JP2008285519A - Edible inkjet ink composition - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an edible inkjet ink composition that secures a printed surface having a more natural color tone than that of conventionally used ink when the printing is carried out onto the surface of a food by an inkjet printer, contains an edible natural pigment serving health intention of consumers and is suitable for ink-jet printing. <P>SOLUTION: The edible inkjet ink composition comprises an edible natural pigment, an edible glycol-based compound, an edible fatty acid ester, ethyl alcohol and pure water. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an edible inkjet ink composition containing an edible natural pigment. More specifically, the present invention can give a natural color unique to a natural pigment by printing on food using an inkjet printer. The present invention relates to an edible ink composition.

The direct printing technology for food is made possible by the advancement of ink jet printers. In the ink jet method, the printer can print without touching food. Such direct printing technology for foods has attracted attention in recent years from the standpoints of product differentiation and traceability, for example, printing messages on sweets and printing expiration dates on eggshells. The letters and designs were printed on the food. Here, an edible ink that does not harm the human body when eaten is used as an ink for food printing, and conventionally, an ink composition containing a synthetic dye has been generally used.
In recent years, with the further advancement of ink jet printers, it has become possible to print photographs output from a computer on food. However, when an ink composition containing a synthetic dye is used, a clear color can be obtained, but since the color tone is flashy and tends to be garish, there is an increasing demand for printing with a more natural color. It was.
Also, since foods using synthetic food additives give the impression that they are unhealthy, printed foods that use natural products have been sought from consumers' health consciousness.
JP 2006-169301 A

  The present invention, when printing on food with an ink jet printer, contains a natural color tone that is more natural than conventional inks and contains edible natural pigments suitable for consumers' health orientation, and is suitable for ink jet printing. An object of the present invention is to provide an edible inkjet ink composition.

The problems of the present invention have been solved by the following means.
(1) An edible inkjet ink composition comprising an edible natural dye, an edible glycol compound, an edible fatty acid ester, ethyl alcohol, and pure water.
(2) The edible natural pigment is turmeric pigment, gardenia yellow pigment, safflower yellow pigment, beta-carotene, benichouji yellow pigment, lac pigment, cochineal pigment, benicozi pigment, beet red, red cabbage pigment, purple potato pigment, red radish pigment , Grape skin pigment, perilla pigment, elderberry pigment, purple corn pigment, safflower red pigment, gardenia red pigment, red pepper pigment, anato pigment, chlorophyll, gardenia blue pigment, spirulina pigment, squid pigment, cacao pigment, oyster pigment, cucumber The edible ink composition for inkjet according to item (1), which is at least one selected from the group consisting of a dye and a tamarind dye.
(3) The edible fatty acid ester is at least one selected from the group consisting of a glycerin fatty acid ester, a sucrose fatty acid ester, a sorbitan fatty acid ester, and a propylene glycol fatty acid ester whose fatty acid component has 4 to 30 carbon atoms. The edible inkjet ink composition as described in (1) or (2) above.
(4) Any of (1) to (3), wherein the edible glycol compound is glycerin or propylene glycol, and its composition is 5 to 25% by mass with respect to the whole ink composition. The edible inkjet ink composition according to item 1.
In the present invention, the “edible” article is a generic term for foods and food additives defined in the Food Sanitation Law.

  The edible ink-jet ink composition of the present invention contains a natural edible pigment that is suitable for the health of consumers, and can form a printing surface with a natural color tone on the food surface, compared to conventional inks, Moreover, it is excellent in discharge stability.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.
The edible inkjet ink composition of the present invention is characterized by containing a natural edible pigment, an edible glycol compound, an edible fatty acid ester, ethyl alcohol, and pure water. Since the ink composition of the present invention is edible, a raw material approved for use in the Food Sanitation Law is used.

[Edible natural pigments]
In the present invention, edible natural pigments are used for the purpose of enabling printing of natural colors. Synthetic pigments are not used from the viewpoint of consumer health.
The use of solid substances as edible natural pigments is not precluded, but generally an aqueous pigment solution is used. These can be used as a single dye or used in a plurality of combinations to produce various colors.
The edible natural pigment is not particularly limited as long as it is a natural pigment that is harmless even if eaten, but preferably, turmeric pigment, gardenia yellow pigment, safflower yellow pigment, beta-carotene, Benikouji yellow pigment, lac pigment, cochineal pigment, Benikouji pigment Pigment, beet red, red cabbage pigment, purple potato pigment, red radish pigment, grape skin pigment, perilla pigment, elderberry pigment, purple corn pigment, safflower red pigment, gardenia red pigment, red pepper pigment, anato pigment, chlorophyll, gardenia blue At least one selected from the group consisting of a dye, a spirulina blue dye, a squid ink dye, a cacao dye, an oyster dye, a cucumber dye, and a tamarind dye is used.
Edible natural dyes are lighter in color than synthetic dyes, so it is necessary to contain more dyes than conventional ink compositions using synthetic dyes. However, if they are too much, the viscosity will increase and ink jet printing will not be possible. On the other hand, if the amount is too small, good color tone cannot be produced. Therefore, the content of the edible natural pigment is preferably 0.5 to 40% by mass, more preferably 1 to 30% by mass with respect to the entire ink composition.

[Edible glycol compounds]
In the present invention, an edible glycol compound is used from the viewpoint of preventing the pigment from leaving the food when the printed surface is dried.
Although it does not specifically limit as an edible glycol type compound, For example, edible glycerin and propylene glycol are used preferably. Further, depending on the edible natural pigment to be used, one kind may be used alone, or two or more kinds may be used in combination. For example, glycerin alone or a combination of glycerin and propylene glycol may be used. Good. This is appropriately determined every time the ink composition is prepared from the viewpoint of ink viscosity and dye solubility.
The content of the edible glycol compound is preferably 1 to 30% by mass, more preferably 5 to 25% by mass with respect to the entire ink composition.

[Edible fatty acid ester]
In the present invention, edible fatty acid ester, ethyl alcohol and pure water are used from the viewpoint of ejection stability in ink jet printing.
Although it does not specifically limit as edible fatty acid ester, For example, the glycerin fatty acid ester whose carbon number of a fatty-acid component is 4-30, sucrose fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, propylene glycol fatty acid ester etc. can be used. Specifically, glycerin fatty acid ester using decaglycerin laurate as a raw material is preferable.
The content of the edible fatty acid ester may be negligible, and a maximum of about 1% by mass is sufficient, and is appropriately determined in view of printability such as viscosity. Since the content of the edible fatty acid ester is small, it is preferable to preliminarily dissolve it in pure water before preparing the ink composition.

[Ethyl alcohol]
Synthetic ethyl alcohol may be used as ethyl alcohol, but naturally brewed fermented ethyl alcohol, sugarcane alcohol, and the like are preferable.
The content of ethyl alcohol is appropriately determined in view of printability such as viscosity, and is preferably 5 to 30% by mass, more preferably 5 to 20% by mass, and particularly preferably 10 to 20% by mass with respect to the entire ink composition. preferable.

[Pure water]
Since the ink composition of the present invention is edible, pure water is used from the viewpoint of containing no harmful substances.
As pure water, those having an electric conductivity of 10 μS / cm or less can be preferably used, more preferably 1 μS / cm or less, and ultrapure water of 0.5 μS / cm or less is particularly preferable.

[Others]
The ink composition of the present invention may contain food additives such as anti-fading agents and preservatives.

[Method for preparing ink composition]
The method for preparing the ink composition of the present invention is not particularly limited. For example, a predetermined amount of a fatty acid ester, a glycol compound, ethyl alcohol, and an edible natural dye are added to pure water and stirred until completely dissolved, Thereafter, it can be prepared by filtering to remove insoluble matters.
The viscosity of the ink composition of the present invention is preferably 1 to 7 cP and more preferably 2 to 5 cP at 25 ° C. from the viewpoint of ejection stability. The viscosity can be measured using, for example, a B-type viscometer (manufactured by Shibaura System).

The inkjet ink composition of the present invention adjusted to a natural color with an edible natural pigment obtained as described above is water-soluble, excellent in ejection performance from an inkjet printer, and excellent in design on the food surface.
In addition, it is necessary to indicate that a synthetic colorant is included in foods that are ink-jet printed using an ink that uses a synthetic colorant. In contrast, foods that have been ink-jet printed using the ink-jet ink composition of the present invention display an indication that edible natural pigments are included, and respond to the consumer's need to “use no synthetic colorants” Is possible.

The ink composition of the present invention can be directly printed on food by an ink jet printer. Specifically, it can be applied to foods other than those listed below. (1) Kelp, meat, beans, vegetables, wakame (excluding these processed foods), and (2) fresh seafood (including whale meat), tea, and paste.
The ink composition of the present invention is suitable for use in foods, but does not impede use in applications directly related to human health such as pharmaceuticals, quasi drugs, and cosmetics. Examples of pharmaceuticals include tablets, capsules, troches, lipsticks, foundations and the like.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although this invention is demonstrated in detail based on an Example, this invention is not limited to these. Unless otherwise specified, “part” is based on mass.

Example 1
To 67.3 parts of pure water, 0.2 part of glycerin fatty acid ester (trade name, Sunsoft Q12Y, manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd.), 15 parts of glycerin and 10 parts of ethyl alcohol are added and stirred for 30 minutes. 7.5 parts of a dye was added, stirred until completely dissolved, and then filtered to prepare an edible inkjet blue ink composition. The viscosity of the prepared ink composition was measured using a B-type viscometer (manufactured by Shibaura System Co., Ltd.) and found to be 4 cP.

Example 2
To 59.8 parts of pure water, 0.2 part of glycerin fatty acid ester (trade name, Sunsoft Q12Y, manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd.), 10 parts of glycerin and 10 parts of ethyl alcohol are added and stirred for 30 minutes. An edible ink-jet red ink composition was prepared by adding 20 parts, stirring until completely dissolved, and then filtering. When the viscosity of the prepared ink composition was measured in the same manner as in Example 1, it was 4 cP.

Example 3
To 63.8 parts of pure water, 0.2 part of glycerin fatty acid ester (trade name, Sunsoft Q12Y, manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd.), 25 parts of glycerin and 10 parts of ethyl alcohol are added and stirred for 30 minutes. An edible yellow ink composition for inkjet was prepared by adding 1 part of a dye, stirring until completely dissolved, and then filtering. When the viscosity of the prepared ink composition was measured in the same manner as in Example 1, it was 3 cP.

Example 4
To 70.2 parts of pure water, 0.2 part of glycerin fatty acid ester (trade name, Sunsoft Q12Y, manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd.), 5 parts of glycerin and 10 parts of ethyl alcohol are added and stirred for 30 minutes. An edible black ink composition for inkjet was prepared by adding 10 parts of a dye, 0.6 part of gardenia yellow dye, and 4 parts of Benikouji dye, stirring until completely dissolved, and then filtering. When the viscosity of the prepared ink composition was measured in the same manner as in Example 1, it was 4 cP.

Example 5
Using the blue, red, yellow, and black inks prepared in Examples 1 to 4, characters, pictures, photographs, and the like for birthday celebrations were printed on a rice cracker having a diameter of 8 cm by an ink jet printer (manufactured by Mastermind). As a result, we were able to obtain an appetizing print with a natural color.

Example 6
In the same manner as in Example 5, the material to be printed was made chocolate to print a Valentine's heart mark or the like. As a result, it was possible to obtain a printed material having excellent design properties.

Claims (4)

  An edible inkjet ink composition comprising a natural edible dye, an edible glycol compound, an edible fatty acid ester, ethyl alcohol, and pure water.   The edible natural pigment is turmeric pigment, gardenia yellow pigment, safflower yellow pigment, beta-carotene, benichouji yellow pigment, lac pigment, cochineal pigment, benichouge pigment, beet red, red cabbage pigment, purple potato pigment, red radish pigment, grape peel Pigment, perilla pigment, elderberry pigment, purple corn pigment, safflower red pigment, gardenia red pigment, red pepper pigment, anato pigment, chlorophyll, gardenia blue pigment, spirulina blue pigment, squid ink pigment, cacao pigment, oyster pigment, sorghum pigment, and The edible inkjet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the edible ink composition is at least one selected from the group consisting of tamarind dyes.   The edible fatty acid ester is at least one selected from the group consisting of a glycerin fatty acid ester, a sucrose fatty acid ester, a sorbitan fatty acid ester, and a propylene glycol fatty acid ester whose fatty acid component has 4 to 30 carbon atoms. The edible inkjet ink composition according to claim 1 or 2.   The edible glycol-based compound is glycerin or propylene glycol, and the composition thereof is 5 to 25% by mass with respect to the entire ink composition. Edible ink composition for inkjet.