GB466158A - Improvement in preservation of food substances - Google Patents

Abstract

Foodstuffs, including beverages, are preserved by incorporating or producing therein an organic peroxide in an amount in excess of that necessary to effect merely a bleaching action, the amount being 0,1-2 per cent by weight of the foodstuff. The peroxide may be produced from an acid, e.g. lactic, capric, caproic, caprylic, butyric, stearic or palmitic acid, or an alcohol, ether, ketone, anhydride or ester. The incorporation may be effected by solution suspension or emulsification, or by contacting the foodstuff with a solution of the peroxide; e.g. fruits and vegetables are immersed in a 2 per cent solution of a peroxide such as the peroxides of citric, malic, tartaric and other fruit or vegetable acids. The peroxide may be produced within the foodstuff by changing constituents thereof, e.g. in the case of butter, the butter fatty acids, butyric acid being converted into butyryl peroxide, or by adding a compound which can be converted into a peroxide and preferably found in the foodstuff, e.g. a fat, a fatty oil, an essential oil, a terpene, an acid or a sugar. The conversion may be effected by aerating under the influence of actinic light, or in the presence of a catalyst such as cobalt, manganese or iron oleate or other metal salt of a fatty acid. The incorporation in butter may be effected before, during or after the churning. The foodstuff may finally be hermetically sealed in a container. In an example, milk is preserved by adding 0,1-2 per cent by weight of an organic peroxide derivable from a food constituent, e.g. a peroxide of lactic, butyric or other butter or other fatty acid, or a mixture thereof produced by treating a butter fatty acid mixture. The fatty acid peroxides may first be mixed with cream which is then added to the milk. The milk is next sealed in sterile containers. The treatment of meat and fish, which may be immersed in uncooked condition in a solution or suspension of the peroxide which is preferably a peroxide of a fatty acid which is found in the meat or fish, and of fruit juices is also referred to. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also the use, in place of the organic peroxides, of organic ozonides which may be produced from the same organic compounds as are the peroxides, ozonization being employed in place of aeration. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specifications 102,967, 186,571, 327,670, 328,544, [all in Class 58], and 334,531, [Class 81 (i)].