JP2008054667A - Masking agent - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a masking agent capable of masking with the addition of an extremely small amount, rough taste of food and drink and drug, and flavor too strong as flavor of food and drink and drug, without changing the basic flavor balance of food and drink and drug, and to provide a masking method. <P>SOLUTION: This masking agent contains as the active ingredient, milk serum mineral which satisfies all conditions (a), (b) (c) (d) and (e) as follows: (a) ash content in the solid content of milk serum mineral is 25-75 mass%; (b) calcium content in the solid content of milk serum mineral is <2 mass%; (c) calcium content in the ash content of milk serum mineral is <5 mass%; (d) lactate content in the solid content of milk serum mineral is 1.0 mass% or above; and (e) the pH of 0.1 mass% aqueous solution of the solid content of milk serum mineral is 6.0-7.5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention can be used to add a very small amount of flavors such as bitterness, astringency and egg flavor of foods and beverages and pharmaceuticals, and flavors that are too strong as flavors of foods and beverages and oral pharmaceuticals, without changing the basic flavor balance. The present invention relates to a masking agent capable of masking.

The food and drink has a preferable basic flavor balance for each food and drink.
However, during food processing such as heat sterilization and preservative addition during the production of food and drink, and during the storage period of the food and drink, flavors that disrupt the flavor balance such as bitterness, astringency, or egg taste, that is, miscellaneous Taste may be generated.
In such a case, processing to remove those miscellaneous tastes, such as distillation or elution, may be performed, but such an operation is extremely complicated because it removes trace components, and even the basic flavor of food and drink There is a risk of reduction.

Moreover, in some foods and drinks, only a specific flavor is very strong, and the preferred basic flavor balance of the food and drinks may be lost.
In such a case, the food component having the specific flavor may not be blended or removed, but other flavors may be scraped off, further disrupting the flavor balance of the food and drink. Become.

  Therefore, in foods and drinks having a miscellaneous taste, the basic flavor of the food and drinks can be made to be unaffected by the above-mentioned miscellaneous taste without greatly losing the balance of the basic flavors of food and drinks. Various proposals have been made on so-called masking agents that can weaken a specific flavor that is too strong by adding a very small amount of components.

  For example, polyglycerin condensed ricinoleic acid ester (see, for example, Patent Document 1), stevia extract (see, for example, Patent Document 2), dried mysids, and / or krill extracts (see, for example, Patent Document 3), gluconic acid Non-toxic salts (see, for example, Patent Document 4) have been proposed, but the masking agent of Patent Document 1 is an emulsifier, so it often affects physical properties, and the flavor itself is poor. There is a problem, the masking agent of Patent Document 2 is effective only for foods and drinks having a bitter taste and astringency, and there is a problem that the amount of addition is limited due to its strong sweetness, and the masking agent of Patent Document 3 In addition to being effective only for bitterness, there is a problem of requiring a relatively large amount of addition, and the masking agent of Patent Document 4 requires a relatively large amount of addition. There has been a problem to say.

JP 2002-65177 A JP 2005-336078 A JP-A-10-179077 WO00 / 48475

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to mask the miscellaneous taste of foods and beverages and pharmaceuticals and the flavors that are too strong as the flavors of foods and beverages and pharmaceuticals with the addition of a very small amount without changing the basic flavor balance. A masking agent and a masking method are provided.

As a result of various studies to achieve the above object, the present inventors have determined that whey minerals having a specific composition may be added in a very small amount to the above-mentioned miscellaneous taste or food or drink having a too strong flavor. It was found that it exhibits a very strong masking effect.
The present invention has been made based on the above findings, and provides a masking agent containing, as an active ingredient, whey mineral that satisfies all of the following (a) (b) (c) (d) (e): It is.
(A) Ash content in solid content of whey mineral is 25 to 75% by mass
(B) The calcium content in the solid content of the whey mineral is less than 2% by mass (c) The calcium content in the ash content of the whey mineral is less than 5% by mass (d) The lactic acid content in the solid content of the whey mineral is 1 0.0 mass% or more (e) The pH of a 0.1 mass% solid content aqueous solution of whey mineral is 6.0 to 7.5
Moreover, this invention provides the masking method of the miscellaneous taste of food / beverage products and a pharmaceutical, or the too strong flavor characterized by adding this masking agent to food / beverage products and a pharmaceutical.

The masking agent of the present invention can mask miscellaneous tastes and excessively strong flavors contained in foods and drinks and pharmaceuticals by adding a very small amount without changing the basic flavor.
In addition, according to the masking method of the present invention, it is possible to mask miscellaneous taste and excessively strong flavor contained in foods and beverages and pharmaceuticals without changing the basic flavor.

First, the whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention will be described in detail.
In general, whey mineral is obtained by removing protein or lactose from milk or whey as much as possible, and has a feature of containing ash in milk at a high concentration.
Therefore, the ash composition is contained at a ratio close to the composition of milk or whey as a raw material.

Unlike the whey mineral, the whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention is characterized by low calcium content, high lactic acid content and high pH. That is, the whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention satisfies all of the following (a) (b) (c) (d) (e).
(A) Ash content in solid content of whey mineral is 25 to 75% by mass
(B) The calcium content in the solid content of the whey mineral is less than 2% by mass (c) The calcium content in the ash content of the whey mineral is less than 5% by mass (d) The lactic acid content in the solid content of the whey mineral is 1 0.0 mass% or more (e) The pH of a 0.1 mass% solid content aqueous solution of whey mineral is 6.0 to 7.5

  The whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention has an ash content in the solid content of 25 to 75 mass%, preferably 30 to 75 mass%. If it is less than 25% by mass, the amount of other organic components increases, and the flavor derived from the raw material is too strong, making it unsuitable for a masking agent. When it exceeds 75% by mass, the bitterness becomes strong and it is not suitable for a masking agent.

  The whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention has a calcium content in the solid content of less than 2% by mass, preferably less than 1% by mass, and more preferably less than 0.5% by mass. When it becomes 2 mass% or more, in addition to the masking effect becoming remarkably weak, it becomes easy to produce turbidity in the obtained food / beverage products. The lower limit is not particularly limited.

  The whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention has a calcium content in ash of less than 5% by mass, preferably less than 3% by mass, and most preferably less than 2% by mass. When it is 5% by mass or more, the masking effect is remarkably weakened, and turbidity is easily generated in the obtained food and drink. The lower limit is not particularly limited.

  Furthermore, the whey mineral used in the masking agent of the present invention has a lactic acid content in the solid content of 1.0% by mass or more, preferably 2 to 25% by mass, more preferably 3 to 15% by mass. If it is less than 1.0% by mass, the masking effect is weakened. The lactic acid content referred to here is based on data obtained as a result of measurement by a high performance liquid chromatographic method after treating a sample, which is a general technique, with perchloric acid. What is contained in the form of a salt such as sodium lactate, potassium lactate or calcium lactate is also a collective amount.

  And the whey mineral used with the masking agent of this invention is pH 6.0-7.5, preferably pH 6.5-7.0 of 0.1 mass% solid content aqueous solution. If it is less than 6.0, the masking effect is weak and unsuitable as a masking agent, and if it exceeds 7.5, browning or the like tends to occur due to heating during production or use.

In the process of obtaining whey minerals, milk or whey is used as the starting material.
Examples of the milk include bovine milk, human milk, goat milk, horse milk, skim milk using the same, processed milk, cream, and the like, and any of them can be used. In addition, as the whey, whey obtained as a by-product when manufacturing cheese using the milk, whey obtained as a by-product during casein production, whey obtained by ultrafiltration of milk, etc. Either can be used.
Furthermore, whey obtained as a by-product when manufacturing cheese and whey obtained as a by-product during casein manufacture include acidic whey and sweet whey depending on the manufacturing method, but either can be used. .

  In order to obtain the masking agent of the present invention, among the above milk or whey, the masking effect is particularly high, so that whey obtained as a by-product when producing cheese using milk, or a by-product during casein production It is preferable to use whey obtained as a by-product when milk is used to manufacture cheese, and particularly preferably when milk is used to manufacture cheese. Use sweet whey obtained as a by-product.

  As described above, in order to obtain whey minerals having a high lactic acid content and a low calcium content used in the present invention, conventional whey minerals cannot be used directly. Therefore, in order to obtain the whey mineral having the lactic acid content and the calcium content, the lactose and protein are removed from the milk or whey by membrane separation and / or ion exchange, and cooling to obtain the whey mineral. When obtaining, it can be obtained by inserting a method of using acidic whey using milk with reduced calcium in advance, or by inserting a step of removing calcium when producing whey minerals from sweet whey, From the viewpoint of efficiency and cost in practical implementation, it is preferable to adopt a method obtained by inserting a step of removing calcium after concentrating the mineral to some extent when producing whey mineral from sweet whey. . The decalcification method used here is not particularly limited, and a known method such as a precipitation method by temperature control and ion exchange can be employed. Further, the ash content in the solid content can be prepared by adjusting the membrane treatment conditions at the time of nanofiltration membrane separation, for example, and the pH can be fermented at the time of cheese manufacture when obtaining sweet whey used as a starting material, for example. It can be prepared by adjusting the time.

  In addition, lactic acid fermentation is strongly recommended as whey, or a method of increasing the amount of lactic acid using a large amount of lactic acid when obtaining acidic whey can be considered. It becomes difficult to satisfy. In such a case, there is a method of further performing a neutralization step by adding an alkali or the like, but this is not preferable because the taste quality is lowered.

The whey mineral may be in any form such as fluid, paste, powder, etc., as long as the solid content is 20% by mass or more. It is preferably in the form of a powder because hygroscopicity during storage is prevented.
In addition, when it is a fluid form or a paste form, the solid content is preferably 20 to 80% by mass, more preferably 40 to 70% by mass, and when it is a powder form, the solid content is preferably 40 to 100% by mass. %, More preferably 70 to 100% by mass.

The masking agent of the present invention contains the whey mineral as an active ingredient.
For the masking agent of the present invention, the whey mineral may be used alone as it is, or mixed with various additives and formulated into powders, granules, tablets, liquids, etc. by conventional methods. It may be used. The content of the whey mineral in these preparations is preferably 5 to 100% by mass, more preferably 10 to 100% by mass, further preferably 20 to 100% by mass, most preferably as a solid content derived from whey mineral. Is 50 to 100% by mass.

Additives for formulating powders, granules, tablets, etc. include thickening polysaccharides such as alginic acids, pectin, seaweed polysaccharides, carboxymethylcellulose, and lactose, starch, silicon dioxide, etc. , Sweeteners such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, sorbitol, stevia, anti-caking agents such as fine silicon dioxide, magnesium carbonate, disodium phosphate, magnesium oxide, calcium carbonate, vitamins, fragrance, antioxidant Agents, brighteners, and the like, and one or more of these may be appropriately selected and used. The content of the various additives in the masking agent of the present invention varies depending on the additive, but is preferably 90% by mass or less, more preferably 50% by mass or less.
In the case of formulating into a liquid form, it is obtained by dissolving or dispersing in a liquid. Examples of such a liquid include water, ethanol, propylene glycol and the like. The content of the liquid in the masking agent of the present invention is preferably 90% by mass or less, more preferably 50% by mass or less.

  The masking agent of the present invention can be applied to masking various miscellaneous tastes and flavors that are too strong, and examples thereof include bitterness, astringency, astringent taste, pungent taste, and sour taste. It is also suitable for masking of so-called canned odors and retort odors in heat-sterilized foods such as canned and retort foods. Among them, the masking agent of the present invention is particularly suitable for bitterness masking.

Next, the food / beverage products of this invention are described.
The food / beverage products of this invention are food / beverage products containing the masking agent of this invention.
Content of the masking agent of this invention in the food / beverage products of this invention is not specifically limited, Although it determines suitably according to the food / beverage products to be used and the intensity | strength of the masking effect calculated | required, with respect to 100 mass parts of food / beverage products The solid content of the whey mineral contained in the masking agent is preferably 0.0001 to 0.5 parts by mass, more preferably 0.0005 to 0.2 parts by mass, and still more preferably 0.001 to 0.1 parts by mass. Part. If it is less than 0.0001 parts by mass or exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the masking effect is hardly recognized, and if it exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the bitter taste of whey minerals may be felt.

  In addition, as food and drink according to the present invention, it is not particularly limited, for example, miso, soy sauce, noodle soup, sauce, dashi, pasta sauce, dressing, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, Worcester sauce, tonkatsu sauce, sprinkle, etc. Improvised food such as seasonings, soup stock, curry roux, white sauce, tea sauce, soup stock, soups such as miso soup, soup, consommé soup, potage soup, livestock processing such as yakiniku, ham, sausage Products, kamaboko, dried fish, salted fish, boiled fish, processed fish products such as delicacies, processed vegetables such as pickles, snacks such as potato chips and rice crackers, bakery foods such as bread, confectionery bread, cookies, boiled food, fried food, grilled food, Curry, stew, gratin, rice, rice porridge, cooked foods such as rice balls, pasta, udon, ra Noodle foods such as rice, margarine, shortening, fat spread, flavored fat spread foods such as fat spread, flower paste, confectionery bread materials such as rice cake, bread mix powder, cake mix powder, fried food mix powder, etc. Mixed powder, chocolate, candy, jelly, ice cream, gum and other sweets, Japanese confectionery such as buns, castella, coffee, coffee milk, tea, milk tea, soy milk, energy drinks, vegetable drinks, vinegar drinks, juices, Examples include beverages such as cola, mineral water, and sports drinks, alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, cocktail, and sour, and milk and dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese.

Next, the pharmaceutical product of the present invention will be described.
The pharmaceutical product of the present invention is a pharmaceutical product containing the masking agent of the present invention.
The content of the masking agent of the present invention in the pharmaceutical product of the present invention is not particularly limited and is appropriately determined according to the pharmaceutical product to be used and the strength of the desired masking effect. The solid content of the whey mineral contained in is preferably 0.0001 to 0.5 parts by mass, more preferably 0.0005 to 0.2 parts by mass, and still more preferably 0.001 to 0.1 parts by mass. . If it is less than 0.0001 parts by mass or exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the masking effect is hardly recognized, and if it exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the bitter taste of whey minerals may be felt.

  In addition, as long as it is an oral pharmaceutical, the pharmaceutical as used in the field of this invention will not be specifically limited, For example, a case medicine, a gastrointestinal medicine, a headache medicine, a dentifrice etc. are mention | raise | lifted.

Next, the method for masking food and drink of the present invention and the method for masking pharmaceuticals of the present invention will be described.
The masking method for food and drink according to the present invention is to add the masking agent of the present invention to the food and drink, and mask the miscellaneous taste and excessive flavor of the food and drink while maintaining the basic flavor of the food and drink. is there.
The method of adding the masking agent of the present invention to a food or drink is not particularly limited, and is mixed, sprayed, sprayed, dissolved, etc. on the food or drink or its material during processing, cooking, eating or drinking of the target food or drink This is done by any means.

Moreover, the masking method of the pharmaceutical of this invention adds the masking agent of the said invention to a pharmaceutical, and masks the miscellaneous taste and too strong flavor of a pharmaceutical, maintaining the basic medicinal effect of a pharmaceutical.
The method of adding the masking agent of the present invention to a pharmaceutical product is not particularly limited, and any means such as mixing, spraying, spraying, dissolving, etc. on the pharmaceutical product or its material at the time of processing, dispensing, taking the target pharmaceutical product, etc. It is done by.

As described above, the amount of the masking agent of the present invention added to the food or drink is preferably 0.0001 to 0.5 mass as a solid content of whey mineral contained in the masking agent with respect to 100 parts by mass of the food or drink. Parts, more preferably 0.0005 to 0.2 parts by mass, still more preferably 0.001 to 0.1 parts by mass. If it is less than 0.0001 parts by mass or exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the masking effect is hardly recognized, and if it exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the bitter taste of whey minerals may be felt.
The amount of the masking agent of the present invention added to the pharmaceutical product is preferably 0.0001 to 0.5 parts by mass as a solid content of whey mineral contained in the masking agent with respect to 100 parts by mass of the pharmaceutical product as described above. More preferably, it is 0.0005-0.2 mass part, More preferably, it is 0.001-0.1 mass part. If it is less than 0.0001 parts by mass or exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the masking effect is hardly recognized, and if it exceeds 0.5 parts by mass, the bitter taste of whey minerals may be felt.

<Manufacture of whey minerals>
[Production Example 1]
After the nano-filtration membrane separation of the sweet whey obtained as a by-product when manufacturing cheese, the solution is further concentrated by reverse osmosis filtration membrane separation until the solid content becomes 20% by mass, and then further heated at 80 ° C. for 20 minutes. The resulting precipitate was removed by centrifugation, further concentrated by an evaporator, and whey mineral 1 having a solid content of 97% by mass was obtained by spray drying.

[Production Example 2]
Whey mineral 2 was obtained in the same manner except that the treatment time was halved in the whey mineral 1 heat treatment step.

[Production Example 3]
Whey mineral 3 was obtained in the same manner except that sweet whey having a lactic acid fermentation time reduced by 20% was used as a starting material for the whey mineral 1.

[Production Examples 4 to 7]
Furthermore, in the process of obtaining the whey mineral, the pH and the lactic acid content are adjusted by the fermentation time of the cheese used as the starting material, and the ash content in the solid content is adjusted to the membrane treatment conditions during nanofiltration membrane separation. The whey minerals 4 to 7 of Production Examples 4 to 7 having the compositions shown in Table 1 below were obtained.

[Production Example 8]
The sweet whey obtained as a by-product when producing cheese was subjected to nanofiltration membrane separation, and further concentrated to 20% by mass by reverse osmosis filtration membrane separation. Thereafter, the precipitate formed by further heat treatment at 80 ° C. for 20 minutes is removed by centrifugation, and this is further concentrated by an evaporator to obtain a fluid whey mineral 8 having a solid content of 40% by mass. It was.

  Table 1 below shows (a) ash content in solid content, (b) calcium content in solid content, (c) calcium content in ash content, and (d) solid content of whey minerals obtained in each production example. The lactic acid content in the minute, (e) the pH of the 0.1% by weight aqueous solution of solid content.

[Example 1]
Grapefruit juice was obtained by squeezing the grapefruit with a juicer. The whey mineral 1 obtained in the above Production Example 1 is used as the masking agent A of the present invention as it is, and 0.005 parts by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of this squeezed grapefruit juice and mixed thoroughly to provide the food and drink of the present invention. Grapefruit juice 1 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 1 of the present invention was extremely easy to drink, with only the bitter taste being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance of the grapefruit juice without addition.

[Example 2]
The whey mineral 2 obtained in Production Example 2 is used as it is as the masking agent B of the present invention, and 0.005 parts by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of the above-mentioned squeezed grapefruit juice and mixed thoroughly to provide the food and drink of the present invention. Grapefruit juice 2 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 2 of the present invention was extremely easy to drink, with only the bitter taste being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance of the grapefruit juice without additives.

Example 3
The whey mineral 3 obtained in the above Production Example 3 is used as it is as the masking agent C of the present invention, and 0.005 parts by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of the above-mentioned squeezed grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice 3 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 3 of the present invention was extremely easy to drink, with only the bitter taste being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance of the grapefruit juice without additives.

[Comparative Example 1]
The whey mineral 4 obtained in Production Example 4 is used as it is as a masking agent D of Comparative Example as it is, and 0.005 parts by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of the squeezed grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice 4 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 4 of the present invention has almost the same bitterness as the additive-free grapefruit juice, and the effects seen with the masking agents A to C were not obtained at all. In addition, a slight amount of dust was observed.

[Comparative Example 2]
The whey mineral 5 obtained in Production Example 5 is used as it is as a masking agent E of Comparative Example, and 0.005 parts by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of the squeezed grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice 5 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 5 of the present invention has almost the same bitterness as the additive-free grapefruit juice, and the effects seen with the masking agents A to C were not obtained at all.

[Comparative Example 3]
The whey mineral 6 obtained in Production Example 6 is used as it is as the masking agent F of Comparative Example, and 0.005 part by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of the above-mentioned squeezed grapefruit juice, and mixed sufficiently to provide a food and drink of Comparative Example. Grapefruit juice 6 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 6 of the present invention has almost the same bitterness as the additive-free grapefruit juice, and the effects seen with the masking agents A to C were not obtained at all.

[Comparative Example 4]
The whey mineral 7 obtained in Production Example 7 is used as it is as a masking agent G of Comparative Example as it is, and 0.005 parts by mass is added to 100 parts by mass of the squeezed grapefruit juice and mixed thoroughly to provide a food and drink of the Comparative Example. Grapefruit juice 7 was obtained. The obtained grapefruit juice 7 of the present invention has a bitter taste almost equal to that of the additive-free grapefruit juice, and the effects seen with the masking agents A to C were not obtained at all.

Example 4
0.02 parts by mass of the above-mentioned masking agent A was added per 100 parts by mass of Kengasan (Malpy / Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd.) and mixed well to obtain Kengasan, a pharmaceutical product of the present invention. The obtained Kenkakusan of the present invention was extremely easy to take, with only the bitter taste being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance compared to the Kengasan without additives.

Example 5
0.005 parts by mass of the above-mentioned masking agent A was added per 100 parts by mass of black coffee of sugar-free regular coffee (mocha blend) and mixed well to obtain black coffee which is a food and drink according to the present invention. The obtained black coffee of the present invention was very easy to drink, with only the bitterness being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance of the black coffee without additives.

Example 6
With respect to 100 parts by mass of lager beer, 0.005 parts by mass of the above masking agent A was added and mixed sufficiently to obtain beer which is a food and drink according to the present invention. The obtained beer of the present invention was extremely easy to drink, with only the bitterness being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance as compared with the additive-free beer.

Example 7
The assembly (Japanese Pharmacopoeia Assembly / Yamamoto Kampo Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was used as a decoction assembly solution by a predetermined method. With respect to 100 parts by mass of the assembly liquid, 0.02 parts by mass of the masking agent A was added and mixed well to obtain a assembly liquid as the pharmaceutical product of the present invention. The obtained assembly solution of the present invention was extremely easy to take, with only the bitterness being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance as compared with the additive-free assembly solution.

Example 8
The vinegar was diluted 5 times with water to obtain a vinegar beverage. The whey mineral 8 obtained in the above Production Example 8 was diluted with water so as to have a solid content of 10% by mass, and this was subjected to UHT sterilization treatment (sterilization temperature 140 ° C., holding time 6 seconds), and further having a pore diameter of 0.2 μm. What passed through the filtration membrane was used as the masking agent H of the present invention.
The whey mineral 8 obtained in Production Example 8 was slightly turbid with the naked eye. Absorbance was measured with a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 660 nm, which was Abs. 0.0020. The masking agent H of the present invention was visually transparent, and its absorbance was measured at a wavelength of 660 nm with a spectrophotometer and found to be Abs. Moreover, when the bacteria test was conducted, the number of general viable bacteria was negative, and it could be stored at room temperature.
0.05 parts by mass of the masking agent H was added to 100 parts by mass of the vinegar drink, and mixed well to obtain a vinegar drink 1 as a food or drink according to the present invention. The obtained vinegar beverage 1 of the present invention was very easy to drink, with only the acidity being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance as compared with the additive-free vinegar beverage.

Example 9
Open the canned syrup pickled mandarin (solid content 55% by weight), add 0.002 parts by weight of the above-mentioned masking agent A per 100 parts by weight of syrup pickled mandarin, mix thoroughly, and pickle the syrup that is the food and drink of the present invention I got a mandarin orange. The obtained syrup-picked tangerine of the present invention was extremely easy to eat, as compared to the additive-free syrup-picked canned mandarin, only the processing odor unique to canned food was reduced without changing the basic flavor balance.

Example 10
0.2 parts by mass of the above-mentioned masking agent H was added per 100 parts by mass of soy milk (delicious unprepared soy milk / Kibun Co., Ltd.) and mixed well to obtain soy milk that is a food and drink according to the present invention. The obtained soy milk of the present invention was extremely easy to drink, with only the bean odor reduced, without changing the basic flavor balance, compared to the additive-free soy milk.

Example 11
To 100 ml of water, 4 mg of magnesium chloride, 105 mg of sodium chloride and 30 mg of potassium chloride were added, and 5.0 g of liquid sugar and 1 mg of grapefruit flavor were added and mixed well to obtain a sports drink. The said masking agent H was added 0.02 mass part per 100 mass parts of this sports drink, and it mixed sufficiently, and obtained the sports drink which is the food / beverage products of this invention. The obtained sports drink of the present invention was extremely easy to drink, with only the astringent taste being reduced without changing the basic flavor balance as compared with the additive-free sports drink.

Example 12
0.02 parts by mass of the masking agent A was added per 100 parts by mass of plain yogurt and mixed well to obtain plain yogurt which is a food and drink according to the present invention. The obtained plain yogurt of the present invention had a reduced acidity as compared with the additive-free plain yogurt and was extremely easy to eat.

Claims (6)

The masking agent which contains the whey mineral which satisfy | fills all the conditions of the following (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) as an active ingredient.
(A) Ash content in solid content of whey mineral is 25 to 75% by mass
(B) The calcium content in the solid content of the whey mineral is less than 2% by mass (c) The calcium content in the ash content of the whey mineral is less than 5% by mass (d) The lactic acid content in the solid content of the whey mineral is 1 0.0 mass% or more (e) The pH of a 0.1 mass% solid content aqueous solution of whey mineral is 6.0 to 7.5   The masking agent according to claim 1, which is a bitter taste masking agent.   Food / beverage products containing the masking agent of Claim 1 or 2.   An oral pharmaceutical comprising the masking agent according to claim 1 or 2.   The masking method of the food / beverage products characterized by adding the masking agent of Claim 1 or 2 to food / beverage products.   A method for masking an oral drug, wherein the masking agent according to claim 1 or 2 is added to the drug.