NO303561B1 - Process for the preparation of low-calorie meat products - Google Patents

Abstract

A LOW CALORIE MEAT PRODUCT COMPRISING COMMINUTED LEAN MEAT AND A VEGETABLE FAT REPLACEMENT INGREDIENT COMPRISING DIETARY FIBER AND STARCH IN A WEIGHT RATIO WHICH IS IN THE RANGE OF 1:32-1:1, THE PROPORTION OF THE DIETARY FIBER BEING AT LEAST 5% BY WEIGHT, AND THE PROPORTION OF THE STARCH BEING AT LEAST 50BY WEIGHT, OF THE FAT REPLACEMENT INGREDIENT DRY MATTER, THE PROPORTION OF THE VEGETABLE FAT REPLACEMENT INGREDIENT BEING IN THE RANGE OF 5-80% BY WEIGHT, CALCULATED ON THE MIXTURE, THE PRODUCT WHEN IT COMPRISES A COHERENT FORCEMEAT MIXTURE HAVING A CONTENT OF FAT WHICH IS LESS THAN 10% BY WEIGHT AND WHEN IT IS A HAMBURGER PRODUCT A FAT CONTENT WHICH IS LESS THAN 10% BY WEIGHT AND WHEN IT IS A HAMBURGER PRODUCT A FAT CONTENT WHICH IS LESS THAN 50% BY WEIGHT, AND A PROCESS FOR PREPARING THE LOW CALORIE MEAT PRODUCT.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for producing a low-calorie meat product which comprises a vegetable fat replacement ingredient.

There is an increasing consumer demand for meat products that have a low calorie content. This demand is supported by increasing evidence within the scientific literature that a high consumption of animal fat, particularly fat with a high proportion of saturated fatty acids, represents a significant health hazard, e.g. in relation to the development of cardio-vascular diseases. Other health considerations associated with high-fat meat products are their high cholesterol content and relatively high amounts of salt which is added to improve binding characteristics since salt helps extract the native water-binding component myosin from the meat. Furthermore, a large proportion of consumers find that meat products containing chemical additives such as water-binding agents that include phosphates, emulsifying additives and antioxidants are less acceptable.

However, the presence of fat in traditional meat products has a significant desired effect on texture and good taste. Thus, meat products with a significantly reduced fat content tend to become dry, chewy and less succulent, and the consumer considers such products to be less tasty than corresponding products with a high fat content. In some countries it is considered that e.g. breakfast sausages that have a fat content below $35 are less palatable due to dryness and chewiness. In a publication by V/irth (Fleischwirtschaft, 1988, 68, 1153-1156) it was concluded that a certain fat content is essential for the consistency of the products and that the production of meat products with a reduced fat content requires special process technology. By using such technology, according to Wirth above, it is possible to produce e.g. frankfurter sausages that have a fat content as low as 10% or liver sausages that have a maximum fat content of 15$ without detracting from the texture and good taste of the products. Wirth indicates that the preferred processes to compensate for the technological function of non-present fat would be: an increased activity of myosin to increase the water-binding capacity and the addition of collagen substances and water.

A large number of attempts have been made to reduce the fat content in meat products. The publication above is an example of a method which is simply to reduce or "dilute" a high proportion of fat by adding water and water-binding treatment agents to a product mix with a high fat content. Other examples can be found in GB 1 423 608 which describes the addition of a dry gel-forming agent comprising a cellulose ether and a digestible carbohydrate and this agent is added at concentrations up to 15% together with added water and in EP 0 319 987 which describes a method for the preparation of processed sliced meat food comprising adding an alkaline gel comprising up to 11 parts by weight of gel-forming materials including konjac mannan, up to 0.04 parts by weight of an alkaline substance and 15 to 50 parts by weight of water to the sliced meat. The use of an alkaline konjac mannangel as a calorie reducing agent in meat products has also been described in GB 2 224 629.

Another approach to providing low-calorie meat products is to reduce the amount of fat by including in the meat products non-meat ingredients, while still trying to maintain a taste, aroma, texture and appearance in such products comparable to the meat products - the ducts with a traditionally high fat content. Thus, US 3,748,148 describes a method for producing sausages with a reduced cholesterol content in which 20-30$ Brazil nuts are mixed into lean meat as a substitute for animal fat. The aim of this description is to provide sausages with a reduced animal fat content (including cholesterol). The relatively high proportion of oil-containing nuts, however, does not produce a truly low-fat meat product. US 4,504,515 describes a process for the production of low-fat meat products comprising mixing a mixture containing 13-40 wt.-# of frozen skimmed milk or whole milk and 55-80 wt.-# of lean meat in the presence of less than 5 wt. -5& spices and/or preservatives.

In US 4,735,819, sausages with a reduced calorie content are described which comprise 40-9056 lean meat and 2-35% cooked rice and which have a fat content in the range from 4-35 weight-#. Test samples of sausages are assessed on the basis of texture, aroma and appearance by the test panel. However, the assessments were relatively poor for products that have a high content of rice and a low content of fat. Thus, the preferred content of rice was 10 wt-# and the preferred range of fat content was 10-25 wt-#, and the most preferred value was 20%. It is therefore obvious that these inventors have not solved the problem of being able to produce meat products with a fat content of less than 20 weight-# while maintaining the taste, texture and appearance of the high fat meat products.

A number of cases of low-cost meat products have been produced in which fat has been reduced moderately by the addition of various non-meat additives. The main objectives of using such additives are to aid absorption of fat and absorption of added water in the resulting meat product mixture to obtain meat products having high final cooking yields; adding protein value to the products; or improve emulsion stability in products that have a low meat content. Examples of such non-meat additives include breadcrumbs, cereals, potato starch, milk powder and vegetable protein.

Addition of dietary fiber and starch-containing vegetable ingredients, e.g. in the form of cooked vegetables to meat products, is known. It is thus not unusual to add small amounts of boiled potatoes to certain traditional home-made products that have a relatively high fat content, such as liver paste, sausages or meat stuffing mixtures for meatballs. The purpose of this addition is primarily to achieve improved absorption of fat and added water and to reduce shrinkage during cooking. Furthermore, such addition of boiled potatoes helps to achieve a larger volume to the final product, whereby the required amount of expensive meat ingredients can be reduced. This is typically used in the production of fish products that include products where the fish meat has a low fat content, such as cod. In GB 1 310 348, a method for the production of dehydrated meat products such as meatballs is described whereby a pre-cooked dry vegetable material which has retained the cellular structure of the vegetable, preferably dehydrated potatoes, is added to finely divided fat-containing meat in amounts in the range of 5 to 15% by weight. The main purpose of adding vegetable matter is to improve the rehydration characteristics of the dried final products. It has been established that it may be necessary to increase the present fat content of the products which originate from the fat-containing meat ingredient and is typically 8-13 to e.g. 20-30$ when adding fat to reduce rehydration time. A corresponding use of carbohydrate materials such as cooked mashed potatoes in the production of immediately reconstitutable dehydrated, cooked meat products is described in GB 1 022 170.

Liver paste products are known to include pea fiber or a pea fiber-containing ingredient in amounts of 1-3% by weight. When the pea fiber is used in such quantities, the pea fiber can cause a special taste and aroma from the peas, and this is not desirable.

SU 1 266 503 describes a method for the production of cooked sausages in which a "structuring agent" comprising a 1:1 mixture of mashed potatoes with milk and residues from semolina production was added to finely divided meat. The aim of the invention is to reduce the meat content by 35-40$. In SU 1 296 083, a method for the production of sausage products is described in which an emulsion comprising 8-10% by weight of a rehydrated dried vegetable material such as potatoes or other root vegetables and hot fat in a ratio of 1:1 to 1: 0.5 relative to the vegetable ingredient, finely divided meat is added to form a sausage mixture.

The present invention has found that low-calorie meat products can be produced in an industrially economical way by using meat in which essentially all fat has been mechanically removed and the thus removed fat is replaced with a dietary fiber and starch-containing ingredient which gives meat products which has essentially the same taste, consistency/texture and appearance as corresponding types of meat products that are made from meat that has a high fat content. By using this new method, it has now become possible to obtain nutritionally highly desirable meat products having a fat content of less than 15$, and the fat content has even been as low as 2-3$ by weight while maintaining the same content of meat protein.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a low-calorie meat product, characterized in that the method essentially consists of: 1) producing a mixture by mixing finely divided lean meat which is essentially free of visible fat; a vegetable replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio ranging from 1:19 to 1:1, said proportion of dietary fiber being at least 5% by weight of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NPS), and the proportion of starch is at least 50$ of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient, where the fat replacement ingredient has the ability to have, or be brought into a homogeneous consistency substantially without sensory recognizable particles in the cohesive mixture, said ingredient is miscible with the other ingredients; optional added salt; and optionally added water, in which mixture: (a) the proportion of finely divided lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat is in the range of 20-95% by weight, (b) the proportion of vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range of 5-80% by weight -$, (c) the proportion of added water when added is in the range 10-50 wt-$, (d) the proportion of added salt when added is in the range 0.1-4 wt-$, the mixture, when the low-calorie meat product to be produced is a spreadable meat product, is preferably carried out in the following steps: (i) mixing an edible oil, the amount of which is in the range o.5-3 weight-$, calculated for the product; water having a temperature not lower than 50°C and a protein powder to obtain a first pre-mix in the form of an emulsion, (ii) adding to said emulsion lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat, vegetable fat replacement ingredient , added salt, and added water, the total proportion of added ingredients is at least 95% by weight of the ingredients from (i) and (ii), (iii) mixing the ingredients from (i) and (ii) in such a way that a second premix was obtained, mentioned second premix comprises uniformly distributed coarse particles of meat and fat substitute ingredient having an average largest diameter of at least 5 mm, and if necessary grinding the resulting second pre-mix by passing said pre-mix through a high speed grinder to obtain the mixture, 2) optionally adding to the mixture one or more additional ingredients, thereby resulting in a meat product mixture, wherein the proportion of additional ingredients are in the range of 1-15 wt-$, preferably in the range of 2-12 wt-$, especially in the range of 3-10 wt-$, 3) distributing the resulting meat product mixture in suitably sized packages, and 4) optionally subjecting the meat product mixture to preservation and/or cooking treatment prior to or after its distribution into packages of suitable size to obtain a low-calorie meat product having a fat content of at most 15 wt.-$, when the product is a hamburger product, the fat content is less than 8 weight-#, when the product is not a hamburger product,

subject to the limitation that (i) the lean meat is not fish meat, (ii) the dietary fiber is not konjac mannan, (iii) when the product is a spreadable meat product, it contains an edible oil, and (iv) when the meat product is liver pate, the vegetable fat replacement ingredient will not contain pea fiber or a pea fiber-containing ingredient in an amount higher than 1 weight-$.

The products produced according to the invention have essentially the same taste, texture, appearance and water-binding capacity as similarly produced meat products with a high fat content.

The total proportion of fat in the low calorie product is preferably less than 12 wt-#, more preferably less than 10 wt-#, and even more preferably less than 8 wt-$, more preferably less than 7 wt-#, and most preferably less than 5 wt.-$, and especially less than 3 wt.-$. The finely divided lean meat can be from any edible animal species, including mammals and birds.

A further feature of the method is that the low-calorie meat products may constitute quick-cooking or fast-food consumer meals or forms thereof.

In a further feature, the present invention relates to a method for producing a spreadable low-calorie meat product, where the process comprises a first step of forming an emulsion comprising an edible oil, water that has a temperature of at least 50° C and a protein powder, and subsequent mixing of the resulting emulsion with the ingredients as defined above, the portion of the emulsion from the first step comprising at most 5% by weight of the resulting mixture.

In one aspect of the present invention, a low-calorie meat product is provided which comprises:

a) a mixture comprising:

(1) minced lean meat substantially free of visible fat, the proportion thereof being in the range of 20-95 wt-$, calculated on the mixture, (2) a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio that is in the range of 1: 19 to 1:1, the proportion of dietary fiber is at least 5% by weight of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), and the proportion of starch is at least 50% of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient, where the fat replacement ingredient has the ability to have or become brought to a homogenous consistency substantially with no sensory noticeable particles in the mixture, the proportion of said vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range of 5-80 weight-#, calculated on the mixture, (b) optionally added salt, and the proportion thereof when added, is in the range of 0.1-4 wt-$, calculated on the mixture, and (c) optionally added water, the proportion of which when added is in the range of 5-50 wt-$, calculated on the mixture, and (d) ) optionally an el ler several additional ingredients, the proportion of which is in the range of 1-15 wt-$ of the meat product, the product has a fat content of at most 15 wt-#, when the product is a hamburger product, and the fat content is less than 8 wt- $ when the product is not a hamburger product,

with the limitation that (i) the lean meat is not fish meat, (ii) dietary fiber is not konjac-mannan, (ili) when the meat product is a spreadable meat product it contains an edible oil and (iv) when the meat product is liver paste it contains the vegetable fat replacement ingredient not pea fiber or a pea fiber-containing ingredient that is 1 wt.-$ or higher.

It is preferred that the low-calorie meat product comprises substantially all of the native water in the above-defined ingredients of the product. However, one or more of the ingredients may, prior to mixing, have been subject to treatments that result in the partial removal of the original naturally occurring water content present in the ingredients such as boiling or freeze-storage whereby 1-20% by weight of the native water content can be lost e.g. by evaporation or leaching. In connection with the present invention, it is considered advantageous that the low-calorie meat product includes essentially all of the native water content of the ingredients, said content of ingredient native water in the product is at least 60 wt-$, preferably at least 70 wt-#, more preferably at least 80 wt- $ and especially at least 90 weight-$.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a low-calorie hamburger product is produced. In the present invention, the term "hamburger product" denotes a meat product which comprises as the essential ingredient finely divided meat which has a particle size which makes it possible to form coherent hamburger patties, said particle size is typically in the range of 2-10 mm such as 3-5 etc. When a hamburger product mixture is prepared, the ingredients are mixed substantially without further comminution of the meat for a period of time sufficient to achieve a uniform distribution of the ingredients in the resulting cohesive hamburger mixture.

Traditionally, industrially produced hamburgers may include ground beef as the sole ingredient, the fat content of the beef being typically in the range of 20-30% by weight. However, such hamburgers tend to shrink significantly during frying, i.e. due to leakage of melted fat and further, the remaining fat content will contribute to a high calorie content in the products. In other types of traditionally produced hamburgers, a mixture is produced which, in addition to the fatty minced meat, includes meat additives such as vegetable proteins, e.g. soy protein, added water, added salt and seasoning ingredients. By incorporating such non-meat ingredients, the proportion of meat can be reduced significantly, and the proportion is typically in the range from approx. 60-80 weight-$, calculated on the product. The resulting fat content of such hamburger products is typically in the range of 18-25 wt-#.

The present invention provides low-calorie hamburger products according to the invention, where the products comprise only finely divided meat essentially free of visible fat and the above-defined fat substitute ingredients as well as hamburger products which, in addition to said finely divided meat and fat substitute ingredients, comprise one or more ingredients selected from the group which consists of added salt, added water and additional ingredients as defined below. Even if the preferred source of meat for the hamburgers is beef, other edible meats originating from other animal species may be used in the hamburgers, such as veal, pig and lamb.

In another embodiment of the invention, a low-calorie meat product is produced where the mixture is a continuous meat stuffing mixture. In the present context, the term "a continuous meat mince mixture" is used to indicate a low-calorie meat product mixture which forms a stable homogeneous integrated mass where the minced meat is essentially free of visible fat and added vegetable fat substitute ingredients during the mixture is subject to mechanical forces whereby the particle size on the ingredients is reduced to levels where these ingredients are no longer visibly recognizable and where, together with added salt, added water and optionally further ingredients as defined here, they form the above-defined integrated mass which has a coherent homogeneous consistency essentially without visually recognizable particles. It is also to be understood that this cohesive structure of the mixture will be retained during roasting and storage of the final products. Typical examples of continuous meat stuffing mixtures are mixtures for the production of potato products, meat products that can be cut and meat products that can be spread.

When conventional sausage products, slicable meat products and spreadable products comprising a significant proportion of fat are prepared, the mixing of the ingredients results in the formation of a cohesive meat stuffing mixture in the form of a stable fat-water-protein emulsion. It has now surprisingly been found that a continuous meat-mince mixture as defined above can be obtained even if substantially all the fat is replaced with a vegetable fat replacement ingredient according to the invention. It is to be understood that the physical properties of the resulting low-calorie meat stuffing mixture according to the invention differ fundamentally from traditional fat-water-protein-meat-product emulsion.

Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, a low-calorie meat product is produced where the product comprises:

a) a continuous meat stuffing mixture comprising:

(1) finely divided lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat, the proportion thereof being in the range of 20-90 weight-$, calculated on the mixture, (2) a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio which is in the range 1:19 to 1:1, the proportion of the dietary fiber is at least 5% by weight of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), and the proportion of the starch is at least 50% by weight of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient, where the fat replacement ingredient has the ability to have or be brought to a homogeneous consistency essentially without sensory recognizable particles in the cohesive mixture, the proportion of said vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range of 5-80 weight-$ calculated on the mixture, (3) added salt, the proportion of which is in the range 0.1-4 wt-$ calculated on the mixture, (4) added water, the proportion of which is in the range 10-50 wt-$, calculated on the mixture, and (b) optionally one or more additional ingredients ies,

the product has a fat content of less than 8 wt.-$.

It is preferred that the total proportion of fat in the resulting continuous minced meat mixture comprising products is less than 7wt-$, said proportion is preferably less than 6wt-$, more preferably less than 5wt-sk, even more preferably less than 4 wt-$ and especially less than 3 wt-$.

As defined above, the low-calorie meat products which are produced according to the invention comprise a vegetable ingredient as a fat replacement ingredient, and the proportion of this calculated for the mixture is in the range of 5-80$. It is to be understood that the desired proportion of vegetable ingredients in a particular product may depend on, among other things, the proportions of dietary fiber and starch in the selected vegetable ingredient.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the total amount of dietary fiber and starch present in the vegetable fat replacement ingredient is at least 5% by weight, calculated on the product. It is further considered that for the production of certain types of low-calorie meat products, an even higher minimum total amount of dietary fiber and starch may be desirable, such as at least 7 wt.-$ or even more preferably at least 10 wt.-$.

According to the invention, it is possible to produce low-calorie meat products in which essentially all fat is replaced with a vegetable fat replacement ingredient as defined above, so that the resulting products have the desired sensory and physical characteristics associated with corresponding types of conventionally produced meat products with high fat content. In addition, it must be emphasized that due to their significantly reduced fat, cholesterol and calorie content and optionally reduced salt content, the meat products according to the invention are nutritionally more beneficial, especially for consumers who have a tendency to develop cardio-vascular disorders or who have a desire to maintain or reduce their body weight. Furthermore, it must be considered advantageous by many consumers that the products described here can be produced with a reduced content of chemical additives such as phosphates or anti-oxidants which are usually used in conventional high-calorie meat products that have a high fat content.

The low-calorie meat products which are produced according to the invention have the desired characteristics with respect to texture, taste, aroma, cooking yield, stability to freezing and thawing, and appearance associated with corresponding conventional high-fat meat product types.

In the present context, the term "low calorie" is understood to indicate the total amount of metabolisable energy contained in the meat products according to the invention and that they are significantly reduced compared to the energy content of traditionally produced meat products. The energy content of a food product essentially derives primarily from its content of protein, carbohydrate and fat. However, the contribution of fat is the part of a food product to total energy content relative to the other ingredients per unit weight more than double. Thus, the proportion of fat is e.g. in meat products more decisive for the energy content of the products where the energy content is generally indicated as calories or joules per weight unit. In industrialized western countries such as the USA, the fat in the average diet contributes approx. 40$ of total energy intake. It has been recommended by the nutrition team that this contribution should be reduced to at least $30.

In the low-calorie meat products as defined above, the fat content is reduced to such an extent that the total energy content can be reduced to less than half, preferably to approx. 1/3 of the energy content of conventionally produced meat products that have a fat content that typically varies between 25 and 50 by weight. The low-calorie meat products have a total energy content of less than 700 kJ/100 g, preferably less than 600 kJ/100 g, more preferably less than 500 kJ/100 g, and especially less than 400 kJ/100 g. The contribution of the fat content from the low calorie meat products according to the invention for total energy content is less than 50$, preferably less than 40$, more preferably less than 30$ and especially less than 20$.

Examples of ingredient formulations that result in meat products having the indicated desired low calorie contents are given below. It is understood that the real energy contribution from fat will depend on the amounts and types of other ingredients in a given meat product. In the present context, the term "low calorie" is used specifically to describe meat products having a total fat content (v/v) of less than 15$, preferably less than 10$, more preferably less than 8$, more preferably less than 7$ , most preferably less than 5$, and especially less than 3$.

Characteristics of vegetable cousin substitute ingredients

In order to achieve a low-calorie meat product comprising a mixture as defined above, it is essential to choose a suitable vegetable fat replacement ingredient that provides physical and sensory characteristics to the final low-calorie meat products with essentially the same properties as those of corresponding traditional meat products with a high fat content. The vegetable fat replacement ingredient may be a single ingredient or a mixture of ingredients comprising dietary fiber that is in a proportion of at least 5 wt-# of the fat replacement ingredient dry matter and starch, the proportion of which is at least 50 wt-# on a fat replacement ingredient dry matter basis. In the vegetable ingredient, the weight ratio of dietary fiber to starch ranges from 1:19 to 1:1, a preferred range is 1:20 to 1:2, a more preferred range is 1:15 to 1:3 and a most preferred range is 1:10 to 1:4.

The vegetable ingredient that is used in the method of the invention has or has the ability to be brought to a homogeneous consistency without sensory noticeable particles, it is essentially free of fat and has a neutral taste and color whereby it does not affect the desired sensory characteristics to the resulting meat products. In the present context, a neutral taste means that the taste of the fat replacement ingredient, even when it is present in a low-calorie meat product in the highest proportion as defined above, does not affect the resulting taste of the low-calorie meat products according to the invention in such a way that the said low-calorie -meat product when examined by a sensory test panel, cannot be recognized as having a less acceptable taste than similar meat products with a high fat content.

A further characteristic of the fat replacement ingredients is that they are miscible with the other ingredients in such a way that a cohesive mixture can be achieved. The term "miscible" is used to describe that when the fat replacement ingredient is mixed with the other ingredients in a cohesive mixture, a smooth homogeneous integrated mass is formed into which a cohesive mixture of all the added water has been stably absorbed.

The vegetable dietary fiber and starch-containing f replacement ingredient which, when used in the manufacture of low-calorie meat products in the amounts defined above, provides the above desired product characteristics is selected primarily on the basis of the amount and the chemical and physical characteristics of dietary fiber and starch contained therein.

Characteristics of the starch component 1 the fat substitute ingredients

Starch is a naturally occurring, high-polymeric carbohydrate that is a reserve carbohydrate in plants. Starch occurs in plant material in the form of white granules, usually made of both a linear polymer (amylose) and a branched polymer (amylopectin). Starches of different botanical origins show differences in their physical characteristics and chemical composition. Starch granules from cereals, such as rice and maize, vary between 3 and 20 µm with respect to the average size of their largest diameter, and those from roots and tubers, such as tapioca, arrowroot or potatoes, between 10 and 100 µm. Thus, for example, rice starch has an average granule size of approx. 4 pm, cornstarch one of approx. 14 pm and potato starch one at approx. 100 p.m. Starch granules swell progressively in water when the temperature is raised in the range from 60-70°C. This swelling phenomenon is an indication of binding of water to the starch. Above this temperature level, the granules undergo gelatinization whereby a paste or sol is formed. In general, small granules swell and gelatinize more slowly and at a higher temperature than large granules. The structure of the individual granules can be disrupted by mechanical devices. After breaking, the granules tend to swell and gelatinize even in cold water. Large granules such as those in potato starch are more fragile than small granules from e.g. rice starch. Starches that have been pre-gelatinized by heat treatments and subsequently dried such as commercial starch products swell and gelatinize rapidly at temperature levels above those indicated for untreated starches.

Furthermore, starches of different botanical origin can vary in their chemical composition. Thus, the distribution between amylose and amylopectin can vary and the content of lipids can be different. In the latter case, there is a characteristic difference between cereal starches and starches derived from tubers and roots. In cereal starches, the amylose is in the form of a lipid-amylose complex, while in tuber and root starches the amount of lipids is negligible. Thus, wheat starch contains 0.23$ ether extractable components, while potato starch contains only 0.12$. The relatively high lipid content of cereal starches can affect their technological properties, e.g. in terms of application as water-binding ingredients in meat products since it has been reported that defatting such starches increases their water-binding capacities and swelling power (Lorenz et al., 1983, Starch/Starke, 35, 123-129).

Based on these physical and chemical characteristics of different botanical forms of native starch, it has been assessed that a particularly suitable vegetable fat substitute ingredient for the production of low-calorie meat products according to the invention contains starch which in its native form comprises granules which have an average size in the range from approx. 10-200 pm, preferably in the area from approx. 50-150 pm and which is essentially free of fat. The term "substantially free of fat" in this context indicates that the total amount of ether extractable components of the starch is less than about 0.15 weight-$.

Starch and starch fractions, amylose and amylopectin can be modified by heating with or without the addition of chemical reagents. This treatment can result in starch products having properties useful in the present invention. As an example, treatment of starch with acids such as sulfuric acid causes a partial hydrolysis thereof, whereby "low-boiling" starches are obtained. Starches can also be oxidized, e.g. by treatment with hypochlorite, whereby chlorinated starches are produced.

Furthermore, derivatives of starch can be useful components of a fat replacement ingredient. Such derivatives can be starch esters such as acetates and carbamates of starch or fractions thereof or starch ethers such as hydroxyalkyl starch. In connection with the present invention, the term "starch" is understood to include modified starches or modified starch fractions as defined above, as well as the above defined starch derivatives.

When starch is subjected to physical or chemical treatment, starch can be degraded into smaller molecules of varying size, e.g. as a result of hydrolysis. Starch can be hydrolysed by chemical treatment with organic or inorganic acids or bases. Furthermore, hydrolysis of starch can be the result of treatment with starch hydrolysing enzymes such as amylases or glucanases. An example of a chemical or enzymatic hydrolyzate of starch useful in the food industry is maltodextrin. This term is used to describe a product comprising a mixture of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides resulting from chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of starches. A typical maltodextrin product contains less than 5% by weight of disaccharides and trisaccharides and approx. 95 wt-$ of higher saccharides. In connection with the present invention, the term starch is understood to include maltodextrins as defined above.

During experimentation with the present invention, it has been found that attempts to replace fat in meat products with maltodextrins alone were not successful since such products do not have the same consumer-acceptable sensory characteristics as meat products with a high content of fat. When a mixture of maltodextrins and dietary fiber in the same weight ratio as those defined below for useful mixtures of starch and dietary fiber is used to replace fat, the resulting low-calorie products have substantially the same taste, texture and appearance as corresponding high-fat meat product types . Thus, a mixture of maltodextrins and dietary fiber is an interesting vegetable fat replacement ingredient in low-calorie meat products according to the invention.

Vegetable materials comprising at least 50% by weight of starch in dry matter are suitable as fat replacement ingredients according to the invention. Particularly in low-calorie meat products, however, it may be more preferred that the proportion of starch is at least 60$ and even more preferred that it is at least 70$. However, it is to be understood that the addition of vegetable materials comprising a proportion of starch in dry matter which is below 50$ can also result in low calorie meat products which have acceptable sensory and physical characteristics according to the definition above.

Potato starch has several characteristics that make it particularly suitable for the production of low-calorie meat products that involve the production of a cohesive meat product mixture. In such mixtures, the water binding capacity is an important factor. To form a smooth cohesive mixture that strongly binds native and added water, sufficient amounts of substance or ingredients having binding activity must be present. The meat itself contains a native water-binding component, i.e. myosin. Myosin is extracted during the mixing process when salt is present. In several types of meat product formulations, this native water binding system is not sufficiently effective, and for this reason additional water binding agents are added to the mixture. Such water binding agents can e.g. be selected from hydrocolloids, egg albumin, gelatin, cornmeal, starch or collagen.

Potato starch has the highest water binding capacity of any of the starches because it has the lowest degree of association between the starch molecules. For this reason, potato starch has been used in conventional high-fat meat products to aid in water binding, in smaller amounts, usually in the range of 1 to 5% by weight of the meat product. It should be noted that this known use of potato starch as a water-binding ingredient in the production of meat products cannot in any way be compared to its use in connection with the present invention. When used in high-fat meat products, the potato starch is not intended to replace fat, although it is understood that any addition of ingredients above the high-fat meat to the base high-fat mixture will result in an indirect reduction in the final fat proportion. to the amount of every other added ingredient.

The characteristics of the dietary fiber component of the fat replacement ingredient

During experimentation, it has been found in the present invention that replacing fat with a vegetable ingredient which essentially comprises starch or maltodextrins does not result in low-calorie meat products which have the above desired sensory and physical characteristics. However, these characteristics were uniformly achieved when a vegetable fat replacement ingredient was used which, in addition to starch in a proportion of 50$ or higher dry matter, included at least 5$ of dietary fiber in its dry matter. A particularly useful dietary fiber:starch weight ratio in the fat replacement ingredient is in the range of 1:19 to 1:2, preferably in the range of 1:15 to 1:3 and most preferably in the range of 1:10 to 1:4.

Essentially all plant materials contain dietary fibre, particularly in the cell walls. In the present context, dietary fiber is used to describe a plant material that resists digestion by human digestive enzymes.

Dietary fiber is a generic term that includes a number of unique chemical structures and characteristic physical properties. The main components of dietary fiber are the main structural components of plant cell walls: cellulose, non-cellulosic polysaccharides, mainly hemicellulose and pectin substances and lignin. All of the dietary fiber components, except lignin, are non-starch polysaccharides (NSP). The term NSP is often used as a practical indication of the dietary fiber content of a plant material. However, it must be noted that NSP does not include lignin. Cell walls of immature plants consist of 25$ cellulose, 60$ non-cellulosic polysaccharides and traces of lignin, while mature cell walls contain approximately 38$ cellulose, 43$ non-cellulosic polysaccharides and 17$ lignin.

In the present context, the term dietary fiber includes native or synthetic polysaccharides such as pectin, carrageenan, gum (including gum arabic), locust bean gum, guar gum, gum tragacanth, gum karaya), plant glue gum, algal polysaccharides such as alginates, and modified celluloses that include cellulose aliphatic ethers such as methyl and ethyl ethers, hydroxy-substituted ethers such as hydroxypropyl methyl ether, methyl hydroxy ethyl ether, carboxy methyl ether, hydroxy methyl ether and mixtures of such ethers.

A special type of dietary fiber, e.g. konjak mannan which has a very high content of glucomannans (more than 80 wt-$ dry matter) has been proposed as a gelling agent in certain food products. However, this fiber product is not useful in the present invention as a dietary fiber component in a vegetable fat replacement ingredient. When e.g. konjac mannan is mixed with sliced meat and is subject to gelation before or after mixing, the consistency of the resulting product is seriously impaired due to very high viscoelasticity. Furthermore, it is known that the water-holding capacity of konjac mannan deteriorates significantly when a gel thereof or a meat product comprising such a part is frozen and thawed, whereby the gel changes into a spongy substance. It has been proposed to solve these problems by adding konjac mannan alone or in combination with a carbohydrate substance to the meat product formulation in the form of a strongly alkaline gel or paste having a pH in the range of 9.0 to 10.4. Depending on the amount of the alkaline konjac component added, such an addition will result in an increase in the pH of the meat product which is of the order of 0.5. However, such additions of strong alkaline substances to meat products are not permitted in most countries. Finally, one must be aware that the incorporation of such alkaline ingredients into meat products can result in deviating organoleptic characteristics of the meat product. A process of producing a meat product which includes the production of an alkaline cognac gel will be difficult to handle and thus less cost-effective than the method according to the invention. For the reasons mentioned above, konjac mannan will not be part of the present invention.

Common sources of dietary fiber are: grains, especially parenchymatous endosperms and seed coats; fruits and vegetables, especially parenchymatous pulp, partially lignified vascular tissue and cutinized epidermal tissue;<p>g seeds in parenchymatous cotyledons and thickened endospermic walls.

The proportion of dietary fiber in plant materials varies according to botanical species and maturity of the plant. As examples, potatoes contain approx. 2.5 weight-$ corresponding to approx. 11.6 weight-$ on a dry matter basis and carrots approx. 2.1$ NSP on a fresh weight basis corresponding to approx. 18.3 weight-$ dry matter basis, and dried materials such as soya flour and dried peas respectively contain approx. 14 and 19$ NSP on a dry weight basis. Among the grain materials, white wheat flour has an NSP content of approx. 3.3$, whole wheat flour approx. 10.4$, and wheat bran approx. 41.7$, all figures on a dry weight basis. The proportion of NSP in brown rice dry matter is approx. 2.1 dry weight-$.

Dietary fiber has a number of physical properties that alone or in combination in the presence of a high proportion of starch may contribute to their use as a component of a fat replacement ingredient. From the technological point of view, two main groups of dietary fiber components can be separated: (1) water-soluble components which include gums, pectins, carrageenans, plant gum gums and alginates. Such components are widely used in the food industry as thickening, gelling and stabilizing agents due to their ability to form hydrocolloids and (2) essentially water-insoluble dietary fiber components which include hemicellulose and cellulose. A common feature of water-soluble fibers is their ability to swell when mixed with water. This swelling property is also preferred as water-holding capacity and this indicates the amount of water that can be absorbed into fibers. An important property in this regard is hydratability, which is a function of a fiber's three-dimensional structure. Commercially particularly interesting water-insoluble dietary fiber products useful in the present invention include pea fiber, potato fiber, tapioca fiber, beet fiber, and corn bran.

Both groups of dietary fiber as defined above are useful as components of a vegetable fat replacement ingredient according to the invention. Examples of the use of both groups are given below.

Use of fat replacement ingredients that comprise a dietary fiber proportion in the range from 8-12 weight-$ dry matter results in meat products with the desired quality. However, consumer preferences regarding the texture and consistency of meat products can vary significantly in different markets. Since the proportion of dietary fiber can affect these product characteristics, an appropriate proportion of dietary fiber in the fat replacement ingredient can vary considerably. It is to be considered that generally a minimum proportion of 5$ NSP in dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient is necessary to obtain an optimal low calorie meat product. However, it is not excluded that a smaller proportion of NSP in the cohesive mixture may result in a satisfactory quality of certain meat products. It is understood that a proportion of dietary fiber lower than 5$ NSP in the fat replacement ingredient may be appropriate in special product types where the food additives belong to the group of compounds defined above as dietary fiber are used as additional ingredients. It is to be considered that the dietary fiber type additive in such products, in addition to its specific effect as a food additive, can, when added to the cohesive mixture, contribute to achieving a low-calorie meat product that has the above desired character traits. In other types of low-calorie meat products, a significantly higher dietary fiber proportion may be appropriate, such as higher than 15$ NSP.

The dietary fiber may be in a native form and this term indicates that it is present in a naturally occurring state and that it has not been modified by chemical processes such as substitution of certain parts by others; treatment with acids, bases or enzymes, or esterification.

Useful vegetable cousin substitute ingredients

The vegetable fat replacement ingredient that is used in the method according to the invention can be a native non-fractionated plant material that has a water content of at least 70% by weight, i.e. fresh material where the natural relative composition of the components has not been changed. Such fresh plant materials include vegetable fruits such as pumpkins. Preferred native non-fractionated vegetable fat replacement ingredients of the invention are selected from plant tuber materials such as potatoes and plant root materials such as tapioca roots, cassava roots or arrowroot. Such unfractionated fresh plant material can be used as a fat replacement ingredient without any pretreatment. However, it has been considered that pre-boiling the material is advantageous with regard to achieving a suitable coherent structure. It has been assessed that i.a. the swelling of starch resulting from heat treatment significantly increases the water binding capacity of the fat replacement ingredient. Suitable time/temperature conditions for pre-cooking vary according to the type of fat substitute ingredient and the type of meat product being prepared. As an example, peeled potatoes are parboiled by boiling in air for approx. 20 minutes or in a pressure cooker for a period of time sufficient to achieve the same softness as that obtained by the above-mentioned cooking in the open air.

It may be advantageous to have a raw or pre-cooked non-fractionated plant material comminuted prior to preparation of the mixture. As an example, boiled potatoes can be added in the form of finely divided or crushed potatoes such as can be prepared by mixing boiled potatoes with all or part of the added water. The appropriate temperature for a suitable fresh unfractionated plant material such as a cooked potato ingredient when added to the mixture may vary according to the type of product being prepared. With certain product types it is advantageous to add the cooked fat replacement ingredient at a temperature in the range of 0.25°C, while with other types such as pasta products, the cooked ingredient is added while it is still hot.

When the selected fat replacement ingredient is a native unfractionated plant material as defined above, a particularly useful proportion thereof in the cohesive mixture is in the range of 10-70 wt-$, preferably in the range of 15-60 wt-$ and more preferred in the range from 20-50 weight-$.

In one embodiment of the invention, the vegetable fat replacement ingredient may be a dry plant material having a water content of at most 20% by weight. When such a dry material is used, the amount of added water in the mixture must be increased substantially relative to the amount that is necessary when a fresh plant material is used. In general, the required additional amount of water added corresponds to the difference between the water content of a fresh plant material and that of the particular dry fat replacement ingredient. When the selected vegetable fat replacement ingredient is a dry ingredient as defined above, a preferred useful proportion of this in the cohesive mixture is in the range from approx. 5-15 weight-$ and more preferably in the range from 5-10 weight-$.

A suitable dry vegetable fat replacement ingredient for use according to the invention can be a non-fractionated plant material selected from plant tubers, root crops, cereal grains and dicotyledon plant seeds which have their dry matter at a starch content of at least 50% by weight and a dietary fiber content of at least 5% by weight. Examples of such materials include: dried potatoes, lentils, wheat kernels, rye kernels, barley groats and whole wheat flour. It is understood that such dry plant materials may be dehydrated, parboiled and/or divided into fine particles prior to use to obtain a cohesive mixture in which the fat replacement ingredient occurs without sensory detectable particles. When a dry non-fractionated native plant material selected from cereal grains and dicotyledon plant seeds is used as a fat replacement ingredient according to the invention, it may preferably be in the form of particles having a dry diameter of at most 2 mm. As defined earlier, the fat replacement ingredient according to the invention is an ingredient which, when present in the mixture, has the ability to have or be brought to a homogeneous consistency without sensory recognizable particles. This characteristic is considered to be an essential prerequisite for obtaining a low-calorie meat product that has a consistency that cannot be separated from that of a corresponding product that has a high fat content. A vegetable ingredient having a water content of less than 20% by weight and selected from cereal grains and dicotyledon seeds having a particle size of more than 2 mm such as wheat flakes cannot be brought to the desired homogeneous consistency when certain conventional mixing procedures are used.

From the manufacturing point of view, it is particularly advantageous to use a fat replacement ingredient which has a water content of at most 20% by weight as defined earlier, which is a mixture of dry separated starch and dry separated dietary fibre. It is possible to compose such starch/dietary fiber mixtures which, when used as fat replacement ingredients according to the present invention, result in low calorie meat products having the above defined sensory and physical characteristics. Particularly useful starches for such compound fat replacement ingredients are corn flour starches such as corn starch, potato starch and tapioca starch. In general, commercial starch products have not been subjected to treatment under swelling conditions. However, it may be advantageous to use starch and, prior to mixing, it has been pre-boiled and/or subsequently dried.

In this regard, useful dietary fiber products are potato fiber, tuber fiber, pea fiber, bean fiber and tapioca fiber. As used herein, potato pulp is meant to describe the portion of a potato that remains after the starch has been partially extracted from raw potatoes in an industrial potato starch manufacturing process. A typical composition of an industrially produced potato pulp is as follows (v/v): starch 30$, cellulose 25-30$, hemicellulose 10-15$, pectin substances 15$, ash 5$ and protein 5$.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the fat replacement ingredient is obtained by supplementing a non-fractionated plant material where this material's dry matter proportion of dietary fiber is less than 5% by weight and/or the dry matter proportion of starch is less than 50%, with a sufficient amount of separated dietary fiber and/or separated starch to result in a vegetable fat substitute.

As an example, carrots having a high dietary fiber content but a low starch content can be supplemented with a sufficient amount of a separated starch material. Similarly, polished rice (white) and brown rice, which are grain-rich in terms of starch, but with a dietary fiber content of only and only approx. 0.8$ and approx. 2.4 weight-$, be useful as the starch component of a useful fat replacement ingredient according to the invention when it is supplemented with one or more dietary fiber components as defined above. When using a mixture of rice and a dietary fiber component as the fat replacement ingredient, it is preferred that at least raw rice is cooked before it is added to the other ingredients in the cohesive mixture. It can be convenient to use pre-boiled or semi-boiled rice since the cooking time in the production plant is reduced significantly.

When traditional meat products with a high fat content are prepared, it is common to add starch and dietary fiber containing ingredients e.g. in the form of corn flour and potato starch as auxiliary ingredients in smaller quantities such as 2-3 weight-$, calculated on the product, where the main purpose is improved absorption of added water. Such ingredients can also be added to the low-calorie meat products according to the invention. It is understood that when such ingredients are present, they form part of the vegetable fat replacement ingredient as defined above.

In order to achieve low-calorie products that have a desirable durability, it is essential that the vegetable fat substitute ingredient has a low content of contaminating, destructive microorganisms. It may therefore be necessary for the ingredients, before they are used in the preparation, to have been subject to chemical or physical decontamination treatment which results in a desired low level of microorganisms. Examples of useful decontamination treatments are mechanical removal of accompanying soil, removal of outer layers (peeling), washing, heat treatment, treatment with decontaminating gases such as ethylene oxide and ionizing radiation.

When used according to the present invention, the starch and dietary fiber-containing ingredients as defined above satisfy all the requirements for a very suitable fat replacement ingredient: The taste and aroma of the fat replacement ingredients above and their color are neutral, and for this reason they can constitute relatively large proportions of low-calorie the meat product formulations without adversely affecting the desired flavor and aroma associated with meat, spices and herbs. It has been found that the amounts of spices and herbs can be significantly reduced in meat products prepared according to the method of the invention relative to conventional meat products with a high fat content. It is assumed that this surprising effect can be attributed to the reduced content of fat, which generally lowers the intensity of flavor and aroma as a contribution of the added aroma-regulating ingredients.

Furthermore, the vegetable fat replacement ingredients have desired technological characteristics when they are used according to the invention. The ingredients bind with the meat and other ingredients including added water to produce a cohesive meat product mixture that results in a texture, appearance, cooking yield and stability for freezing in the final meat product that is at least equivalent to that which can be achieved with high fat meat products. It has also been found that the water-binding activity of the f replacement ingredients is so depleted that the addition of conventionally used water-binding agents such as phosphates can be reduced or omitted.

It has surprisingly been found that a sensory test panel could not distinguish with the senses the fat replacement ingredient present in the low calorie meat product prepared according to the invention from fat globules present in a conventionally prepared high fat meat product. It is understood that a necessary prerequisite for this is that the fat replacement ingredient has a homogeneous consistency without sensory-recognizable particles and when it is added to the mixture or during the method according to the invention, is easily disintegrated into particles that cannot be sensory-recognised.

The required amount of vegetable fat replacement ingredients as defined above depends on the particular type of meat product being prepared, the maximum acceptable cost price and the amounts and characteristics of the other ingredients which include additional ingredients defined below. As previously explained, the compositions of the fat replacement ingredients vary considerably, particularly with regard to the content of starch, fiber and dry matter. Thus, the required amount of vegetable fat substitute ingredients may also vary with regard to the composition of the selected fat substitute ingredient. As an example, the same technological features and quality of a particular low-calorie meat product can be achieved with two different fat replacement ingredients that are used in different proportions.

The meat ingredient in low-calorie meat products

In the meat product mixture as defined above, the proportions of finely divided lean meat which is essentially free of fat are in the range from 20-95 weight-$ calculated for the mixture, preferably in the range 25-70 weight-#, and especially in the range 30-50 weight -$. In the present context, meat is defined as animal tissue consisting mainly of muscle and/or edible offal from the group of organs consisting of liver, kidney, spleen, brain, tongue or spleen, said animal tissue having a water content essentially the same as the water content of the tissue when present in the living animal. The meat may be selected from any animal species, where the relevant meat is considered edible according to cultural or religious traditions. To be suitable for use according to the invention, the meat must be lean and essentially free of visible fat. When the low-calorie meat product is a pet food intended for feeding gnawing pets, for feeding carnivorous pets such as dogs and cats, less valuable meat may be used and this includes offal products generally less acceptable for human consumption, such as intestines, stomach, genital organs and respiratory organs.

Within the meat industry, the term "lean" is generally used to describe meat that mainly comprises muscle tissue with associated connective tissue and varying smaller proportions of associated surrounding fat. It is understood that the degree of leanness can vary significantly. As used here, however, lean meat is meant to be meat which essentially comprises muscle or offal tissue with connected connective tissue and from which the surrounding natural fat has been removed mechanically, e.g. by cutting to such an extent that essentially all visible fatty tissue has been removed. It is to be understood, however, that meat which has a fat content which, when the proportion of meat in a particular product formulation is considered, will result in a total fat content in the meat product which is within the range previously defined, is included within the scope of the invention. However, most animal muscle tissue contains fat within the cells (intracellular) and solid between muscle cells (intercellular). The content of this "internal" fat, which cannot be removed by means of mechanical devices, typically amounts to 1-10 weight-56, the level depending on the animal species, the age and condition of the animal, and the anatomical location of the particular muscle. It is to be understood that the internal fat is included in the term "lean meat substantially free of visible fat".

The meat thus defined may be used in its raw state, or when appropriate in the manufacture of a particular type of product, the meat may be treated prior to the manufacture of the meat product mixture as necessary, by suitable procedures such as boiling, roasting or pressure cooking. When used, the meat ingredients can be at any temperature between 0 and 100°C, or they can also be in a frozen state.

It is essential to achieve a cohesive mixture that the meat, when it is added, has been finely divided into particle sizes that allow an efficient mixing process that can occur during further fine-cutting. The fining is carried out by cutting with knives or by grinding in a suitable grinding device, whereby the particle size is reduced to 5 mm or less. It is considered essential that the minced meat has not been subject to complete or partial dehydration at any stage since it is well known in the art that dehydrated meat when reconstituted does not regain the desired physical properties of non-dehydrated meat such as the water binding property.

The proportion of finely divided lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat in the above defined low calorie mixture is in the range of 20-95 wt-#, the actual proportion being primarily dependent on the required meat product and the maximum acceptable cost price. The meat for a particular meat product type can be selected from a single animal species where a specific muscle/offal or different muscles and/or offal from the selected animal species can be used, while in other cases it is desirable to use a combination of meat from more than one animal species in a meat product according to the invention.

Added water referred to here can be ordinary tap water, mineral water or water in which the meat or vegetables have been cooked, whereby low molecular weight flavoring substances, minerals and vitamins which have been dissolved are added to the mixture. As an example, potato juice can be used. It may be beneficial to keep the temperature of the mixture low during mixing. A cooling of the mixture can be achieved by adding all or part of the water as ice, preferably in the form of crushed ice. According to the invention, the proportion of added water used in the process is in the range from 10-50 wt-#, preferably 15-40 wt-#, and especially 20-35 wt-#, the actual proportion depends primarily on the particular product type and the the maximum product cost price that it targets.

The low-calorie salt ingredient. the ice products

In the present context, the term "added salt" is understood to mean a food quality composition which essentially comprises sodium chloride, a food quality composition which comprises sodium chloride and further salts or a food quality composition which comprises one or more alkali metal or alkaline earth metal salts, the compositions include salts other than sodium chloride which have substantially the same salty taste as sodium chloride. A common term for a salt composition which essentially comprises sodium chloride is common salt.

Salt as defined above is added to most meat products for several reasons: It helps in extracting myosin from the meat, whereby the water binding in the product is increased. Furthermore, the addition results in a salty taste that is preferred by most consumers, and finally, the presence of salt in meat products has a preservative effect due to the partial or complete inhibition of spoilage microorganisms. According to the present invention, the cohesive mixture comprises added salt in the range from 0-4 wt-#, preferably in the range 0.5-3 wt-#, and especially in the range 1-2 wt-#.

For some meat products, it may be advantageous to add salt as defined above supplemented with nitrites and/or nitrates, e.g. in the form of alkali metal salts such as sodium or potassium nitrites and/or nitrates. In the meat industry, such salt compositions are referred to as "preserving salt". Added nitrites and/or nitrates exhibit a preservative effect, particularly against undesirable anaerobic microorganisms such as Clostridium botulinum. In addition, the presence of nitrites and/or nitrates in red meat products helps preserve the natural red color of such meat. The proportion of nitrites and/or nitrates in curing salts is suitable in the range from 0.5-2.0 by weight. Thus, curing salts used in specific embodiments of the present invention contain 0.6% by weight sodium nitrite.

Although it is generally desirable for the stated reasons to incorporate a certain proportion of added common salt in meat product formulation, a high dietary intake of sodium ions in the form of common salt may be in an area of significant health concerns. In industrialized countries, the intake of sodium ions from the daily diet is significantly higher than what is physiologically necessary and desirable, and at the same time the proportion of other cations such as potassium is often lower than what is recommended as intake. This imbalance in the cation composition of the diet is generally attributed to the increasing addition of common salt to food products and the fact that e.g. cereal products are increasingly refined, whereby the content of potassium ions in the overall diet is significantly reduced. It must be taken into account that this imbalance of cation composition can lead to cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension and degenerative diseases. There is therefore a need to reduce dietary sodium intake and/or to increase potassium intake.

One approach to meeting this need is to reduce the usual salt content of the meat product. It has been found with the present method that it is possible to obtain low-calorie meat products according to the invention where the proportion of common salt in the products is lower than that which was typically used in meat products with a high fat content essentially without impairing the above desired effects of added common salt including salty taste. In addition to this, replacing fat with dietary fiber/starch-containing vegetable ingredients can significantly contribute to the correction of disproportionate dietary cation composition, e.g. when the fat replacement ingredient is one that has a high proportion of potassium relative to fat. As an example, potatoes contain approx. 400 mg potassium/100 g, while the content of pig fat is only approx. 25 mg/100 g.

Another approach to satisfy this desire to reduce the sodium content of the present low calorie meat products is to add food grade salt compositions having an acceptable salty taste where most or at least part of the sodium ion has been replaced with other cations. Such food grade salt compositions that have reduced sodium content may be referred to as common salt substitute composition. The cations in such compositions may be selected from alkali metals such as potassium and/or from alkaline earth metals including magnesium and calcium. The cations are added in the form of organic salts such as lactates or tartrates or as inorganic salts including chlorides and sulphates. It is understood that the exact composition of such salt compositions with a reduced sodium content for use according to the invention can vary infinitely, the selected composition depends on the particular product and consumer preference in the particular market area.

Process for the production of low-calorie food. ice products

A further feature of the present invention relates to a method for producing a low-calorie meat product, said method essentially comprises: 1) producing a mixture by mixing finely divided lean meat essentially free of visible fat; a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio that is in the range of 1:19 to 1:1, the proportion of dietary fiber is at least 5 wt-# and the vegetable fat replacement ingredient dry matter when determined as non-starch polysaccharide (NPS), and the proportion of starch that is at least 50$ of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient, and this fat replacement ingredient has the ability to have or be brought to a homogeneous consistency substantially without sensory recognizable particles, said ingredient is miscible with the other ingredients; optional added salt; and optionally added water, in admixture: (a) the proportion of minced meat substantially free of visible fat is in the range of 20-95 wt-#, (b) the proportion of vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range of 5-80 wt -#, (c) the proportion of added water when added is in the range from 10-50 wt-#, (d) the proportion of added salt when added is in the range from 0.1-4 wt-#,

then mixing, when the low-calorie meat product to be produced is a spreadable meat product, is carried out with the following steps: (i) mixing a vegetable oil, the amount of which is in the range of 0.5-3$, calculated for continuous mixing, water which has a temperature of at least 50$ and a protein powder to obtain a first pre-mix in the form of an emulsion, (ii) adding to said emulsion lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat, vegetable fat replacement ingredient, added salt, and added water, the total proportion of the added ingredients is at least 95% by weight of the ingredients from (i) and (ii), (iii) mixing the ingredients from (i) and (ii) in such a way that the second premix was obtained , said second premix comprises uniformly distributed coarse particles of meat and fat substitute ingredient having an average largest diameter of at least 5 mm, and if necessary crushing the resulting second premix by passing the mixture through a high speed grinder to obtain the mixture, 2) optionally added to the mixture one or more ingredients, thereby resulting in a meat product mixture, where the proportion of additional ingredients is in the range from 1-15 weight-$, preferably in the range from 2-12 weight-$ and especially in the range from 3-10 weight-$, 3) distribute the resulting meat product mixture into packages of suitable size, and 4) optionally expose the meat product mixture to a preservation and/or cooking treatment prior to or subsequently

its distribution in suitable package sizes, to obtain a low-calorie meat product having a fat content of at most 15 wt-# when the product is a hamburger product, the fat content is less than 8 wt-# when the product is not a hamburger product, with the following limitation (i) the lean meat is not fish meat, (ii) dietary fiber is not konjac-mannan, (iii) when the meat product is a spreadable meat product, it contains an edible oil, and (iv) when the meat product is liver paste, the vegetable fat replacement ingredient is contained not pea fiber or a pea fiber containing ingredient of 1 wt-# or greater.

As defined above, a feature of the invention will provide a low-calorie meat product where the mixture is a continuous meat stuffing mixture. Thus, the invention also provides a method for the production of a continuous meat mince mixture where said method comprises: 1) production of a continuous meat mince mixture by mixing finely divided lean meat which is essentially free of visible fat; a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio ranging from 1:19 to 1:1, the proportion of dietary fiber being at least 5 wt# and the vegetable fat replacement ingredient dry matter when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NPS ), and the proportion of starch is at least 50% of the dry matter of the fat substitute ingredient, where the fat substitute ingredient has the ability to have or be brought to a homogeneous consistency essentially without sensory recognizable particles, said ingredient is miscible with other ingredients; added salt and added water, wherein a continuous minced meat mixture: (a) the proportion of finely divided lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat is in the range of 20-90 wt-#, (b) the proportion of the vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range from 5-80 wt-#, (c) the proportion of added water is in the range from 10-50 wt-#, (d) the proportion of added salt is in the range from 0.1-4 wt-#, mixture, when the low-calorie meat product which is to be produced is a spreadable meat product, is carried out with the following steps: (i) mixing a vegetable oil, where the amount thereof is in the range from 0.5-3$, calculated on the continuous mixture, water having a temperature of at least 50°C and a protein powder to obtain a first pre-mix in the form of an emulsion, (ii) adding to said emulsion lean meat substantially free of visible fat, vegetable fat replacement ingredient, added salt, and added water, the total the proportion of added ingredients is at least 95% by weight of ingredients ne from (i) and (ii), (iii) mixing the ingredients from (i) and (ii) in such a way that a second pre-mix is obtained, said second pre-mix comprising uniformly distributed coarse particles of meat and cousin replacement ingredient that has an average largest diameter of at least 5 mm, and if necessary grinding the resulting premix by sending the mixture through a high-speed grinder, to obtain a cohesive meat mince mixture, 2) optionally adding to the cohesive meat mince mixture one or more additional ingredients, thereby resulting in a meat product mixture, wherein the proportion of additional ingredients is in the range from 1-15 wt-#, preferably in the range from 2-12 wt-# and especially in the range from 3-10 wt-#, 3) distribution of the resulting meat product mixture in suitable sized packages, 4) optionally subjecting the meat product mixture to a preservation and/or a cooking treatment prior to or after its distribution into packages of suitable size to obtain a low calorie meat product having a fat content of less than 8 wt-#.

When conventional meat products comprising a significant proportion of fat are prepared, the mixing of the ingredients results in the formation of a homogeneous and sufficiently stable fat-water-protein emulsion. The main technological problem that must be solved in the production of such conventional high-fat meat products is water absorption by the meat and other ingredients and emulsification of the fat in the mixture. Absorption of water is achieved by several mechanisms, one of which is the release of native water-binding muscle component myosin, which occurs when the meat is minced and cut in the presence of free water and salt, and the direct addition of water-binding ingredients is another. Most commonly, both mechanisms are used at the same time. Traditional water-binding ingredients are phosphates, especially polyphosphates, corn flour or potato starch. In order to achieve stable emulsification in high-fat meat products, it is necessary to add suitable emulsifying ingredients to the mixture, although native protein in the meat will contribute to a certain extent. Added emulsifiers can be selected from a large group of chemical additives. Additions to meat products are, however, subject to strict requirements within the legislation and their presence in meat products is subject to attention from a large group of consumers. Natural emulsifying ingredients that are usually used in the production of meat products belong to groups of proteins that can be of animal origin such as milk proteins in the form of milk powder or caseinates, or can be of vegetable origin such as e.g. soy protein.

However, these technological methods which are used in the industrial production of traditional high-fat meat products cannot immediately be used in the production of the meat products which have a low fat content such as those produced here. The composition of the cohesive mixture as defined above differs from meat product mixtures with a high fat content in several important respects: the fat content is so low that the mixture does not form a fat-water protein emulsion, the total water content can be significantly higher as a result of fat replacement which has a high solids content with a fat substitute ingredient with a relatively low solids content. It is to be noted that the latter problem is particularly pronounced in products where a high proportion of fat has been replaced with the vegetable fat replacement ingredient. When developing the method for producing low-calorie meat products in the present invention, one was therefore confronted with a number of technological problems in order to obtain a coherent mixture as defined above, where the solution to these could not be found in current technology for meat products with a high fat content.

In connection with the method in the present invention, these problems have been solved in a way that simultaneously provides several advantages, including the possibility of eliminating or reducing the addition of technological auxiliary ingredients. By thus reducing the proportion of fat to the previously defined low levels, there is a corresponding reduction in the need for the addition of emulsifying ingredients or antioxidants to the mixture. In addition, the water-binding capacity of vegetable dietary fiber and starch-containing fat replacement ingredient is so high that the need for the incorporation of additional water-binding ingredients as defined above is significantly reduced or even eliminated. A further feature of the present invention is that the low content of fat in the meat products produced according to the present invention allows a reduced content of seasonings and herbs without affecting the desired aroma associated with traditional manufactured meat products with a high fat content. This is economically and hygienically advantageous, since these ingredients are relatively high-priced and often contaminated with a large number of microorganisms, e.g. spore-forming bacteria that are difficult to eliminate. Finally, the high water-binding capacity of the desired fat replacement ingredients means that the possibility of reducing the salt content to levels significantly lower than those of conventional high-fat meat products. In the latter products, the content of salt is generally in the range from 2-5% by weight, while in the products produced according to the present invention it is preferably in the range from 1-2%.

It should be noted that the precise ingredient formulation and the exact technological procedure may vary in a wide variety of ways without departing from the scope of the invention. From a technological and consumer point of view, products can be categorized, for example, as sausage products, meat products that can be cut such as servelat; spreadable products are defined as products that have a creamy consistency that can be quickly distributed as a continuous layer of e.g. bread using a knife such as includes liver pâté, meat pâté, spreads and pâtés; and hamburgers.

Each of these product categories has characteristic features in common that result in the special composition of ingredients and the way in which the specific process steps are carried out. As an example, it may be a goal to provide sausages that have a texture that produces a sensation of "resistance" when chewed. In such products, the step of preparing the cohesive mixture is carried out in such a way that the resulting mixture contains particles of a size that allows them to be sensory recognized such as more than 0.5 mm. In high-fat sausage formulations, this resistance is often achieved by incorporating fat-containing casings and other structuring tissue such as chicken skin. The present invention has achieved the same texture in low-calorie sausages by adjusting the degree of grinding during mixing to obtain meat particles of the size defined above and/or adding suitable structuring agents such as granulated proteins.

It is an interesting feature of low-calorie spreadable meat products produced according to the present invention that the consistency and thus the spreadability thereof is essentially unaffected by low storage temperature. It is considered that this advantageous feature is primarily a result of the low fat content in the products. In contrast, spreadable meat products with a high fat content tend to become stiff and therefore less spreadable when kept chilled because the fat hardens.

In the methods for the production of traditional meat products with a high fat content, it is critical that the temperature during mixing of the ingredients is kept low, preferably in the range from 0-10°C in order to achieve a stable fat-water-protein emulsion. To maintain the temperature in this range, it may be necessary to add ice during mixing. However, the present invention has found that a low-calorie cohesive mixture as defined above can be obtained without the necessity of taking special precautions to keep the temperature in the rather narrow range referred to above. Thus, a suitable comparative mixture can be obtained at a mixing temperature in the range from 0-25°C.

In particular embodiments of the invention, the method may comprise adding to the continuous mixture one or more additional ingredients selected from the following group of ingredients: cooked or uncooked vegetables that have sensory recognizable particles, water binding agents, structuring agents, preservatives, flavoring agents, herbs, meat extenders, aroma enhancers, sweeteners .

Vegetables are included in a number of meat products as a source of nutrition and flavoring ingredients, e.g. certain types of sausages, meat pies, fish pies or meatloaf. Any suitable vegetable or mixtures of several vegetables can be used. When needed or desired, ingredients that have favorable water binding characteristics such as corn flour, polyphosphates, gelling agents including carrageenan or starch may be added. The choice of flavoring agent(s) and/or herbs will depend on the specific product type and the taste preference of the consumer. As examples but not limited to these, flavoring agents can be selected from onion, garlic, celery, parsley or paprika or herbs from pepper, sage, ginger, thyme or nutmeg. Other additional ingredients that may be added as desired are meat extenders (such as cereals, cereal derivatives, textured vegetable proteins, milk derivatives); flavor enhancers (such as MSG, hydrolyzed plant/vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast extract); sweeteners including natural or artificial sugars, dextrose, synthetic sweeteners such as cyclamates; coloring agents such as natural or synthetic colors; vitamins; smoke and hardeners such as sodium nitrite. Suitable preservatives include chemical preservatives such as benzoic acid and sorbic acid and bacterial cultures which when added to the cohesive mixture produce organic acids such as lactic or acetic acid.

In particularly low-calorie meat products, it may be desirable to add additional animal tissue ingredients to the mixture as flavoring agents. As an example, the addition of liver to a sausage or a meat pie may be desirable in order to achieve a particularly desired taste and aroma.

The resulting meat product mixture can be dispensed into packages of suitable size. Such suitable packages are similar to the packages used in conventionally produced meat products, and the selection of the most preferred packages for a particular product according to the invention will be based on general criteria known within the field. The method may optionally, when desired, include a preservation treatment of the resulting meat product mixture prior to or after distribution in packages, said treatment results in an extension of the shelf life of the product mixture or product relative to non-preserved product mixtures or products. The preservation treatment includes heat treatment processes, freezing, filling in cans, irradiation or smoke-curing. These treatments can be carried out according to methods that are conventionally used in the food industry. In some cases, the preservation treatment results in a product that can be eaten immediately, while in other cases, the resulting preserved product must be subjected to additional cooking processes such as immersion in boiling water, freezing, grilling, baking, and treatment in a microwave oven before being consumed. .

In a particular embodiment, the invention produces low-calorie meat products in which the total proportion of fat is less than 10% by weight and which essentially have the same taste, texture, water-binding capacity and appearance as corresponding conventionally produced meat products with a high fat content and which have been produced according to the method the process in the invention is essentially the same as defined above.

Since the method described above is suitable for the production of a wide range of low-calorie meat product types that have essentially the same or better sensory and technological characteristics as corresponding conventional meat product types with a high fat content, the low-fat meat product in the invention includes any meat product type for which it is desirable to obtain a low-calorie substitute for the conventional meat product type with a high fat content. Examples of such low-calorie meat products are: sausages, pastas, meat pies, lunch meat, meat bread, fish creams, fish cakes, hamburger cakes, meat pies and meat buns. However, it is to be understood that other product types can be produced without deviating from the basic idea and idea of the invention.

The method of production as defined here results in low-calorie meat products which essentially have the same characteristics as conventional product types with a high fat content with regard to taste, texture, water-binding capacity and appearance. As has been described in detail above, the base composition of the products as manufactured as defined, compared to products having a high fat content, results in major nutritional advantages such as low content of metabolisable energy, reduced content of fat, including cholesterol, optionally reduced levels of salt and other additives, e.g. water binding agents or emulating agents. A high water-binding activity is a significant factor in determining the cooking yield, which is defined as the difference in weight between uncooked and cooked product. During cooking of conventional meat products with a high fat content, there can be a loss of water, protein and fat, the degree of which depends on the stability of the protein-fat-water emulsion. In the products according to the invention, there will be no loss of fat in practice, and this is due to the low content of this. It has also been shown that the loss of water and protein in the form of "meat gel" is similar to or even less than that found in conventional meat products with a high fat content, even when the addition of water-binding agents is reduced or omitted. The high water binding capacity is also reflected in a high degree of stability to repeated freezing and thawing events, stability in this connection means that the textural characteristics of the products remain unchanged and that there is no significant dripping of water.

Process for the production of low-calorie spreadable meat products

It has been found that the methods for making low calorie sausage type meat product, sliceable products as defined above cannot be readily applied to the production of spreadable low calorie meat products such as liver pâté, particularly when such spreadable products comprise an edible oil. However, it has been found that the incorporation of low calorie spreadable meat products of an edible oil, the amount being in the range of 0.5-5 wt-#, based on the product, significantly aids in achieving a desired spreadability.

When attempting to produce low-calorie spreadable meat products comprising an edible oil according to such methods, a cohesive mixture as defined above was not regularly achieved. By carrying out further experiments, however, it was e.g. found that a cohesive mixture for liver paste can be obtained when the process is carried out in the following ways: (1) mixing a small amount of edible oil, boiling water and a caseinate to obtain a stable, smooth emulsion, (2) adding liver as whole liver, native non-fractionated sheet material vegetable fat substitute ingredient without any prior comminution and optional additional ingredients and mixing of these ingredients in a container having rotating propellers on the bottom, the rotation of which results in liver and the vegetable fat substitute ingredient being divided into coarse particles which were evenly distributed in the emulsion from step (1), (3) grinding the mixture resulting from step (2) by passing the mixture through a high-speed mill attached to the bottom outlet of the mixing vessel, the passage through the mill being accomplished by applying vacuum to the vessel having rotating propeller at the bottom, followed by transfer of the resulting m feeding the continuous low-calorie pasta mixture into a filling apparatus, filling the mixture into suitable containers and baking the liver paste. One must also expect that this method will also be useful for the production of other spreadable low-calorie meat products.

Thus, the vegetable fat replacement ingredient which has the composition and characteristics defined above is a suitable vegetable ingredient in the production of spreadable meat products according to the invention, addition of the vegetable ingredient in the quantities defined below resulting in spreadable meat products which have desired sensory and structural qualities including the absence of a tendency for the lipids contained in the products to separate, and a desired spreadability.

In the present composition, the term "spreadable meat product" denotes an edible meat-containing product whose base has a creamy consistency that can be quickly distributed as a continuous layer on e.g. bread using a knife. Examples of spreadable meat products are meat pâtés which include liver pâté, cold cuts and pâtés. It is understood that the spreadable meat products have a creamy consistency as a base which may contain pieces of a larger size as is conventional in certain types of pastas and pâtés.

There are several widely varying methods for making spreadable meat products in private households, and it has also been suggested to make Danish liver paste (a spreadable product) from the following recipe

500 g pork liver

200 g boiled potatoes

1 onion

0.4 liters of milk

1 egg and 2 egg whites

salt and pepper

by cutting up the liver, potatoes and onions twice through a meat grinder and adding salt and pepper, eggs (beaten) and the milk with stirring and then baked and the resulting mixture treated for 1 hour at 170°C. However, the industrial production of spreadable meat products requires some standardization and simplification of both processes and variation of the ingredients involved (eggs are not normally desired in ingredients), and the costs of the individual ingredients and of the production steps are also of crucial importance. In practice, the spreadability of industrially produced spreadable meat products is often dependent on the presence of a certain amount of edible oil. The industrial conventional way of producing spreadable meat products is to carry out a mixture of different ingredients such as edible oil, water, starch, meat, etc., if necessary grinding the resulting mixture and subjecting the mixture to a subsequent preservation or cooking treatment such as baking.

However, in accordance with what has been mentioned above, this traditional method does not always lead to results of satisfactory quality in the final spreadable meat products with regard to physical structure and sensory characteristics, a disadvantage is that the edible oil or the animal fat originally from the meat as defined above tends to separate or ooze from the resulting spreadable meat product and there results an accumulation of oil and/or animal fat on the surface of the product.

According to the present feature of the invention, low-calorie spreadable meat products which do not have the above-mentioned unfavorable characteristics can be produced in a very desirable and economical way when a vegetable ingredient as defined above is incorporated, and the mixture is carried out in two stages, with a starting forming an emulsion of an edible oil, water and a protein component, and subsequently mixing this emulsion with the meat, a vegetable ingredient as defined below, further water, salt and optional other ingredients as will be explained below. By carrying out the method in this way, an effective incorporation of the edible oil is achieved so that it will exhibit its ability to provide spreadability substantially without any other tendency to leakage or separation of the edible oil, and a very economical procedure that leads to a sensory highly attractive product.

In this feature, the present invention can thus be defined in greater detail as a method for producing a spreadable low-calorie meat product, said process includes the following steps: (1) mixing an edible oil, water having a temperature of at least 50° C, and a protein powder having a water content of at most 20% by weight, calculated for protein powder, to obtain a first mixture in the form of an emulsion,

(2) mixing the emulsion from step (1) with

lean meat essentially free of fat, the proportion of which is in the range from 20-90% by weight, calculated on the product,

a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber starch in a weight ratio ranging from 1:32 to 1:1, the proportion of dietary fiber being at least 5 wt# of the vegetable ingredient dry matter when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NPS), and the proportion of starch is at least 50% of the vegetable ingredient's dry matter, the vegetable ingredient is an ingredient that has the ability to have, or be brought to a homogeneous consistency essentially without sensory-recognizable particles in the spreadable meat product, the amount of said ingredient is in the range from 5-80 weight—calculated on the product,

water, the proportion of which is in the range from 10-50 weight-#, calculated on the product,

salt, the proportion of which is in the range from 0-4 weight-#, calculated on the product and

optionally one or more additional ingredients, the total proportion being in the range of 1-15 wt-#, calculated on the product, the emulsion from step (1) comprises at most 5 wt-# of the resulting mixture,

and if necessary grinding the resulting mixture

to obtain a mixture comprising substantially evenly distributed particles of meat and vegetable ingredients, wherein the mixture particles of meat have a largest diameter of at most 1 cm,

(3) optionally mixing additional ingredients into the mixture resulting from step (2) (4) optionally distributing the resulting mixture into suitably sized packages, and (5) optionally subjecting the resulting package-distributed mixture to a preservation and /or a cooking treatment.

In JP Application No. 63-990, it has been proposed to use an emulsified composition containing edible fats and oils as a replacement ingredient for fats and oils in the preparation of a pasta product comprising low-fat meat, the proportion of the emulsified composition being in the range 5-15 weight # of the product. In the context of the present invention, however, it is important to note that the emulsion of step (1) was not added as a fat replacement ingredient, but as a device to achieve a desired spreadability. This effect is achieved when the proportion of the emulsion according to the present invention is added in proportions which are at most 5% by weight of the product, a preferred proportion being in the range from 2-4% by weight. The addition of higher proportions than the above-defined will be disadvantageous since it will significantly increase the calorie content of the low-calorie meat products according to the invention.

As an edible oil, any ester of fatty acids can be used which includes animal fat and vegetable fat and oil which is liquid at ambient temperatures and is normally found in meat processing plants, i.e. typically in the range from 10-20°C, such as a vegetable oil which includes sunflower oil, soybean oil, olive oil, grape seed oil or an animal lipid that has a melting point at or below the ambient temperatures defined above.

Depending on the desired overall lipid content of the spreadable meat products to be produced, the amount of added vegetable oil may preferably be in the range from 0.8-3 weight-# calculated on the product and more preferably in the range from 1-2 weight-#.

To obtain a suitable emulsion 1 step (1) it is advantageous to add water at a temperature not lower than 50°C, the preferred water temperature being in the range from 70-100°C. When a pre-boiled vegetable ingredient is used in step (2), the water added in step (1) and in step (2) can advantageously be the boiler liquid in which the vegetable ingredient has been pre-boiled. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the amount of water that is added in step (1) is in the range 1-3 weight-#, calculated on the product. The amount of water that is added in step (1) is preferably in the range of 1-3 weight-#, calculated on the product.

Protein powder useful in step (1) can be any food-grade dry powder of animal or vegetable protein such as caseinates, globins, soy protein or proteins from pea, however, an essential requirement for such compositions is that taste and aroma when added in the highest amounts as indicated above, does not give an unacceptable flavor and aroma to the spreadable meat product. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, caseinate is used. The amount of protein powder having a water content of less than 20 wt-# which is added in step (1) is preferably in the range of 0.2-2 wt-#, calculated on the product and more preferably in the range of 0.3-1 wt- #, calculated for the mixture.

In low-calorie meat products other than spreadable meat products, it is normally preferred that the lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat is minced prior to the preparation of the cohesive mixture, the meat which was used in the preparation of the low-calorie spreadable meat product may be added to the mixture with an emulsion from step (1) in the form of pieces or lumps. Such meat products or lumps are normally produced in the meat industry when specific cuts of meat are trimmed. Such cut pieces of meat typically have the largest diameter in the range of 5-15 cm. Furthermore, a piece of meat in the present context can be a whole piece of an edible offal such as a whole liver or kidney.

In step (2) of the method for producing a spreadable low-calorie meat product according to the present invention, the emulsion from step (1) and the meat, vegetable ingredient, additional water, salt and optionally one or more additional ingredients are mixed and, if necessary, the resulting mixture is crushed to obtain a mixture comprising substantially evenly distributed particles of meat and vegetable ingredients, where the mixture of the particles with meat has a larger diameter of at most 1 cm.

In a particular embodiment of the method such a mixture is obtained by producing an emulsion in a cylindrical grinding container having a conically shaped bottom produced by rotating two-bladed propellers with blunt edges and subsequent mixing of the emulsion of the meat and the vegetable ingredient as a whole chunks of meat such as whole pig liver or whole vegetables such as whole boiled potatoes, additional water, salt and optionally one or more additional ingredients. The rotation of the propellers results in a partial comminution of the meat and/or vegetable ingredient into coarse particles of the size defined above.

The above resulting mixture can, if desired, be further divided by grinding, which in a preferred embodiment is carried out by sending the resulting mixture through a suitable grinding apparatus to obtain a more finely divided spreadable meat product mixture. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the spreadable low-calorie meat product mixture is passed through a high-speed meter having a plate with 3 mm openings where the grinder is attached to the conical bottom of the cylindrical container, passage is accomplished by applying vacuum to the grinder attached to the container. It will be understood that grinding to finer particles can be achieved by selecting a grinding apparatus having a plate with apertures having diameters less than 3 mm.

Optionally, additional ingredients selected from the group as defined previously may be added to the above spreadable meat product mixture to obtain special mixtures for specific types of spreadable meat products.

In further optional subsequent steps, the spreadable low calorie meat product mixture may be distributed into packages of suitable sizes as previously defined and subjected to preservation and/or cooking treatment selected from the treatment defined above.

In a further feature, the present invention relates to the production of a spreadable meat product produced according to the method defined above. A typical example of such products is meat paste including liver paste. In the present context, a spreadable meat paste product is understood to mean a spreadable meat product which has a paste-like consistency and which does not contain visually recognizable particles. The meat paste products may contain any type of meat originating from edible mammals, poultry and fish including liver. Spreadable non-liver meat products are often referred to as meat "toppings". Further interesting examples of spreadable meat products are so-called pâtés, this term is generally used to describe spreadable meat products whose basis comprises a paste-like spreadable meat product mixture to which one or more special additional ingredients, which typically have a particle size in the range from 0.5 -10 mm has been added and these particles in the final spreadable pâté can be visually recognised. Examples of such additional ingredients are finely divided vegetables, finely divided meat and finely divided fruit including nuts.

Machinery, equipment and tools that can be appropriately used in the defined method are the same as those that are conventionally used in the production of meat products and such machinery, equipment and tools are known per se by a person within the field. In the detailed example 15 below, several details relating to suitable machinery, equipment and implements are presented and these can also be illustrative in relation to this feature of the present invention.

The invention is further illustrated in the examples below.

Example 1

Production of hot sausages

The following ingredient formulation was prepared for hot sausages:

The lean pork and the boiled, peeled potatoes were cooled to approx. 5°C and crushed separately through a 3 mm plate in a meat grinder. Four kg of the ground pork was transferred to a high speed blender and the meat was further comminuted by operating the high speed grinder in three passes of the bowl followed by the addition of all phosphate, half of the combined curing salt and common salt, and half of the ice water. The operation of the high speed grinder was then continued until the meat had absorbed all the water after skimmed milk powder, wheat flour and potato flour were added along with the remaining half of the ice water. The high speed grinder was operated until the last added ice had been taken up by the mixture. The remaining 3 kg of lean pork was added to the mixture and grinding continued until the temperature of the mixture had increased to 10-12°C.

Finally, the seasoning ingredients (celery salt, white pepper, nutmeg, paprika and cardamom) were added together with the boiled potatoes. The high speed grinder was then operated until a mince mixture had been formed which had a smooth cohesive texture which at this stage had an internal temperature of approx. 14-16°C.

The resulting sausage mixture was then transported to a sausage stuffer and stuffed into the casing. The stuffed sausages were subsequently dried and smoke-preserved at a temperature of 80°C for approx. 30 minutes, followed by boiling in a water bath with a temperature of approx. 80° C for approx. 10 minutes. After cooling, the sausages were allowed to soak in air and packed in plastic foil which was evacuated.

In the resulting hot sausages, the ingredient composition was as follows (v/v): lean pork 24.1$, boiled peeled potatoes 18.1$, ice water 30.0$, dried skimmed milk powder 3.0$, wheat flour 2.4$, potato flour 2.4$, aromas and herbs 0.23$, and salt (including sodium nitrite) 1.7$. Thus, the base mix ingredients (lean meat, added water and water replacement ingredient, i.e. boiled peeled potatoes) totaled 91.9% and additional ingredients 8.1%.

The total energy content of the final hot sausages was 407 kJ per 100 g. The distribution of main energy-giving ingredients was as follows (v/v %): protein 10.7, carbohydrates 9.0, and fat 1.9. The indicated low fat content in the sausages according to the present example means that the relative contribution of fat content to total energy content was only 18$.

The sausages were subject to sensory testing by a consumer panel comprising 42 randomly selected subjects who were asked to assess the taste, texture and appearance of low-calorie hot sausages against conventionally produced hot sausages where no fat replacement ingredient was included and where the meat was pork cuts with a rather high fat content . The panel was instructed to rate each of the following characteristics: (a) taste, (b) texture, (c) appearance and (d) overall impression according to the following hedonic scale: significantly inferior (1), inferior (2), weak inferior (3), as a reference example (4), slightly better (5), better (6) and significantly better (7). Numbers in brackets indicate numerical transfer values for the qualitative assessments where the values were used in statistical reference analyses. For these analyses, mean scores and standard errors of mean were calculated and data were subjected to Student's test.

The main composition of the control sausages was as follows: Energy content 1180 kJ/100 g, protein 13% by weight, carbohydrates 3% by weight and fat 24% by weight. Prior to testing, both types of sausages were heated for a few minutes by immersing them in boiling water to achieve a suitable eating temperature.

The consumer test panel did not have the ability to distinguish between hot sausages made according to the invention and conventionally made high-fat hot sausages with regard to taste, texture or appearance.

The test was repeated after the sausages had been frozen and thawed 3 times. Even after this treatment, there were no detectable advantages between the low-calorie sausages and the high-fat control sausages with respect to the above parameters. This indicates, among other things, that the water binding capacity of the hot sausage formulations with a low fat content is equivalent to the sausage formulations with a conventional high fat content.

Example 2

Production of grilled sausages

For grilled sausages, the following ingredient formulation was prepared:

The method of manufacture was essentially the same as that described in Example 1. In the resulting barbecue sausages, the ingredient composition was as follows: lean pork 47.1%, boiled peeled potatoes 20.2%, ice water 26.9%, dried foam milk powder 3.4%, salt including sodium nitrite 1.8%, phosphate 0.5%, and aroma and herbs 0.22%. Thus, the base mix ingredients comprised a total of 96.0$ and additional ingredients 4.0$.

The total energy content of the final grilled sausages was 364 kJ per 100 g. The distribution of main energy-giving ingredients was as follows (v/v %): protein 12.6, carbohydrates 6.0 and fat 1.4. Thus, the relative contribution of fat content to the overall energy content was only 14$.

The barbecue sausages were tested by a consumer panel as described in example 1, and the test panel did not have the ability to distinguish between the sausage produced according to the invention and conventionally produced barbecue sausages which have a high fat content either when testing took place immediately after production or after the sausages had been frozen and thawed three times.

Example 3

Preparation of loaves. ik. eyed

A test batch of low-calorie luncheon meat was prepared in which the conventionally used ingredients pork fat abdominal trimmings had been replaced with boiled peeled potatoes. As a reference product, a batch of luncheon meat without boiled potatoes but containing fat trimmings was prepared. The ingredient formulations were as listed below (all amounts listed are \/\%) :

It appears from the formulations above that the low-calorie test batch of luncheon meat only contained 1.7% curing salt, while the reference product had a total salt content of 2.7%. Furthermore, the test batch did not contain any antioxidant agent (Na-ascorbate). The omitted ingredients in the test batch were replaced with the corresponding amount of water.

As a first step in the preparation of luncheon meat, pork leg meat was cured for 24 hours by adding 180 g of curing salt (2 wt-#) followed by grinding through a plate having an opening of 5 mm. Half of the ground meat was transferred to a high speed blender and phosphate and remaining salt were added. The resulting mixture was further comminuted by operating the mixer for 60 seconds at 1400 rpm during which 1/4 of ice water was added. After the mixer had stopped, sugar and the crushed boiled potatoes were cooled to 5°C (test batch) or crushed fat-trimming at 5°C (reference batch) was added after the mixer was operated at 2800 rpm for 60 seconds and during this 2 /4 of the ice water added. Then the remaining half of the meat was added and the mixer operated at 2800 rpm for 120 seconds while the remaining 1/4 of the ice water was added. All ingredients had an initial temperature of 5°C. The final temperature of the resulting meat mixture was 14° C. This moderate temperature increase was achieved by using a mixture of ice and water.

The meat stuffing mixture was transported to a filling machine where the mixture was filled into cans containing 450 g and having a diameter of 72 mm. After sealing the cans, they were autoclaved for 70 min. at a pressure of 2.1 bar (121.6° C) followed by cooling in cold water.

The resulting batches of decommissioned canned luncheon meat were subjected to chemical analysis by methods known per se and the total energy content and relative contributions to this of carbohydrates, proteins and fats were calculated on the basis of these analytical data:

The total energy content of low-calorie canned meat was only approx. 40$ of it to the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat content contributed 77.9% of the total energy content, while the test product fat content only contributed 39%.

The sensory quality of low-fat tinned test meat relative to the conventional reference product was examined as defined in example 1. The results of the sensory assessments were summarized in the table below:

In general, the sensor panel participants rated the quality of the test meat as equivalent or slightly inferior to the reference product. However, no statistically significant difference was found in terms of taste, texture and general impression.

As an indication of the emulsion stability of the canned meat mixture, the release of meat gel and fat after autoclaving the cans was measured by thoroughly scraping off the separated layers of meat gel and fat, respectively, which had collected on top after autoclaving, followed by weighing these layers and calculation of the shares thereof relative to the total weight of the products. In the cans of low-calorie meat, 4.2 wt-# of meat gel had been collected and no measurable fat release. In the reference product, 8.3 wt-# of meat gel and 0.6 wt-# of fat had been collected. Based on these data, the emulsion stability of low-fat canned meat appeared to be superior to the conventional high-fat reference product. This finding is surprising when you consider that the salt content of the test product is approx. 40$ less than that in the reference canned meat product.

Example 4

Production of beef burger patties

A test batch of low calorie beef burger patties and a reference batch of patties having a fat content of 20.5% were prepared. The ingredient formulations in the two batches were as shown below:

The beef and the boiled potatoes, both ingredients at a temperature of 5°C, were crushed separately through a plate with 3 mm openings. For the preparation of low-calorie cookies, the ground beef with a low fat content and the crushed boiled potatoes were mixed in a meat blender at 20 rpm for 5 minutes and during this step water with melting ice was added. The temperature after mixing was approx. -4°C. Cakes (82-85g) were formed on a Formax cake tin and then frozen and packed in a cardboard box.

The resulting batches of hamburger patties were subjected to chemical analysis for their carbohydrate, protein and fat content by methods known per se and the total energy content and the relative contributions thereto from carbohydrate, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data:

The overall content of energy was reduced in the low-calorie cakes compared to the conventional reference product by approx. 55$. Furthermore, the contribution of fat to the total energy content of the test batch of cakes was only 34.1 # while the corresponding value in the reference product was as high as 72.b%.

The beef patties were thawed at room temperature and then dried in a conventional manner in a pan until this was thoroughly done prior to testing the sensory quality by a consumer test panel substantially according to the procedure described earlier. The results of the sensory assessments are summarized below:

Low-calorie beef burger patties were overall rated by the test panel as being slightly better than the conventional reference product in all the sensory attributes assessed. All differences were found to be statistically significant at a 0.1% level.

Example 5

Making a low-calorie chicken pie

A test batch of a low-calorie chicken pie that included 24.4$ of boiled, peeled potatoes was prepared. The characteristics of this meat product were compared with those of a conventional reference batch of a chicken pie containing approx. 22 weight-56 fat. The ingredient formulation for the two batches of chicken pie was as shown below:

As it turns out, the amounts of salt and herbs were significantly reduced in the low-calorie chicken pie formulations.

The low-calorie chicken pie batch was prepared by the following procedures: The pork leg meat was ground through a plate having 3 mm openings. The chicken skin and peeled potatoes were boiled for 20 minutes immediately prior to use and transferred while still warm to a preheated high speed grinder. After adding the following ingredients: dry skimmed milk, common salt, dried onion, glucose, madeira and white pepper, the grinder was operated in two cycles while the knife was running at 2800 rpm. After this operation, boiling water was added and the grinder was further operated for approx. 8 seconds. In the next step, the minced leg meat, olives and maritza herb mixture were added to the resulting mixture followed by operation of the high-speed grinder at 2800 rpm with 5 turns of the bowl. The resulting pie mixture which had reached a temperature of approx. 50°C was distributed in aluminum foil grease, each holding 200g. Finally, the filled trays were baked while placed in a water bath at 180°C for approx. 45 minutes followed by cooling at 5°C.

The reference batch was prepared in substantially the same way, however, the ground boiled potatoes were replaced with the same amount of corresponding ground fat trimmings.

The resulting chicken pie batches were analyzed by methods known per se for their content of major energy-yielding ingredients, ie carbohydrates, protein and fat. Total energy content in the batches and the relative contributions to this from carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated according to the analytical data. The resulting numbers are summarized below:

The total energy content of the chicken pie batch where pork-fat trimmings have been replaced with an equal amount of boiled potatoes was reduced by approx. 43$ relative to the reference pie rate.

The baked low-calorie chicken pie test batch and the reference batch were subjected to testing for their sensory quality according to the procedure described earlier. The results from these sensory assessments are summarized in table 6 below:

TABLE 6

Sensory attributes of low-calorie chicken pie containing 24.4 wt-# of peeled, boiled potatoes compared to the attributes of conventionally prepared chicken pie containing 21.9 wt-# of fat

For all the sensory attributes tested by the panel, the low-calorie chicken pie was rated better than the reference chicken pie. The identified differences were all statistically significant.

Example 6

Emulsion stability of low-calorie sausages comprising different proportions of boiled potatoes

Four test batches of low-calorie sausages comprising varying proportions (v/v%) of boiled, peeled, potatoes, i.e. 40$, 30%, 20% and 10% respectively, were prepared essentially as described in example 1. At the same time, 4 corresponding reference batches of sausages were prepared, in which the boiled potatoes were replaced with exactly the same proportions of abdominal pork fat trimmings. All the test batches as well as all the reference batches included as an additional ingredient lean pork in the form of meat from legs from which essentially all visible fat had been removed. The proportion of this was increased proportionally with decreasing proportions of either boiled potatoes (test rates) or fat trimming (reference rates).

Below are shown the ingredient formulations for the test batch comprising 40 weight-# boiled potatoes and for the corresponding reference batch comprising 40 weight-# fat trimming:

The amounts of curing salt were the same in the two batches, while the amounts of common salt and of the herbal ingredients were reduced in the batch with low-calorie sausages relative to the corresponding conventional reference batch. In the formulation above for the test batch, the omitted weight of the ingredient above which has been reduced has been replaced by a corresponding additional weight of leg meat (0.580 kg). In the remaining formulations in this example, all ingredients except leg meat, boiled potatoes and fat trimmings are not shown in the formulations above.

All batches were prepared in essentially the same way: as an initial step, meat from legs and the boiled, peeled potatoes were pre-milled through a plate having 5 mm openings. Half of the meat was transferred to a high-speed grinder together with phosphate and half of the salt. The grinder was then operated at 2800 rpm for 60 seconds during which half of the ice water was added. The grinder was stopped and subsequently operated at 1400 rpm for 30 seconds during which the dried skimmed milk powder and the remaining ice water were added and the grinder operated for another 30 seconds at 2800 rpm and stopped. The remaining half of the meat and salt were added followed by operating the grinder for 30 seconds at 2800 rpm. After the grinder was stopped, the ground boiled potatoes (test batches) or pork fat trimmings (reference batches) were added to the mixture along with the herb ingredients and the grinder operated for 60 seconds at 2800 rpm to obtain the final sausage mixture. When meat, boiled potatoes and fat were added, the trimming had a temperature of approx. 5°C, and the temperature of the final sausage mixture had a temperature of 12-14°C.

The sausage mixtures were transferred to a sausage stuffer and stuffed into 22 mm collagen skin. The stuffed sausages thus obtained were then subjected to smoking and cooking treatment which included the following steps:

Finally, the sausages were dried and cooled further in a cold room and vacuum packed in plastic foil.

The described test batches and reference batches were examined for their emulsion stability according to two different methods generally used in the field:

(1) Determination of weight loss during cooking

The sausages were weighed immediately before cooking (starter weight). The preparation was done in a conventional household manner by frying in a saucepan using a moderate amount of melted and heated margarine. When the sausages were cooked, the weight was determined again (cooking weight). Reduction in weight (starter weight - cooking weight) was calculated as a percentage relative to the starting weight. The results are shown in table 7 below.

(2) Determination of release of gelatin and fat during autoclaving

Before zeroing, the freshly prepared sausage mixture was skin-filled in an amount in cans containing 450 g and subsequently autoclaved essentially as described in Example 4. The amounts of meat jelly and fat that had accumulated on top were measured as described in Example 3. The results expressed as percentages of the initial weight of the sausage mixture are summarized in table 7 below:

It appeared from these results that the stability of the sausage mix emulsion in the reference batch comprising 40 wt-# of the fat trimming was significantly degraded relative to the corresponding low calorie test batch and relative to all batches that had been examined. In the case of shares of 30 wt-96 or less of boiled potatoes and fat trimming, the emulsion stability appeared to be essentially the same for the test batches and the reference batches at the same level of boiled potatoes/fat trimming and also at different levels thereof.

Example 7

Effect of proportions of salt. phosphate. skimmed milk powder and wheat flour on the emulsion stability of low-calorie sausage mixes

Three different test batches of low-calorie sausages comprising varying proportions of the water-binding ingredients salt, phosphate, skimmed milk powder and wheat flour and varying proportions of herbs and flavoring ingredients were produced essentially according to the method described in Example 6. At the same time, three different sausage batches were produced which had the same ingredient formulations as the test batches with the exception that peeled, boiled potatoes were replaced proportionally with pork fat trimmings and amounts of herbs and flavoring ingredients were approx. 3 times higher.

The three test batches had the following ingredient formulations:

Corresponding reference rates had the following ingredient formulations:

The batches above and the reference batches were examined for their emulsion stability according to the procedure for determining the release of meat gel and fat as described in Example 6. The results of these measurements are summarized below: It appears that a reduction in the amounts of water binding ingredients in the test batches as well as in the reference batches resulted in a decrease in the emulsion stability of the sausage mixes. However, the decrease in emulsion stability was consistently higher in the reference batches when compared to the stability of the corresponding test batches. It can therefore be concluded that replacing fat in low-calorie sausages with an equal amount of peeled, boiled potatoes improves the stability of the emulsion even when the water-binding ingredients traditionally used in the field are omitted. These results clearly indicate that the vegetable fat replacement ingredient had a significant water binding capacity.

Example 8

Preparation of low calorie sausages comprising different vegetable fat substitute ingredients and their emulsion stability characteristics

Three batches of low-calorie sausages were prepared in which equal proportions of three different vegetable fat replacement ingredients were added. Batch 1 comprised 39.0 v/v% boiled, peeled potatoes; Batch 2 comprised 39.0 v/v# of potato pulp, i.e. the material that remains when substantially all the starch has been washed out with water and the remaining material has been rinsed; batch 3 comprised 39.0 v/v of an aqueous suspension comprising 2.6% potato fibers, 18.2 wt-# of commercially available potato starch and 79.2 wt-# of tap water. The general ingredient formulation (v/v5é) was as shown below: The batches were prepared essentially as described in Example 7.

All three batches of the sausage mixes were examined for their emulsion stability characteristics by determining the release of meat gel and fat after autoclaving as previously described. The results of these tests are summarized in table 9 below:

The results above illustrate that potato pulp and aqueous suspensions of potato fiber and potato starch are suitable as fat replacement ingredients in low-calorie meat products, both ingredients are essentially on par with boiled, peeled potatoes in terms of emulsion stability characteristics.

Example 9

Preparation of low-calorie sorbet with boiled potatoes The ingredient formulations were as follows:

The lean meat and boiled potatoes pre-cooled to approx. 5°C was finely divided by grinding through a plate that had 3 mm openings (step a). Half of the minced meat and 4 kg of ice water were transferred to a high-speed blender having 6 rotating blades, together with curing salt, common salt, dye and phosphate and these ingredients were further pulverized by operating the high-speed blender with 30 revolutions of the bowl (step b). The mixer was stopped and the soy protein, potato starch and remaining ice water were added followed by operating the mixer while turning the bowl an additional 30 times (step c). As for the final mixing step, the pre-shredded boiled potatoes and the remaining half of the pre-shredded lean meat were added to the resulting mixture and the mixer was operated while turning the bowl 20 times (step d) to obtain a cohesive servelet mixture which was filled in 52 mm leather and then submerged in water that had a temperature of approx. 80"C for about 75 minutes.

As a reference product, a batch of servelat in which 2456 of the fat was added in place of boiled potatoes was prepared substantially according to the method described above.

The resulting batches of servelate were subjected to chemical analysis by methods known per se and their total energy content and relative contributions to it of carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data:

The total energy content of the low-calorie serving was only approx. 4356 of that of the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat content contributed 74.456 of the total energy content, while in the test products the fat content only contributed 24.956.

Example 10

Preparation of low-calorie whey comprising potato fiber and potato starch as a fat replacement ingredient

In the ingredient formulation in this product, boiled potatoes which were included in the formulation in Example 9 were replaced with 5.77 wt-# of potato starch product containing approx. 82% starch, 0.8 wt-# potato fiber product containing approx. 75% dietary fiber and 17.43 wt-# water. As a consequence, this fat replacement ingredient contained 9.1 wt-# dietary fiber and 70.0 wt-S6 starch in dry matter content. These proportions were selected on the basis that they correspond to average values found in potatoes.

The method of manufacture comprised a step a and a step b as defined in example 10. In step c of the present method, soy protein, potato starch, potato starch product and potato fiber product were added to the mixture together with 13.372 kg of ice water. Step d and subsequent filling and cooking steps are as defined in example 9.

The resulting batch of servelate was subjected to chemical analyzes by methods known per se and the total energy content and relative contributions thereto of carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data. The data were compared with corresponding data for the reference product in Example 10:

TABLE 11

Composition of a serving batch with 24 wt-# of a fat replacement ingredient comprising a proportion of potato in a fiber with 9.1% and a proportion of 70.0%. potato starch in dry matter and energy content thereof.

The total energy content of the low-calorie serving was only approx. 4456 of that to the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat contributed 74.4$ of the total energy content, while in the test product the fat content only contributed 22.956.

Example 11

Production of low-calorie sorbet comprising potato fiber and corn starch as a fat replacement ingredient

In the ingredient formulation of this product, boiled potatoes which were included in the formulation of Example 9 were replaced with 5.77 wt-56 corn starch product containing approx. 8256 starch, 0.8 wt-56 potato fiber product containing 7556 dietary fiber and 17.43 wt-56 water. As a consequence, this fat replacement ingredient like that in Example 11 contained 9.1 wt-56 of dietary fiber and 70.0 wt-56 of starch in dry matter thereof. The method of manufacture comprised a step a and a step b as defined in example 9. In step c of the present method, soy protein, potato starch, corn starch product and potato fiber product were added to the mixture together with 13.372 kg of ice water. Step d and subsequent filling and boiling steps were as defined in example 9.

The resulting batch of servelate was subjected to chemical analysis by methods known per se and the total energy content and the relative contributions thereto of carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data. Data were compared with corresponding data for reference product in Example 9:

The total energy content of the low-calorie serving was only approx. 44$ of that to the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat content contributed 74.4% of the total energy content, while in the test product the fat content only contributed 23.5%.

Example 12

Production of low-calorie servelate comprising pea fiber and potato starch as a fat replacement ingredient

In the ingredient formulation in this product, boiled potatoes which were included in the formulation in Example 9 were replaced with 5.77 wt-56 potato starch product containing approx. 8256 starch, 0.8 wt-56 pea fiber product containing approx. 7556 dietary fiber and 17.43 wt-56 water. As a consequence, this fat replacement ingredient like that in Example 11 contained 9.1 wt-56 of dietary fiber and 70.0 wt-56 of starch in dry matter thereof. The method of manufacture included a step a and a step b as defined in example 9. In step c of the present invention, soy protein, potato starch product and pea starch product were added to the mixture together with 13.372 kg of ice water. Step d and subsequent filling and boiling steps were as defined in example 9.

The resulting batch of servelate was subjected to chemical analysis by methods known per se and the total energy content and relative contributions thereto of carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data. Data were compared with corresponding data for reference product in Example 9:

The total energy content of the low-calorie serving was only approx. 4456 of that to the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat content contributed 74.456 of the total energy content, while in the test product the fat content only contributed 22.856.

Example 13

Production of low-calorie servelate comprising pea fiber and corn starch as a fat replacement ingredient

In the ingredient formulation of this product, boiled potatoes which were included in the formulation of Example 9 were replaced with 5.77 wt-56 corn starch product containing approx. 8256 starch, 0.8 wt-56 pea terf iber product containing 7556 dietary fiber and 17.43 wt-56 water. As a consequence, this fat replacement ingredient like that in Example 9 contained 9.1 wt-56 dietary fiber and 70.0 wt-56 starch in dry matter content thereof. The method of manufacture comprised a step a and a step b as defined in example 9. In step c of the present method, soy protein, potato starch, corn starch product and pea fiber product were added to the mixture together with 13.372 kg of ice water. Step d and subsequent filling and boiling steps were as defined in example 9.

The resulting batch of servelate was subjected to chemical analysis by methods known per se and the total energy content and relative contributions thereto of carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data. Data were compared with corresponding data for reference product in Example 9:

TABLE 14

Composition of a serving batch. with 24 weight-56 of a fat replacement ingredient comprising a proportion of pea dietary fiber of 9.156 and a proportion of 70.056 maize starch in dry matter and energy content thereof.

The total energy content of the low-calorie serving was only approx. 4456 of that to the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat content contributed 74.456 of the total energy content, while in the test product the fat content only contributed 22.756.

Example 14

Production of low-calorie whey comprising beet fiber and tapioca pulp as a fat replacement ingredient

In the ingredient formulation of this product, boiled potatoes which were included in the formulation in Example 9 were replaced with 5.77 wt-56 of a tapioca starch product containing approx. 8256 starch, 0.8 wt-56 of a betef iber product containing approx. 7556 dietary fiber and 17.43 wt-56 water. As a consequence, this fat replacement ingredient like that of Example 9 contained 9.1 wt-56 dietary fiber and 70.0 wt-56 starch in the dry matter content thereof. The method of manufacture comprised a step a and a step b as defined in example 10. In step c of the present method, soy protein, potato starch, tapioca starch product and beet fiber product were added to the mixture together with 13.372 kg of ice water. Step d and subsequent filling and boiling steps were as defined in example 9.

The resulting batch of servelate was subjected to chemical analysis by methods known per se and the total energy content and relative contributions thereto of carbohydrates, protein and fat were calculated on the basis of these analytical data. Data were compared with corresponding data for reference product in Example 9:

The total energy content of the low-calorie serving was only approx. 44$ of that to the reference product. In this latter meat product, the high fat content contributed 74.4$ of the total energy content, while in the test product the fat content only contributed 24.356.

Example 15

Preparation of a low-calorie pâté comprising boiled potatoes as the vegetable fat substitute ingredient The liver pâté ingredient formulation was as follows:

The potatoes were supplied in the form of pre-boiled whole peeled potatoes packed in plastic bags with water in which they had been boiled by immersing the bags in the boiling water for 20 minutes. Before use, the bags were opened and the potatoes transferred to a container containing boiling water and kept here for approx. 5 minutes to reach a temperature of approx. 90°C.

1.6$ of the potato liquor in which it was cooked, calculated for final product and the caseinate was transferred to a KS (Karl Schnell) grinding equipment comprising a cylindrical container having a conically shaped bottom produced by a rotating two-bladed propeller having blunt edges. After grinding for 20 seconds, the sunflower oil was added and the grinding continued for a further 40 seconds to obtain a stable smooth emulsion (step i). Whole liver, warm whole potatoes and leftovers

ingredients including the remainder of the cooked potato liquid were added (step ii) followed by mixing for 2 minutes during which time the mixture of liver and potatoes was disintegrated by the rotating propellers into coarse particles having an average largest diameter of at least 5 mm and this is due to rotation of the propellers so that there was an even distribution in the emulsion. Finally, this second mixture was passed from the mixing vessel through a high-speed grinder having plates with 3 mm apertures and the plate was connected to the conical bottom of the mixing vessels and this passage resulted in the formation of a cohesive mixture as defined earlier and which contained additional ingredients (step iv). Passing the mixture over through the grinder was accomplished by applying vacuum to the container. After passing through the high-speed grinder, the cohesive mixture containing additional ingredients was transferred to a filling machine and distributed into 500 ml aluminum foil containers and subsequently baked in a pre-heated oven at 190°C for approx. 1 hour.

Example 16

Effect on the meat product consistency of the amount of vegetable replacement ingredient and the dietary fiber/starch weight ratio

Five batches each consisting of six low-calorie sliceable sausage products were prepared substantially as defined in Example 10. The batches comprised products containing the following properties of a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising the total amount of carrageenan and potato starch as solids: 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 and 12.5 weight-5é calculated on the products. In each of these series, dietary fiber/starch weight ratios were varied to achieve the following ratios: 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:16 and 1:32. A reference product having the following composition was also produced:

In the test product, lard was replaced with the excess amount of dry fat replacement ingredients and additional water up to 2556.

The consistency of the low-calorie products was judged by a test panel of 7 people who have extensive experience in assessing the sensory quality of meat products. The consistency of the products was judged according to a hedonic rating scale. Each category has an assigned numerical value in the range from -5 to +5 where 0 indicates good quality, -1 negligible defects and -2 weak defects.

The results are summarized in table 16 below:

It appears that with a dry replacement ingredient comprising a combination of a carrageenan and potato starch, the best results were obtained when the ingredient was added in amounts ranging from 2.5 to 7.5% and when the dietary fiber/starch ratio was within the range from 1:1 to 1:4. However, acceptable products were obtained in some cases outside these ranges. It was clearly demonstrated that a certain proportion of dietary fiber relative to the starch component is necessary to avoid the occurrence of a spongy consistency in the low-calorie meat products and further that a dry consistency occurs with higher amounts of dry fat replacement ingredient.

In this experiment, the consistency quality of the test products was rated slightly lower than that of the reference product, and the mean rating was 0.4 ± 1.1 (s.d.).

Example 17

Production of low-calorie servelat products comprising different vegetable fat replacement ingredients and sensory testing of the products

A series comprising five low-calorie test products and a reference product containing 25% fat was prepared substantially according to the method defined in Example 9. All products comprised a total of 6.1 wt-56 of the following ingredients: curing salt, common salt, phosphates, color , soy protein, sodium ascorbate and herbs. The products included the following main ingredients: The test products and the reference product were subject to sensory testing using a panel of 26 consumers. In each separate testing, half of the panelists rated 2 identical test product samples and one reference product sample, and the other half rated 2 identical reference samples and 1 test product sample. The samples were rated for (1) overall impression, (2) consistency, (3) taste and (4) appearance, according to a hedonic scale indicating whether the products were: very bad (1), bad (2), neither good nor bad (3), good (4) and very good (5). The numbers in parentheses indicate numerical transfer values that were used for calculations of average ratings and differences in average ratings.

The results from the sensory testing are shown below as differences between the average ratings of each test product and the reference product.

In conclusion, the test product was rated slightly lower than the reference product. However, the differences were not statistically significant with the exception of example No. 4. This product comprising cooked carrots was clearly rated as less acceptable due to poorer appearance. This was mostly due to the strong color that came from the carrots. This problem can be solved by adjusting the amount and type of food coloring. An interesting finding was that the assessment of sample no. 4 regarding taste and consistency was practically at the same level as the reference product. Furthermore, it was surprisingly found that the incorporation of additional dietary fiber in sample no. 2 relative to sample 1 improved taste and overall judgments significantly.

Example 18

Production of low-calorie hamburgers and measurement of cooking process weight loss

Two series (A and B) of hamburger were prepared according to the recipe as defined below. Series A comprised a reference product and four test products. Series B comprised a reference product and three test products.

The ingredient formulations were as follows:

Series A hamburgers were prepared as follows:

Beef was crushed together with ice through a plate having 3 mm openings and then transferred to a Palmia blender. Dry ingredients or boiled potatoes were added and the ingredients were mixed twice for 2.5 minutes and at approx. 0°C to obtain a cohesive hamburger mixture which was transferred to a Formas cake mould. After forming, the hamburger patties were transferred on a conveyor through a freezer and finally packed into cartons for storage at -25°C.

Series B hamburgers were prepared according to the following procedure: Beef was crushed together with ice through a plate having 3 mm openings and the crushed beef transported to a Palmia blender. Soya protein (80%), common salt and spices were added before mixing for 2.5 minutes. Finally, soy protein (58%) pre-soaked in water was added followed by mixing for the additional 2.5 minute period to obtain a cohesive hamburger mixture. The resulting mixture was formed and packaged as described above.

Hamburgers in both series including high-fat reference products were examined by a sensory panel in substantially the same manner as defined in Example 18. Prior to testing, the hamburger patties were processed without the application of fat or oil in a Turbo fryer for 90 seconds . Fried hamburgers were served to the panelists as a burger meal that included a cooked hamburger patty, bun, salad and a mild salad dressing. In connection with the testing, the weight loss of hamburgers, which resulted from the frying process, was recorded.

The sensory test results are summarized in the table below and they show differences between the average assessment of each test product and the reference product.

The average ratings for the four low-calorie hamburger products were respectively: 3.06, 3.30, 3.33 and 2.78%. In this series, 3/4 of the low-calorie test hamburgers were rated higher than the high-fat reference product. For all the test samples, taste and consistency were rated higher than the reference.

As a result of the frying process, the reference hamburger showed a weight loss of 28.5%. Corresponding figures for test samples 1-4 were respectively: 13.0, 7.8, 11.2 and 12.3%. These results clearly indicate that the frying loss was significantly reduced in hamburger where the main part of the fat was replaced with a vegetable fat substitute ingredient. Overall, the differences in the assessments were insignificant. The average ratings for the three low-calorie hamburger products were respectively: 3.00, 2.70 and 3.09%.

The reference hamburger patties showed a frying loss of 8.6% by weight, while test samples 1-3 showed losses of 10.8, 4.6 and 5.3% respectively.

Claims (52)

1. Method for producing a low-calorie meat product, characterized in that said method essentially consists of: 1) preparation of a mixture by mixing finely divided lean meat which is essentially free of visible fat; a vegetable replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio ranging from 1:19 to 1:1, said proportion of dietary fiber being at least 5% by weight of the dry matter of the fat replacement ingredient when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NPS), and the proportion of starch is at least 50% of the dry matter of the fat substitute ingredient, where the fat substitute ingredient has the ability to have, or be brought into a homogeneous consistency essentially without sensory recognizable particles in the cohesive mixture, said ingredient is miscible with the other ingredients; optional added salt; and optionally added water, in which mixture: (a) the proportion of finely divided lean meat which is essentially free of visible fat is in the range of 20-95% by weight, (b) the proportion of vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range of 5-80% by weight -%, (c) the proportion of added water when it is added is in the range 10-50% by weight, (d) the proportion of added salt when it is added is in the range 0.1-4% by weight, the mixture, when the low-calorie meat product to be produced is a spreadable meat product, is preferably carried out in the following steps: (i) mixing an edible oil, the amount of which is in the range o.5-3% by weight, calculated on the product; water having a temperature not lower than 50° C and a protein powder to obtain a first pre-mix in the form of an emulsion, (ii) adding to said emulsion lean meat which is substantially free of visible fat, vegetable fat replacement ingredient , added salt, and added water, the total proportion of added ingredients is at least 95% by weight of the ingredients from (i) and (ii), (iii) mixing the ingredients from (i) and (ii) in such a way that a second premix was obtained, said second premix comprising uniformly distributed coarse particles of meat and fat substitute ingredient having an average largest diameter of at least 5 mm, and if necessary grinding the resulting second pre-mix by passing said pre-mix through a high-speed grinder to obtain the mixture; 2) optionally adding to the mixture one or more additional ingredients, whereby it results in a meat product mixture, where the proportion of additional ingredients is in the range from 1-15% by weight, preferably in the range 2-12% by weight, particularly in the range 3-10% by weight, 3) distributing the resulting meat product mixture in suitably sized packages, and 4) optionally subjecting the meat product mixture to preservation and/or cooking treatment prior to or after its distribution into packages of suitable size to obtain a low calorie meat product having a fat content of at most 15% by weight, when the product is a hamburger product, the content of fat is less than 8% by weight, when the product is not a hamburger product, subject to the limitation that (i) the lean meat is not fish meat, (ii) the dietary fiber is not konjac mannan, (iii) when the product is a spreadable meat product, it contains an edible oil, and (iv) when the meat product is liver pate, the vegetable fat replacement ingredient will not contain pea fiber or a pea fiber-containing ingredient in an amount higher than 1% by weight. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the resulting low-calorie meat product comprises at least 60% by weight of the native water content of the ingredients thereof. 3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the resulting low-calorie meat product is a hamburger product. 4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that the hamburger product comprises at least one ingredient selected from (b), (c) and (d) as defined in claim 1. 5 . Method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the total proportion of fat in the resulting hamburger product is less than 12% by weight. 6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the total proportion of fat in the resulting hamburger product is less than 10% by weight, preferably less than 7%, but more preferably less than 5% by weight and especially less than 3% by weight. 7. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the resulting mixture is a continuous meat stuffing mixture. 8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the resulting low-calorie meat product is a product selected from the group consisting of sausage products, cutable meat products and spreadable meat products. 9. Method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the total proportion of fat in the resulting low-calorie meat product is less than 7% by weight. 10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the total proportion of fat is less than 5% by weight and preferably less than 3% by weight. 11. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the proportion of finely divided lean meat which is essentially free of visible fat in the mixture is in the range 25-70% by weight and preferably in the range 30-50% by weight. 12. Method according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that the total amount of dietary fiber and starch present in the vegetable fat replacement ingredient is at least 5% by weight calculated on the product. 13. Method according to claim 1 or 12, characterized in that the dietary fiber/starch ratio in the vegetable fat replacement ingredient is in the range from 1:19 to 1:2, preferably in the range from 1:15 to 1:3 and most preferably in the range from 1:10 to 1:4. 14. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the proportion of dietary fiber in the fat replacement ingredient is at least 10% by weight. 15. Method according to claim 14, characterized in that the proportion of dietary fiber in the fat replacement ingredient is at least 15% by weight. 16. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that dietary fiber and starch are unmodified native dietary fiber and starch. 17. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the vegetable fat replacement ingredient is a native non-fractionated plant material which has a water content of less than 70%. 18. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that the proportion of vegetable fat replacement ingredient in the mixture is in the range 10-70% by weight, preferably in the range 15-60% by weight and more preferably in the range 20-50% by weight. 19. Method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that the vegetable fat replacement ingredient was selected from the plant tuber material and plant root materials. 20. Method according to claim 19, characterized in that the plant tuber material is selected from potato materials. 21. Method according to claim 19, characterized in that the plant root material is selected from tapioca roots, cassava roots and arrowroot. 22. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that the native plant material is pre-boiled. 23. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the vegetable fat replacement ingredient has a water content of at most 20% by weight. 24 . Method according to claim 23, characterized in that the proportion of vegetable fat replacement ingredient in the mixture is in the range 5-15% by weight and preferably in the range 5-10% by weight. 25. Method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that the fat substitute ingredient is a non-fractionated native plant material selected from cereal grains and dicotyledon plant seeds. 26. Method according to claim 25, characterized in that the fat replacement ingredient is in the form of particles having a largest diameter of at most 2 mm. 27. Method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that the fat replacement ingredient is a mixture of separated starch and separated dietary fiber. 28. Method according to claim 27, characterized in that the separated starch is selected from cornmeal starch, potato starch and tapioca starch. 29. Method according to claim 27, characterized in that the separated dietary fiber is selected from potato dietary fiber, beet fiber, pea fiber, bean fiber and tapioca fiber. 30. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the fat replacement ingredient has been obtained by supplementing a native non-fractionated plant material in which the dry matter proportion of dietary fiber is less than 5% by weight and/or the dry matter proportion of starch is less than 50% by weight with a sufficient amount of separated starch and/or separated dietary fiber so as to result in a vegetable fat replacement ingredient as defined in claim 1. 31. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the proportion of added water in the mixture is in the range 15-40% by weight and preferably in the range 20-35% by weight. 32. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the added water is water in which vegetables or meat have been cooked. 33. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the proportion of added salt in the mixture is in the range 0.5-3% by weight and preferably in the range 1-2% by weight. 34. Method according to claim 33, characterized in that added salt is selected from the group consisting of a food-quality composition which essentially comprises sodium chloride, a food-quality composition which comprises sodium chloride and further salts and a food-quality composition which comprises one or more alkali metal or alkaline earth metal salts , said food-grade compositions comprise salts other than sodium chloride which essentially have the same salty taste as sodium chloride. 35. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the meat is selected from muscle tissue and edible offal which includes kidneys, spleen, brain, tongue or brisket. 36. Method according to claim 35, characterized in that the meat is a mixture of meat from two or more animal species. 37. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that additional ingredients are selected from the following groups of ingredients: cooked or uncooked vegetables that have a sensorially recognizable particle size, water-binding agents, preservatives, aromatic substances, herbs, meat extenders, aroma enhancers, sweeteners, colourings, vitamins, smoke and preservatives including salts. 38. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the resulting meat product has a total energy content of less than 700 kJ/100 g. 39. Method according to claim 38, characterized in that the total energy content is less than 600 kJ/100 g, preferably less than 500 kJ/100 g, and more preferably less than 400 kJ/100 g. 40. Method according to claim 38 or 39, characterized in that the contribution of the fat content of the resulting low-calorie meat product to the total energy content thereof is less than 50%, preferably less than 40%, more preferably less than 30%, and especially less than 20%. 41. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the resulting low-calorie meat product, when examined by a sensory test panel, compared to a corresponding conventionally produced reference meat product with a high fat content, has essentially the same taste, texture and appearance as the reference product. 42. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the total proportion of meat gel and fat released from the resulting low-calorie product after autoclaving the product when it is filled in a box holding 450 g for 70 minutes at a pressure of 2.1 bar, is less than 6 % by weight relative to the total quantity of the product filled in the box. 43. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the resulting meat product mixture is subject to a preservation and/or cooking treatment. 44. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the meat, when the low-calorie meat product being produced is a spreadable meat product, is liver. 45. Method according to claim 1 or 8 which is a method for producing a spreadable low-calorie meat product, characterized in that said method comprises the following steps: (1) mixture of an edible oil, the amount of which is in the range of 0.5-3% by weight, calculated on the product; water which has a temperature of at least 50° C, and a protein powder which has a water content of at most 20% by weight calculated on the protein powder, in order to obtain a first mixture in the form of an emulsion, (2) mixing in a grinding apparatus the emulsion from step (1) with lean meat which is essentially free of visible fat, the proportion of which is in the range of 20-90% by weight, calculated for the product, a vegetable fat replacement ingredient comprising dietary fiber and starch in a weight ratio that is in the range of 1:19 to 1:1, the proportion of dietary fiber being at least 5% by weight of the vegetable ingredient's dry matter when determined as non-starch polysaccharides (NPS ), and the proportion of starch is at least 50% by weight of the vegetable ingredient's dry matter, the vegetable ingredient has the ability to have, or be brought into a homogeneous consistency in essentially without sensory-recognizable particles in the spreadable meat product, the amount of said ingredient is in the range of 5-80% by weight, calculated on the product, added water, the proportion of which is in the range of 10-50% by weight, calculated on the product, added salt, the proportion of which is in the range of 0-4% by weight, calculated on the product, and optionally one or more additional ingredients, the total proportion of which is in the range of 1-15% by weight, calculated on the product, wherein the emulsion from step (1) constitutes at most 5% by weight of the resulting mixture, to obtain a spreadable meat product mixture comprising substantially evenly distributed particles of meat and vegetable ingredients, in which mixture the particles of meat have a largest diameter of at most 1 cm, (3) optionally mixing other additional ingredients into the mixture resulting from step (2), and if necessary, (4) further grinding the resulting spreadable meat product mixture by passing said mixture through a high speed grinder, to obtain the spreadable meat product mixture in the form of a cohesive meat stuffing mixture in which the ingredient particle size has been reduced to levels where the ingredients are not usually recognizable in the mixture; said particle size is mostly 3 mm, (5) dividing the resulting mixture into suitably sized packets, and (6) subjecting the resulting mixture distributed in packages to preservation and/or cooking treatment to obtain a low-calorie spreadable meat product having a fat content of less than 8% by weight. 46. Method according to claim 45, characterized in that the amount of edible oil is in the range 0.8-3.0% by weight, calculated on the product. 47. Method according to claim 45, characterized in that the amount of water added in step (1) is in the range of 1-3% by weight, calculated on the product. 48. Method according to claim 45, characterized in that the quantity of the product powder is in the range 0.2-2% by weight, calculated on the product. 49. Method according to claim 45, characterized in that the spreadable meat product that is produced is selected from the group consisting of meat pastes such as liver paste, spreads and pâtés. 50. Method according to claim 46, characterized in that the amount of edible oil added in step (1) is in the range of 1-2% by weight. 51. Method according to claim 48, characterized in that the amount of protein powder added in step (1) is in the range 0.3-1% by weight. 52 . Method according to claim 45, characterized in that the meat added in step (2) is liver.