized as follows: ;
low heat, not less than 6.0 milligrams/gram and medium heat over 1.5 but less than 6~0 milligrams/gram.
The preferred non-fat dried milk is high heat non- ;
lQ fat dried milk. Slightly less efecti~e results are obtained using the low heat product.
High heat non-~at dried milk is usually prepared by dry-ing the milk on a rotating steam heated drum or roller. Low heat non-fat dried milk is usually prepared by spray drying.

.. .. . ,.. .. ~.. .
For the preferred high heat non-~at dried milk, any drying process can be used as long as the product has less than 1.5 milligrams whey protein nitrogen per gram of milk powder.
The acidic soft drinks which can be fortified with protein in accordance with the present invention include any acidic soft drink) either natural or formulated, which has a final pH between the range o~ from about 3.1 to about 3.9. These include cola, root beer, citrus and citrus flavored drinks including natrual oranye juice, lemonade, lime, lemon-lime and the like. The soft drink can be carbonated or non-carbonatëd as desired though a carbonated beverage is preferred. The drinks which are most typically within the stated pH range are the citrus flavored type. A typical composition includes 11% sugar, 88~ water, and 0.23% citric acid.

When preparing a soft drink within the range of pH 3.1 .. ..

, 3~.3 C-4~J78 to 3.7, it is preferred to use the combination of the whey protein ~oncentrate and the non-fat dried milk for a stable suspension. At pH's above 3.7, a precipitate is formed when using this combination. When using the combination o the whey protein concentrate and the non-at dried milk, it is preferred that the pH he maintained at pH ~.2-3.5 ~ 0.1 and more preferably pH 3.5 + 0.05.
The whey protein concentrate is preferably derived from acid (cottage~ cheese whey and the non-fat dried milk is preferably high~heat non-fat dried milk.
When using the combination of the whey protein con-centrate and the non-fat dried milk, it is preferred to use a combination comprised of from about 50% to about 95%
and preferably from about 75% to about 90~ acidic cheese ~ 15 whey protein concentrate and from about 50% to about 5%
; and preferably from about 25% to about 10% non-~at dried ~: milk.
When preparing a soft drink~with a pH within the range of from about 3.7 to about 3.9 and most preferably 3.8 + 0.05, the most effective results can be achieved using whey protein concentrate alone. At pH's of 4.0, and above, a precipitate ~is formed. A turbid drink is provided by using the whey prot~in concentrate alone at a pH of between 3.1 and 3.9. However, the most effective tur~idity using the concentrate alone i5 achieved at a pH of between 3.7 and 3.9.
If the inal drink has a pH of between 3.1 and 3,7, the combination with the non-fat dried milk is preferred.
At a pH of 3, the soft drink solution is clear. At a pH
within the range of 3.7 to 3.9, a suspension providing the desired degree of turbidity is obtained whlch will not C-~778 3~:~3 precipitate upon storage either before or after pasteurization of the soft drink.
The amount of turbidity provided is dependent on the type of soft drink prepared and the amount of whey protein concentrate used. Turbidi-t~y levels can be increased or de-creased by increasing or decreasing the a~cunt of the whey concentrate and, if applicable, the level of non-fat dried milk as desired to satisfy ~he demand of the market. Appropri -ate levels can be easily determined- by one skilled in the lQ art.
The extent of protein fortification can also be likewise increased or decreased. A sufficient amount of protein fortifier should be used to provide at least 0.1%
by weight protein in the final drink~ The preferred maximum protein foxtification lewel is up to about 5~. It is preferred that the protein fortification range in amounts of from 0.1 to about 1%, based on Xjeldahl nitrogen. The actual amount of ` fortifier needed to attain these levels is dependent on the percenta~e protein therein. For instance, a protein concen-trate having 50% protein would be used within the amounts of from about 0.2~ to about 2.0% to achieve the preferred amounts of 0.1% to 1%, The exac-t amounts can be easily calculated by one skilled in the art.
It has been found that the compositions of the inven-tion at the pH's stated are resistant to thermal denaturationand precipitation. The soft drinks fortified in accordance with -the present invention can be pasteurized without a pre-cipitation of the protein.
The invention will be more fully illustrated in the examples which follow.

. .

Examples 1-9 Yarious protein enriched citrus soft drinks were pre-pared- by blending a protein fortifier with a commercial cikrus 50ft drink formulation containing sugar, water, citric acid monohydrate, artifi~ial color (yellow No. 5) and preservatives (sodium benzoate). The pxotein fortifier was dissolved in water prior to addition. A sufficient amount of protein .
~; fortifier was used to provide a protein content i~ the s~ft drink of 0.2S% by weight pro~-ein (0.25 grams~lin 100 ~rams of liquid. For test purp~ses, the drinks wexe non-carbonated.
Samples were tested for flavor acceptability and light trans~
mittance. Flavor acceptability was determined organoleptically.
~; Light tramsmittance of a non-fortified soft drink was about The results are reported in Table I below.
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, . .; , , C-4778 5~3 From these data, it can ~e seen that effective clouding of the liquid was only attained in Examples ~, 6 and ~. The product of Examples 2 and 7 had a citrus flavor and the product of Example 6 had a milky flavor. A compari-son of the results of Examples 2 and 7 with Examples 8 and 9(using low heat non-fat dried milk) show the advantage of using the high heat non-fa~ dried milk in the composi~ions o~
the present invention. Clouding is also shown by the use of lesser amounts of protein as in Example 3 wherein only 0.146%
protein was used. -Examples 10-14 .
Experiments were run to determine the effect of ; pasteurization on the stability of the,suspènsion~ Citrus soft drinks ~s described in Example 1 were tested for light transmittance (wave length 625 nm) on a Bausch and Lomb Spectrophotometer before and after pasteurization at 65.6C.
(150F~ for five minutes. The results are reported in Table II below. The llght transmittance results of Examples 10-14 cannot be correlated with the like results found in Examples 1-9 since the wave lengths used in the tests were different.
Examples 10, 11 and 12 were run with different lots of a whey protein concentrate sold under the name ENRPRO-50 and the designation "prepared from Grade A milk". The same whey protein concentrate was used in Examples 12 and 13. Each sample had a protein content of 0.25% by weight protein, (0.25 grams protein per 100 grams liquid).

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E~l F~ E3 1~ ~ 1 ' ~' , . . ..... ' ~-~778 From -these data, it can be seen that blends of whey protein concentrate and high heat non-fat dried milk tExamples lO, 11 and 12) all remain in solution at a pH of 3.5. However, all of these compositions produce a precipitate at pH 3.8 after pasteurization.
Example 13 shows that the acidic cheese whey protein concentrate when usea alone is most effective pH 3.8. A precipitate is formed at pH 4Ø
These data also show that all samples were clear at pH 3.0 both before and after pasteurization. All samples were cloudy at pH of 3.5 ater pasteurization.
A pH above 3.0 should be used if turbidity is desired.
- Examples 15 and 16 The following examples were run to determine ~5 whether denatured acidic whey protein concentrate could be used in place of the high heat non-fat dried milk.
Citrus soft drinks as described in Example l prepared with protein fortifler compositions containing denatured whey protein concentrate in place of h~gh heat non-fat dried milk were tested for light transmittance before and after pasteurization using a Bausch and Lomb Spectro-photometer set at a wave length of 625 nm. The following results were obtained: Each sample had a protein content of 0.25~ by weight protein ~0.25 grams protein in lO0 grams of liquid).

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C-477~

35~3 These data show that denatured acidic whey protein concentrate cannot be used in place of high heat non~fat dried milk in the compositions of the invention.
The invention is more fully defined in the claims which follow.
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Claims

What is Claimed is:

1. A method for fortifying liquid acidic soft drinks having a pH within the range of from about 3.1 to about 3.7 with protein while providing a turbid stable suspension therein which comprises admixing with said acidic soft drink a protein fortifier composition comprising from about 50% to about 95%
of cheese whey protein concentrate having a protein solids concentration between about 25% and about 60% by weight on a dry basis prepared by ultrafiltration of acid cheese whey in combination with from about 5% to about 50% high heat non-fat dried milk, said protein fortifier being admixed in an amount sufficient to add from about 0.1% to about 5% by weight protein based on the total weight of the soft drink, said percentages unless otherwise stated being by weight based on the combined dry weight of said protein concentrate and said non-fat dried milk.

2. The method as recited in Claim 1 wherein the pH of said fortified soft drink is within the range of from about +
3.2 to about 3.5- 0.1.

3. The method as recited in Claim 1 wherein the pH of +
said fortified soft drink is about 3.5 - 0.05.

4. The method as recited in Claim 1 wherein the whey protein concentrate has a protein concentration of between about 40 and 60% by weight.

5. The method as recited in Claim 1 wherein said composi-tion is comprised of from about 75% to about 90% of said cheese whey protein concentrate and correspondingly, from about 10% to about 25% of said non-fat dried milk.

6. The method as recited in Claim 1 wherein said acidic soft drink is a carbonated citrus drink.

7. The method as recited in Claim 1 wherein the suspension does not settle after one month and has from about 67% to about 16% light transmittance measured at a wave length of 640 mm.

8. A protein fortifier composition for providing liquid acidic soft drinks having a final protein fortification and a turbid stable suspension therein comprising from about 50%
to about 95% cheese whey protein concentrate having a protein solids concentration between about 25% and 60% by weight on a dry basis prepared by the ultrafiltration of acid cheese whey and from about 50% to about 5% high heat non-fat dried milk, said percentages unless otherwise stated being by weight based on the combined dry weight of the protein concentrate and the non-fat dried milk.

9. The protein fortifier composition as recited in Claim 8 said cheese whey protein concentrate is present in an amount ranging from 75% to about 90% and correspondingly, said non-fat dried milk is present in an amount ranging from about 10% to about 25%.

10. The protein fortifier composition as recited in Claim 9 wherein said acidic whey protein concentrate has a whey protein concentration ranging from about 40% to about 60% by weight.

11. The protein fortifier composition as recited in Claim 9 wherein said acid cheese whey protein is present in an amount ranging from about 80% to about 85% and correspondingly, said high heat non-fat dried milk is present within the range of from about 20% to about 15%.

12. The protein fortifier composition as recited in Claim 9 wherein said acid cheese whey prior to concentration by ultra-filtration is a neutralized and pasteurized cottage cheese whey.

13. The protein fortifier composition as recited in Claim 9 wherein said suspension does not settle after one month and has from about 67% to about 16% light transmittance measured at a wave length of 640 mm.