CH686299A5 - Improving the odour of packaged food products - Google Patents

Abstract

The odour of a packed food product is imparted, reinforced, improved or modified by adding a perfume or flavouring component to a printing ink or lacquer base, then applying this to the packaging material. Also new are packaged food products made this way.

Description

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Description

The present invention relates to a method for improving the smell of food products packaged and, more particularly frozen or frozen food or drink.

Consumption of frozen food is constantly increasing, especially since the development of microwave ovens which make meal preparation using such products easier and faster than preparing meals using only fresh food .

However, a problem linked to these products, and in particular to ready-to-eat frozen meals, lies in the fact that, not emitting a perceptible odor when the packaging is opened, it is necessary to reheat them to perceive a any odor. In addition, the smell perceived when heating these foods in their packaging is sometimes unpleasant, reminiscent of the smell of moldy paper-cardboard. On the other hand, in the case of foods such as ice cream, which are not heated, there is practically no smell even during consumption.

However, we know that the smell of a food plays a decisive role in the choice of the consumer and that it also has an important function in the consumption and digestion of said food, a large part of the taste sensations being perceived by smell. .

The subject of the present invention is precisely a process which makes it possible to enhance the attractiveness of packaged and in particular frozen foods and drinks. We have, in fact, discovered that we could improve the smell of these food products through their packaging. The latter now fulfills two functions: on the one hand, it protects the food during its storage and, in some cases, even during its preparation and consumption; on the other hand, it includes information relating to the nature and composition of the food and plays a decisive role in the aesthetic appearance of it. According to the present invention, a third dimension is brought to the function of the packaging, dimension which makes it possible to make the food or the drink more appetizing.

To this end, the subject of the present invention is a method for imparting, reinforcing, improving or modifying the odor of a packaged food product, which method is characterized in that a base consisting of printing ink is added to a base or a lacquer, a perfuming or flavoring composition and applying the ink and / or the resulting scented lacquer to one of the materials used for packaging said product.

The present invention also relates to a packaged food product capable of being obtained by the process described above.

Another object of the present invention is represented by a printed and / or lacquered perfumed packaging material obtained by a) adding a perfuming or flavoring composition to a base constituted by printing ink and / or by a lacquer, and b) printing using the resulting scented ink or, respectively, applying the scented lacquer.

It is known in the prior art to use perfumed or flavored packaging materials for the packaging of consumer products, in order to improve the odor of these products and thus make them more attractive. For example, US Pat. No. 4,990,381 describes such a material, formed from a sandwich sheet laminated in multiple layers, comprising at least two layers of polymeric material, one of which is mixed with a perfume or flavoring base and the other is impermeable. to the volatiles of this base. The two layers are superimposed and joined by simultaneous extrusion, so that the layer impermeable to volatile agents surrounds the scented layer. According to this known method, the perfume or flavoring substance is mixed with the plastic in a uniform manner, before forming the plastic packaging film. It is a complex process and applicable only to plastics.

Unlike this process of the prior art, the process of the invention is suitable for all kinds of packaging materials and does not require any particular equipment for its implementation. The appropriate perfume or flavoring composition is simply mixed with the ink to be printed, which is then applied to the packaging material in the usual manner. No modification of the printing process for packaging materials is required.

The incorporation of appropriate aromatic substances on the packaging of food or drink also has other advantages. For example, the food itself does not have to come into contact with the flavor, the latter normally being on the outer layer of the package. In the case of frozen food and drink, the aroma is well preserved when the food is stored in the freezer. When the food is removed from the freezer, the packaging material generally heats up faster than the frozen block of food and the odor imparted by the printer ink is quickly released, and is therefore immediately perceived by the user.

When consuming ice cream, for example, it is common, especially for bar type ice cream, to keep the packaging sheet around the ice cream while it is consumed. The odor imparted to this sheet, by means of the perfuming of the ink used for its printing, according to the method of the invention, will thus be perceived throughout the duration of consumption.

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ice, making it more appetizing. The same principle applies to bar chocolate.

For frozen ready-to-eat meals, for example pizzas or complete menus typically containing meat or fish with vegetables and sauce, the method of the invention allows them to impart an odor which quickly becomes perceptible to the user from remove the packaging from the freezer.

As mentioned above, the method according to the invention makes it possible to flavor foods independently of the nature of the packaging material. All the materials on which characters and / or colors can be deposited using printing inks are suitable for use according to the invention. Thus we can cite materials such as paper and cardboard, whether used alone or in lamination with aluminum or plastic sheets, aluminum, as well as plastic sheets of various nature , for example in polyethylene or polypropylene. Often these sheets are laminated sandwiched with thin sheets of polyamide or polyester to improve their physical properties. On the other hand, special films for deep-freezing contain a percentage of softening resin, namely ethylene vinyl acetate.

The method according to the invention is also suitable for food and beverages packaged in glass packaging. Mention may be made, in particular, of the packaging of soluble coffee and tea, or else of concentrated powders intended for the preparation of drinks based on fruit or other flavors. Typically, in these cases, the interior of the glass jar can be coated, at least partially, with a layer of ink flavored with a base whose odor is compatible with the nature of the product contained in the glass container. This odor remains stored inside the closed container and spreads very quickly when it is opened, causing a pleasant sensation in the consumer.

It should be noted that, in general, all the common food or drink packaging materials can be used in the process according to the invention.

These packaging materials are commonly printed or colored using liquid inks. The method of applying these inks can be arbitrary, provided that this results in the deposition on the surface of a varied support, in this case the packaging material, of a certain volume of liquid ink. which are dried very quickly in air.

Generally, such inks essentially contain coloring pigments, resins and solvents. The main resin used is nitrocellulose, but other cellulose derivatives, such as ethylcellulose or ethylhydroxycellulose, are also used. On the other hand, nitrocellulose is often used in combination with other resins of acrylic or vinyl type, in particular in inks for paper, aluminum and plastics.

As regards the solvents, mention may be made of solvents such as methanol, 95% ethanol, propanol, butanol, ethyl or isopropyl acetate, methyl glycol, ethyl glycol, methoxypropa-nol, chlorinated solvents such as trichlorethylene or perchlorethylene, as well as hydrocarbons, in particular toluene and benzene.

In general, all the inks commonly used in the printing of packaging materials lend themselves to the process of the invention and a more detailed description of these inks is superfluous here. For perfuming the ink applied to the packaging material, a perfuming and / or flavoring composition is added to a base consisting of printing ink before the printing process. As perfume or flavoring base, any substance or mixture of perfume or flavoring substances can be used, both in the isolated state and in solution or suspension in diluents, solvents or co-ingredients of usual use. These bases include in particular specific isolated aromatic substances, such as natural flavoring essences or pure synthetic compounds. These are volatile substances that are commonly used to impart, enhance or modify the taste and aroma of food and drink. The particular choice of these substances will depend on the nature of the food or drink and the odorous effect that one wants to obtain. A person skilled in the art is perfectly capable of making such a choice from the many substances at his disposal, among which mention should be made of those described in reference works such as the works of S. Arctander, Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, Montclair, NJ, USA (1969) and Fenaroli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, 2nd ed., CRC Press, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (1975).

The concentration in which the perfume and / or flavoring composition is added to the base of printer ink depends on the desired olfactory effect, as well as on the mode of application of this ink on the packaging material. Indeed, the ink can cover the entire surface of the packaging, or only a part of this surface, for example in the form of alphanumeric characters or one or more colors. It therefore appears clearly that the concentration of the perfume and / or flavoring composition can vary within a very wide range of values and the person skilled in the art is able to adapt it according to the desired application. By way of example, mention may be made of concentrations of the order of 0.5 to 5% (v / v) of perfuming and / or flavoring base relative to the wet ink deposited on the surfaces printed by heliography, while approximately double concentrations will be necessary when printing in flexography to obtain an equivalent odorous effect. Of course, when printing multicolored surfaces, the perfuming and / or flavoring base may be present in each of the colored inks or only in a part of them, or

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be applied in a transparent lacquer covering the entire surface of the packaging or only part of it.

The invention will now be described in more detail using the following examples.

Example 1

Flavoring of ice cream packaging

A polypropylene sheet for the packaging of BOUNTY® brand ice bars [M&M, Mars B.V., Veghel, Holland] was printed on the entire surface with a transparent varnish obtained by mixing the following ingredients:

Ingredients

% in weight

Coconut flavor 1)

0.75

Vanillin

0.25

Transparent lacquer 2)

99.00

Total

100.00

1> aroma 52.651 A; origin: Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland 2) Verschnittlack 24-00; origin: Rotoflex Druckfarbenfabrik, Grenchen, Switzerland

A batch of 20 sticks of BOUNTY® ice cream packed with the sheet thus prepared was stored for 4 weeks in the freezer. The sticks were then consumed by a panel of 20 members of the public who unanimously found that the packaging gave off a pleasant odor during the consumption of the ice, which odor increased their gustatory pleasure.

Example 2

Flavoring of ice cream packaging

On the packaging of SNICKERS® brand ice bars [M&M, Mars BV, Veghel, Holland], the sectors of blue were printed, essentially representing the characters of the aforementioned brand, with an ink obtained by mixing the following ingredients :

Ingredients

% in weight

Peanut flavor 1)

1.0

Chocolate flavor 2)

0.5

Vanillin

0.5

Blue ink 3)

98.0

Total

100.0

1> aroma 57.433; origin: Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland 2) aroma 21.611; origin: Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland 3> Blau-Europa 30-603; origin: Rotoflex Druckfarbenfabrik, Grenchen, Switzerland

A test carried out under conditions identical to those described in Example 1 produced similar results.

Example 3

Flavoring of frozen pizza packaging

The cardboard packaging of a frozen commercial pizza (type "4 seasons", Migros, Switzerland) was printed with ink (Rot-Europa 30-251; origin: Rotoflex Druckfarbenfabrik, Grenchen, Switzerland) containing 0.5 % by weight of a pizza-type flavor (flavor 54.371 T; origin: Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland). The pizza was then stored in the freezer for 1 month. It was then taken out of the freezer for consumption. After a few minutes, there was a strong smell of pizza in the room, despite the fact that the pizza had not been removed from the box.

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A similar test was carried out, but by printing characters, using a brush, on the airtight plastic packaging that surrounded the pizza inside the carton. After 1 month of storage in the freezer, the pizza, in its plastic packaging, was removed from the outer carton. A few moments later, you could smell a strong pizza smell in the room without having opened the plastic packaging.

Example 4

Flavoring of glass packaging

A standard one-liter glass container, intended for packaging soluble coffee powder, has been lacquered on the inside with a transparent varnish obtained by mixing the following ingredients:

Ingredients% by weight

Coffee flavor 1> 0.8

Caramelized milk flavor 2) 0.2

Clear varnish 3) 99.0

Total 100.0

1> aroma 502.410 A; origin: Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland

2) aroma 502.626 A; origin: Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland

3) Verschnittlack 24-00; origin: Rotoflex Druckfarbenfabrik, Grenchen, Switzerland

After drying, the film inside the glass was invisible but gave off a pleasant smell of coffee. This smell reinforced the smell of soluble coffee when the bottle was opened for consumption.

Claims (4)

Claims 1. Method for imparting, strengthening, improving or modifying the odor of a packaged food product, characterized in that a perfuming or flavoring composition is added to a base consisting of printing ink or a lacquer and that applies the resulting ink and / or scented lacquer to one of the materials used for packaging said product. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the packaged product is a frozen or deep-frozen food or drink. 3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the packaged product is an ice cream. 4. Packaged food product obtained by the process according to one of claims 1 to 3. 5