FI100449B - Process for producing a sweetener product for foods based on sucrose and strong sweetener - Google Patents

Abstract

New granular sweetening food product comprising saccharose and at least one intense sweetener, characterized in that it contains from 50 to 99 % by weight of saccharose and from 1 to 50 % of at least one intense or strong sweetener, in that its apparent density is between 0.4 and 0.7 g/cm<3>, preferably between 0.45 and 0.55 g/cm<3>, and in that the mean diameter of the grains is between 150 and 500 mu m, preferably equal to about 200 mu m. The new product of the invention is stable in storage conditions. It is easy to handle. It is also easy to dose accurately and has a sweetening power equal to that of saccharose and brings in a reduced, practically negligible number of calories. The sweetening product may be added to various food products such as beverages, ice creams, dairy products such as yaourts and white cheese, confectionery, as well as food products in the form of powders.

Description

100449

This invention relates to a process for preparing a novel food sweetener preparation based on sucrose and a strong sweetener. The granular sweetener preparation according to the invention contains sucrose and at least one strong sweetener, the amount of which may be up to 50% by weight of said sweetener preparation.

Strong sweeteners such as saccharin, saccharinates, acesulfame and, above all, dipeptide-type sweeteners, i.e. esters of aspartylphenylalanine, the most commonly used being methyl ester, αL-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester, also known as aspartame (AP), are known as aspartame, due to the high sweetening power, which is at least about 150 times the sweetening power of sucrose.

20 However, certain properties of strong sweeteners: may make their use difficult and, in particular, cause problems when combined with foodstuffs. These include: ·; · '- their moderate solubility and their poor wettability; • · · - the fact that they become sticky when wet and tend to form agglomerates; - their very strong sweetening power, which makes their dosing difficult (when it has to be very 30 accurate); • ·: * ·· - the presence of finely divided materials, which makes them difficult to handle; . ·; - their instability during storage.

. ···. Various solutions have been proposed to remedy the disadvantages associated with the use of strong sweeteners in the food industry. Recent efforts have focused primarily on aspartame, a potent sweetener with very broad use.

EP A 0102032 describes a liquid sweetener comprising aspartame and an aqueous dispersant, preferably a sugar. Such a liquid preparation is not easy to store and is not easy to dispense accurately.

EP A 0106910 describes a solid sweetener in the form of compressed preparations, for example in the form of cubes, containing one of the dipeptide-based sweeteners, of which aspartame is preferred, and at least one excipient which may contain sucrose. The amount of dipeptide-based sweetener is 0.3 to 30% by weight of the excipient. However, when the excipient contains mainly sucrose, the amount of dipeptide-based strong sweetener should be 2.0 to 10% by weight of the excipient; in the case where the relative proportion of filler is lower, the solubility and wettability of the dipeptide-based sweetener are only moderately improved. In addition, the product obtained is then too: 'finely divided and therefore difficult to handle ·; (page 3, 1. 21 to page 4, 1. and page 5, 1. 19 to page 6, 25 1. 9). That is, when the mixture contains a dipeptide-based sweetener, for example aspartame, and sucrose, the amount of aspartame must not exceed 9% by weight of the total mixture. In addition, the preparation according to EP A 0106910 is in the form of extrudates, for example in the form of cubes, which prevents it from being homogeneously incorporated as such into: · foods such as ice cream, yoghurts or products in powder form.

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. ·: It is an object of the present invention to provide. a sweetening preparation having a much higher sweetening power than sucrose and which can be accurately and uniformly combined with various food products, whether these products are liquid, semi-liquid, pastes or powders.

Another object of the invention is to provide a preparation which is stable during storage and which is easy to handle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a preparation which has a satisfactory solubility and wettability.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a preparation based on sucrose and a strong sweetener which may contain up to 50% by weight of a strong sweetener.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a preparation based on precipitate-15 and a strong sweetener which may contain a number of strong sweeteners.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a granular food sweetener preparation containing 50 to 99% by weight of sucrose and 1 to 50% by weight of at least one strong sweetener having a bulk density of 0.4 to 0.7 g / cm 3 and with a mean grain diameter of. ···. 25 150 - 500 pm.

The process is characterized in that it comprises the following steps: a) preparing sweetener particles with a mean diameter of 150 to 500 μm by granulating sucrose wet in a continuous continuous granulation device, the top of which is fed with crystallized sucrose with an average crystal diameter of 80 to 100 .mu.m, optionally together with a crystallized strong sweetener or a part thereof having a mean crystal diameter of less than about 500 .mu.m, and optionally with an additional 4 100449 carrier or part thereof. , optionally premixed with crystallized sucrose, and water is added substantially in the step of feeding said crystalline starting materials and hot air is blown upwards into said granulating apparatus; a2) the granulated sweetener particles formed in step ai) are dried and cooled in a fluidized bed connected to the lower part of said granulating device; a3) the particles from step a2) are screened to obtain particles of the desired granular sweetener having a mean diameter of 150 to 500; b) the granulated sweetener particles from step a3) are mixed, if necessary, with all or the remainder of the powdered strong sweetener and with all or the remainder of any additional carrier.

According to the invention there is provided a granular sweetener preparation containing sucrose and at least one strong sweetener and containing 50 to 99% by weight of sucrose and 1 to 50% by weight of at least one strong sweetener having a bulk density of 0.4 to 0, 7 g / cm 3, preferably <· *:. 0.45 to 0.55 g / cm 3, and the average diameter of the granules is 150 to 500, preferably about 200.

For simplicity of terminology, the term "strong sweetener" should be construed in this specification as well as as claimed in the claims to mean one or more strong sweeteners.

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One embodiment of the process according to the invention comprises the following steps: a) preparation of sucrose particles with an average diameter of 150 to 500 μm, comprising the steps of: • ai) granulating the sucrose wet on a continuous basis;

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In a granulating apparatus, the crystals of crystallized sucrose having an average diameter of 80 to 100 μm, and water is added, ·· substantially at the feed stage of said crystallized sucrose, and hot air is blown upwards into said granulating apparatus; a2) drying and cooling the sucrose particles prepared in step ai) in a fluidized bed associated with the lower part of said granulating device; a3) screening the particles from step a2) to obtain sucrose particles having a mean diameter of 150 to 500; b) mixing the sucrose particles 10 from step a3) with a strong sweetener in powder form under reasonable conditions for a time sufficient to obtain the desired preparation.

Another embodiment of the process according to the invention comprises the following steps: ai) wet granulation in a continuous granulation apparatus fed with crystallized sucrose having a mean crystal diameter of 80 to 100, together with a crystallized strong sweetener having a mean crystal diameter of less than about 500 and optionally pre-mixed with the crystallized sucrose, and water is added substantially in the step of feeding said crystalline starting materials and hot air is blown: upwards into said granulating device; Drying and cooling of the granular sweetener particles formed in step ai) in a fluidized bed connected to the lower part of said granulating device; a3) screening the particles from step a2) to obtain particles of the desired granular sweetener having a mean diameter of 150 to 500.

According to a variation of the above-mentioned first embodiment, which constitutes the embodiment of the third invention, a part of the strong sweetener is added at granulation step ai), the rest is added at step b), ·· «.

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Said addition of water in step ai) of the processes according to the invention can take place by spraying water vapor or by spraying water or a granulation solution.

As the strong sweetener useful in the present invention, there can be mentioned, for example, saccharin, saccharinates, acesulfame and dipeptide-type sweeteners, i.e. esters of aspartylphenylalanine, the most used of which is α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester known as. This list is not exhaustive.

The novel organ preparation prepared according to the present invention, based on sucrose and a strong sweetener, may further contain an additional carrier consisting of one or more ingredients such as gelling agents, texturizing agents and stabilizers. Examples of such ingredients are pectins, animal and vegetable proteins, especially milk proteins, fibers, carboxymethylcellulose, cyclo-20 dextrins, etc.

; A sweetener preparation containing an additional carrier can be prepared according to the invention in various ways.

: Said additional carrier may be added during mixing step (b) "under reasonable conditions, either with the full amount of strong sweetener in the case of the above

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.,, · Of said first embodiment, or with a portion of a strong «» sweetener in the case of the above-mentioned third embodiment, or alone in the case of the aforementioned second embodiment (in the latter case, A 0 i * step b is added to the method). ).

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· According to a variation of the manufacturing process, part of the sweetener preparation containing an additional carrier,

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, ·· said may be added in step ai), the remainder being added in step b).

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As mentioned above, the above-mentioned addition of water carried out in step ai) of the process according to the invention can take place by spraying water vapor or by spraying water or a granulation solution. Said granulation-5 solution may be, for example, sucrose syrup or an aqueous solution of an additional carrier, for example a pectin gelling agent solution.

Thus, in some cases, it is possible to add any or all of the additional carrier by spraying a solution of said additional carrier in the granulation step ai) of the process.

To better illustrate the present invention, one method of preparing the granular food sweetener preparation of the present invention is described in detail below as an example.

Ice sugar, i.e. crystallized sucrose with an average crystal diameter of 80 to 100, is fed to the top of the granulation chamber by means of a device which, by volume or weight, for example by means of a screw dispenser, is dispensed. The lower part of this granulation chamber 20 communicates with a fluidized bed in which air is blown, the temperature of which decreases from downstream upstream from> 100 ° C (hot air) to 15-20 ° C (cold air). Water vapor is injected into the granulation chamber, essentially at the ice sugar feed, which, together with the hot air blown upstream of the fluidized bed, generates a vortex which causes the ice sugar particles to agglomerate and then granulate. The agglomerated and granulated particles fall under their own weight into the lower part of the ra-30 digestion chamber and enter the jet with the air stream; they proceed in a fluidized bed and are cooled by a cold air flow of 15 to 20 ° C · · · ·. · before they leave the fluidized bed. ’; · to be screened, suitably granulated. (mean diameter 150 to 500 μm) to contain sucrose particles. These sucrose particles are then mixed with a powdered strong sweetener in a "gentle" mixer, for example a low speed or belt mixer. The required amount of strong sweetener can be mixed one or more times.

For example, a 200 liter belt mixer with a rotation speed of 30 to 40 rpm can be used to prepare a 50 kg preparation according to the invention containing 30 kg of sucrose and 20 kg of a strong sweetener. To 30 kg of screened sucrose particles, 20 kg of strong sweetener can be added at one time, stirring for 15-20 minutes, or 6.7 kg of strong sweetener can be added 3 times, with a mixing time of 5 minutes between each addition and 10 minutes of final mixing. In general, the mixing time of the sucrose particles screened after leaving the fluidized bed with the strong sweetener is determined to be sufficient to allow the strong sweetener to be perfectly combined with the sucrose particles and the preparation to be completely uniform.

: The preparation according to the invention prepared: for example by the method described above, is not a simple mixture of sucrose and a strong sweetener.

In this regard, sedimentation experiments were performed with ultra-25 sound of a preparation according to the invention containing 40% by weight of AP and 60% by weight of sucrose. There were no significant differences in the components at different doses.

The new sweetener preparation according to the invention does not contain fines and is therefore easy to: 1 · handle. It is stable in storage and does not form

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Agglomerates and a.

It is easy to dispense accurately as well as its granular, ···. shape and its low bulk density.

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It is very soluble in water and has excellent wetting properties.

For example, 2.5 g of a preparation according to the invention containing 1.5 g of sucrose and 1 g of AP dissolves in 5 liters of water at 20 ° C 4 times faster than 1 g of AP alone.

In addition, with a sweetening effect such as sucrose, the product according to the invention has only a small or negligible number of calories. Thus, for example, the product 10 of the invention containing 60% by weight of sucrose and 40% by weight of AP has a sweetening power of about 80 times the sweetening power of sucrose; in other words, with a sucrose-like sweetening effect, this preparation contains less than 1% of calories from sucrose, which is negligible.

The new sweetener preparation according to the invention can be added to various food products, such as beverages, ice creams, dairy products, such as yoghurts and cream cheese, confectionery, as well as powdered food products, etc.

The present invention makes it possible to form a mixture suitable for each particular case by selecting: in particular the strong sweetener or sweeteners present and by controlling their dosage. 1 ·

Claims (11)

A process for the preparation of a granular sweetener product for food, which product contains from 50 to 99% by weight of sucrose and from 1-50% by weight of at least a high intensity sweetener and having a volume weight of 0.4-0 7 g / cm 3 and wherein the granules have an average diameter of 150 - 500 μτη, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: a) sweetening particles having an average diameter of 150 - 500 μτη are prepared so that the ai) sucrose is granulated in a water state in a continuous state. functioning granulator, to the upper part of which is measured the crystallized saccharin, where the crystals have an average diameter of 80 - 100 μτη, optionally together with the high-intensity sweetening agent or a portion thereof, where the crystals have an average diameter less than about 500 μτη, and optionally with an additional carrier or part thereof, which may be pre-mixed with the crystallized saccharin, and water is added substantially in the feed stage of said crystalline starting material and hot air is blown in the direction up to said granulating device; ·; a2) the granulated sweetener particles formed in step ai) are dried and cooled in a fluidized bed, coupled to the lower portion of said granulation apparatus; a3) the particles coming from step a2) are screened so as to obtain particles of the desired granular sweetener having an average diameter of 150-500 μτη; B) the granulated sweetener particles that come from step a3) are optionally mixed with any powdered or high-intensity sweetener or the remainder thereof. ·· and with any optional carrier or the remainder thereof. 100449 2. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that all high-intensity sweetening agent is added in step b). 3. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that all additional carriers are added in step b). Method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the addition of the water in step ai) is carried out by spraying water vapor. 10 Process according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the addition of the water in step ai) is carried out by spraying water or granulation solution. 6. A process according to claim 5, characterized in that said granulation solution is sucrose syrup. 7. A process according to claim 5, characterized in that said granulation solution is a solution of an additional carrier, for example a gelling agent solution. A process according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that the sweetening composition: has a volume weight of 0.45 - 0.55 g / cm 3. Method according to any of claims 1-8,; Characterized in that the granules in the sweetening composition have an average diameter of about 200 μτη. * Process according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that the sweetening composition further contains some additional carriers. 3 0 11. A process according to claim 10, characterized in that said additional carrier comprises one or more ingredients selected from gelling agents, texturing agents and stabilizers, such as pectins, animal products. and plant proteins, particularly milk proteins, fibers, carboxymethyl cellulose and cyclodextrins.