WO2023043303A1

WO2023043303A1 - Method for dehydrating aqueous food substances with a high content of soluble solids

Info

Publication number: WO2023043303A1
Application number: PCT/MX2021/050058
Authority: WO
Inventors: Katia SAUCEDO FERNÁNDEZ; Raphael OROZCO SÁNCHEZ
Original assignee: Saucedo Fernandez Katia; Orozco Sanchez Raphael
Priority date: 2021-09-15
Filing date: 2021-10-19
Publication date: 2023-03-23
Also published as: MX2021011281A

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for dehydrating aqueous fractions of soup-like foods, which comprises: separating the aqueous fraction from the solid fraction of the soup-like food; heating the aqueous fraction to 50ºC; enriching the aqueous fraction with at least one ground soluble solid; stirring the mixture to dissolve the soluble solid; heating the mixture to 90-95ºC until it thickens; leaving to cool to at least 60ºC; spreading a layer of the thick mixture on a stainless steel dehydration surface; dehydrating the layer of the thick mixture; leaving the dehydrated layer to cool to 20-25ºC; detaching the dehydrated layer from the stainless steel dehydration surface; and grinding the dehydrated layer. Also disclosed are the dehydrated aqueous fraction of soup-like food products, which is obtained using the method of the invention and has a particle size of 500 µ; and an instant food product comprising the dehydrated aqueous food fraction.

Description

METHOD FOR DRYING AQUEOUS FOOD SUBSTANCES

WITH HIGH CONTENT OF SOLUBLE SOLIDS

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to the technical fields of Biotechnology and Food, because it provides a method for the dehydration of aqueous food substances that contain a high content of soluble solids; and also provides a dehydrated aqueous substance obtained by said method. Where the aqueous substance is the aqueous fraction of a brothy food product such as: pozole, menudo, broths, soups, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, a watery food requires a long time for its preparation; and once prepared, it should be consumed as soon as possible, to avoid its decomposition, where its anaguel life is very few days without refrigeration; Therefore, these aqueous products are difficult to keep in anagael for a longer time, due to their volume and very short anagael life; in addition, its transfer over long distances is also difficult and expensive.

In the case of pozole, two processes for its elaboration are currently identified: the traditional and the commercial. The first is done in approximately 25 h, and involves nixtamalization (pre-cooking in water with calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH) ₂ ] (cal) (0.5 to 2.0 g cal/100 g corn), resting (± 16 h) , the "decabezado" (manual removal of the pedicel or beak) which is done "grain by grain", and finally the "floreado" (final boiling of the nixtamal in which it swells and explodes until it acquires a shape similar to that of a rosette) (Rodríguez, 2010). The pozole can be made with a whole grain or with a headless grain. The whole grain has a lower price, since to decapitate the nixtamal (cooked grain), it takes more time. The use of deheaded corn represents a considerable reduction in time and fuel during flowering, in addition to producing a softer and more palatable pozole compared to the pozole made with the unheaded grain .

Methodologies for the dehydration of food formulas have been carried out, but they are aimed at dehydrating the solid parts of said food formulas, such is the case of patent document W02004084653 that discloses a method for the preparation of a dehydrated formulation containing onion, potato , corn starch and gum acacia . Where said method comprises: peeling the fresh onion; chop the onion in a fruit mill; macerate the onion pieces in a colloidal mill until obtaining a pasty consistency; mix with the mashed potatoes, the corn starch and the acacia gum; dehydrate the mixture to 5 to 8% moisture in a drum dryer using a pressure of 1 . 5 to 2 Kg/cm ² ; and pulverize the dehydrated material to obtain a powder with a particle size of 120 to 200 microns. The powder can be used in the preparation of vegetable curries as a flavoring and a nutraceutical. As can be seen in this process, the dehydration is directed to a food paste, but not to an aqueous fraction.

The patent document WO2020/040628 (Al) already describes a method for dehydrating aqueous fractions of formulations aqueous food preparations previously prepared or not, which comprises: separating the aqueous fraction from the solid fraction, of the food formulation; heat the aqueous fraction to around 50°C; immediately slowly add a quantity of starch to the aqueous fraction; shake until the starch is completely dissolved; heat the previous mixture from 90 to 95°C, for 10 min or until said mixture thickens; allow to cool to at least 60°C; homogeneously distribute the thick mixture on a hydrophobic surface; dehydrate, in a conventional dehydrator, at 71°C, for 8 h, until obtaining a humidity of 5 to 5.2%; let the hydrophobic surface with the dehydrated layer cool down to 20 to 25°C; detaching the dehydrated layer from the hydrophobic surface; grinding the dehydrated layer; and pack. With this method, a yield of soluble solids of around 9% is obtained, which is very low, resulting in unaffordable due to the resources invested in the dehydration of the aqueous phase; In addition to understanding not very healthy ingredients, such as corn starch, which is a processed product.

The patent document MX/a/2013/013631 describes a process for preparing a dehydrated food composition, said method comprises: A) mixing a vegetable component and oil to produce a vegetable-oil mixture, the vegetable component and the oil together represent, at least 70% by weight of the vegetable-oil mixture, the vegetable component containing at least 5% by weight of vegetables belonging to the genus Allium, and the vegetable component being selected from vegetable parts, vegetable puree , vegetable juice and combinations thereof; B) heat the vegetable-oil mixture to a temperature of at least 70°C; C) if the vegetable-oil mixture is not a puree, mash the vegetable-oil mixture before, during and/or after heating to produce a purée; D) mixing the mash with a starch component to produce a thickened mash, the starch component being selected from native starch, modified starch, and combinations thereof; E) drying the thickened puree in a drum to form a dehydrated food composition, which comprises 0. 1-50% oil by weight of the total dehydrated food composition and having a maximum Aw of 0 . Four. Five . The purpose of this process is to obtain a dehydrated food composition, so there is no separation of the aqueous phase, but rather the entire solid mixture (vegetable-oil) is pureed, and finally dehydrated, and there is no a second grinding after dehydration. Although it is true that it includes a stage of adding starch, to thicken the mixture more, but they are processed thickening products, which are not very beneficial for health.

For its part, patent document US 1974509299 (A) describes a process for drying food, which comprises shredding the food; mix it with a quantity of 20 to 96% starch, with respect to the weight of the total mixture; and drum dry the mixture to a moisture level of 10%, at a temperature of 143 to 177 °C. This method suggests the use of starch to facilitate the dehydration of solid products (food), which does not make it suitable for dehydrating only aqueous fractions, since high amounts of starch are used and it is subjected to high temperatures for dehydration, temperatures that they destroy the nutrients, resulting in an unattractive product for a healthy diet.

The patent document US2003393391 refers to a process improved for the preparation of a ready-to-use chicken soup mix, said process comprising the steps of:

(i) obtain 72.0-76.0% by weight of bone-in chicken pieces;

(ii) cook the chicken pieces together with 1.75-2.0% by weight of minced ginger, 1.75 to 2.0% by weight of garlic and 3.0-6.0% by weight of onion, in water for an interval of 30 to 45 min; (iii) separating and collecting the extract from the massecuite;

(iv) removing the bones from the cooked meat to obtain a cooked mixture of boneless meat, ginger, garlic and onion;

(v) mincing the meat mixture from step (iv); (vi) adding the extract obtained in step (iii) and 8.0-11.0% by weight of starch to the minced meat mixture from step (v) and mixing them to obtain a suspension; (vii) grinding the slurry from step (vi); (viii) drying the milled slurry from step (vii) to obtain a dry mass; and (ix) pulverize the dry mass from step (viii) and mix it with 3.0-5.0% by weight of milk powder, 3.0-4.0% by weight of salt, 0.02-0.05% by weight of MSG, 0.15-0.25% per weight of ascorbic acid, 0.30-0.40% by weight of pepper powder, and 0.20-0.50% by weight of sugar to obtain the soup mix. As can be seen, this method is not for dehydrating aqueous fractions either, but rather it is for dehydrating all the fractions of a food substance that can comprise an aqueous fraction, since although it is true that there is a separation of the aqueous phase, but then it is they mix the solid phase (meat) with the aqueous phase (extract) again. In addition, once the food substance is dehydrated, various powdered ingredients are added to make its organoleptic properties more attractive, which indicates that said preparation method does not preserve said food organoleptic properties.

Therefore, to overcome the drawbacks before mentioned, a method for the dehydration of aqueous food substances with a high content of soluble solids was developed; where the aqueous substance may be the aqueous fraction of a brothy food product; for example: pozole, menudo, broth, soup, to name a few examples.

The characteristic details of the present invention are shown in the description of some of its preferred embodiments of said method, which with the help of the examples and the accompanying figure, in which:

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of the method for dehydration of aqueous food substances, according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In a first instance, the object of the present invention is an improved method for dehydrating aqueous fractions that contain high contents of soluble solids of interest; for example, aqueous fractions of foods that contain: nutrients, fibers, flavorings, flavorings, colorings, minerals, vitamins, among others. Some examples of these aqueous fractions are the aqueous fractions that are part of brothy foods, such as those commonly known as: pozole, meat broths, watery soups, "menudo", "tummy", seafood broths, atoles, "champurrados". ", and any other aqueous formulation, whose aqueous fraction can be dehydrated with this method.

That is why the method to dehydrate aqueous factions of the present invention, follows the following steps:

The method can start from an already prepared brothy or aqueous food product, or from the preparation of said food product; What if it is important to mention that said brothy food must be rich in soluble solids.

That is why the method for dehydrating aqueous fractions of brothy foods comprises the following stages: i) separating the aqueous fraction from the solid fraction of the brothy food; ii) heating the aqueous fraction to around 50°C; iii) enrich the aqueous fraction with a sufficient quantity of at least one ground soluble solid with a particle size not greater than 3.2 mm; where the soluble solid is slowly added to the aqueous fraction; iv) stir the above mixture until the soluble solid is completely dissolved; v) heat the previous mixture from 90 to 95°C, for 10 min or until said mixture thickens; vi) allow to cool to at least 60°C; vi) distribute homogeneously, in the form of a layer, the thick mixture on a stainless surface for dehydration and resistant to heat; viii) dehydrate the layer of the thick mixture in a conventional dehydrator, at 71°C, for 8 h, until obtaining a humidity of 5 to 5.2%; ix) allow the dehydrated layer to cool to 20 to 25°C; x) detaching the dehydrated layer from the stainless dewatering surface; xi) grinding the dehydrated layer; and xii) packaging.

One embodiment of the method of the present invention is when the sufficient amount of the soluble solid is such as to provide the aqueous feed fraction with a total soluble solids content of 30 to 40%.

The soluble solid can be selected from the following group: cooked meat, cooked corn (previously nixtamalized) and a combination between them.

One modality of the method in accordance with this invention is when the complete dissolution of stage iv) of the soluble solid is at 1750 rpm, from 15 to 20 min, in an industrial blender.

The aqueous food fraction can be selected from the following group: broths, bouillon, extracts, and juices; it being preferred that said aqueous food fraction is pozole broth.

In one more embodiment of the method in question, the stainless dehydration surface is a stainless metal tray, on which the thick mixture layer is distributed; where the layer of thick mixture has a thickness of preferably 0.3 to 0.5 cm.

Yet another embodiment of the method as described in this invention is when the dehydrated layer of the thick mixture is ground to a particle size of 500 microns with a stone mill. Therefore, the present invention also has as an object a dehydrated aqueous food fraction of brothy food products, obtained by the method proposed by the present invention and which has been widely described.

In this way it is possible to obtain the aqueous fraction of a food product, in a dehydrated condition, managing to keep its organoleptic characteristics intact and giving it a longer shelf life; In addition to the fact that the yield of the aqueous food fraction is around 30%, a yield that turns out to be much higher compared to the traditional methods of obtaining aqueous food fractions.

The fraction obtained can be rehydrated at the time of consumption. Therefore , the dehydrated aqueous fraction can form part of a dehydrated food , where its solid fractions are dehydrated in a conventional manner . For example , in the case of pozole , with this methodology it is possible to obtain dehydrated pozole which can have an average shelf life of 6 to 8 months ; It can be transported long distances because it is light , non - perishable , etc. . , and when it is going to be consumed it is enough to rehydrate it with hot or lukewarm water .

The present invention, therefore, also has as its object an instant preparation food product, which comprises a sufficient quantity of the dehydrated aqueous food fraction, proposed by the present invention. The sufficient amount of the dehydrated food fraction can be around 18 g for a volume of 400 mL. Said instant food product can be an instant pozole, for example. EXAMPLES

The following examples illustrate some embodiments of the present invention, which should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention.

Example 1. Method of dehydration of pozole broth with pork.

In this example, the dehydration method starts from when the pozole has been cooked in a conventional way; Therefore, the stages are as follows: i) the pozole broth was separated from the meat, grains, and other solids present in the pozole; ii) the pozole broth was heated to 50°C; iii) cooked and ground pork and cooked and ground corn, which had a particle size of no more than 3.2 mm, were slowly added immediately; iv) it was stirred at 1750 rpm, for 17 min, until the cooked and ground pork meat and the cooked and ground corn were completely dissolved, with an industrial blender, until it had the consistency of atole; v) the previous mixture was heated to 93°C for 10 min, which was when the mixture thickened; vi) allowed to cool to 60°C; vi) a 0.4 cm thick layer of the thick mixture was distributed homogeneously on a stainless steel dehydration tray; viii) the layer of the thick mixture was dehydrated in a conventional dehydrator, at 71°C, for 8 h, until obtaining a humidity of 5%; ix) the dehydrated layer was allowed to cool down to 23°C; x) the dehydrated layer of the stainless tray was detached; xi) the dehydrated layer was ground to a particle size of 500 p, with a stone mill; and xii) the powder obtained was packaged.

Example 1 or 2. Instant preparation of a pozole with pork.

On the other hand, the solid fractions of the pozole, such as vegetables, meats, grains, were dehydrated, separately, by conventional dehydration methods.

Then we proceeded to mix the dehydrated solid fraction with the aqueous fraction obtained with the method of example 1, and thus form an instant preparation food, with the simple fact of adding hot water for rehydration.

The flavor, smell, color, texture, nutritional characteristics, among others, were maintained as when the pozole is freshly prepared, thanks to the powder of the dehydrated aqueous fraction.

Example 3. Microbiological safety test of the obtained instant pozole.

In order to observe the microbiological safety of the instant pozole obtained in example 2, on February 10, 2021, a sample of 58 g of instant pozole was subjected to a safety analysis. The analysis was carried out in the BECAR Laboratory located at Industria Vinícola 24, El Colli Urbano, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. The BECAR Laboratory is accredited by the Entity EMA Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación.

The number of: aerobic mesophilic was quantified with the analytical method NOM-092-SSA1-1994 ; total coliforms with the analytical method NOM-113-SSA1-1994; Escherichia coli with the analytical method BAM Cap. 4 Numeral 1 App. G (Sep 2002) ; molds with the NOM-111-SSA1-1994 method; yeasts with the NOM-111-SSA1-1994 method; Salmonella spp. , with the analytical method NOM-210-SSA1-2014 Appendix A Regulatory. The microbiological safety test began on the same February 10, 2021, but ended on different dates, depending on the microorganism quantified.

The results obtained can be seen in table 1, where it can be observed that the instant pozole complies with the safety parameters in terms of microbiology according to the different Regulations that regulate them.

Table 1. Microbiology of the instant pozole obtained in example 2, in a 1/10 dilution.

The toxicology of total aflatoxins was also quantified with the Internal method ME-IN-02 Total Aflatoxins R- BIOPHARM-ELISA. This test began on February 12, 2021 and ended on February 13 of the same year.

The result obtained for total aflatoxins was <2.00 pg/Kg (ppb). Which indicates that said content of total aflatoxins is within the established Standard.

Therefore, the instant preparation products obtained by the method of the present invention comply with the following Mexican Standards:

• NOM-051-SCFIISSA1-2010, General labeling specifications for pre-packaged food and non-alcoholic beverages-Commercial and health information.

• Official Mexican STANDARD NOM-030-SCFI-2006, Commercial information- Quantity declaration on the label- Specifications.

• Official Mexican STANDARD NOM-251-SSA1-2009, Hygiene practices for the processing of food, beverages or food supplements.

• NOM-050-SCFI-2004 Commercial information-General labeling of products.

As well as, it complies with international regulations, where the rules that may apply are the following:

• Codex General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods (CODEX STAN 1-1985, Rev. 1-199) .

• Recommended International Code of Practice for the Packaging and Transport of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CAC/RCP 44-1995) .

General Standard for Food Additives Codex Stan 192-1995. • Standard for Maize Codex Standard 153-1985.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CITATIONS

Rodríguez C., F. (2010) , "From chile, mole and pozole", Magazine

Agricultural Clarities, 205, pp. 43-47.

Claims

CLAIMS A method for dehydrating aqueous fractions of brothy foods, characterized in that it comprises: i) separating the aqueous fraction from the solid fraction of the brothy food; ii) heating the aqueous fraction to 50°C; iii) enrich the aqueous fraction with a sufficient quantity of at least one ground soluble solid with a particle size not greater than 3.2 mm; where the soluble solid is slowly added to the aqueous fraction; iv) stir the above mixture until the soluble solid is completely dissolved; v) heat the previous mixture from 90 to 95°C, for 10 min or until said mixture thickens; vi) allow to cool to at least 60°C; vi) homogeneously distribute a layer of the thick mixture on a stainless dehydration surface; viii) dehydrate the thick mixture layer, in a conventional dehydrator, at 71°C, for 8 h, until obtaining a humidity of 5 to 5.2%; ix) let the dehydrated layer cool down to 20 to 25 ° C; x) detaching the dehydrated layer from the stainless dewatering surface; xi) grinding the dehydrated layer; and xii) packaging. The method of the previous claim, where the sufficient amount of soluble solid is that which provide the aqueous feed fraction with a total soluble solids content of 30 to 40%. The method of the previous claims, where the soluble solid is selected from the following group: cooked meat, cooked corn (previously nixtamalized), and a combination between them. The method according to claim 1, where the complete dissolution of stage iv) of the soluble solid is at 1750 rpm, from 15 to 20 min, in an industrial blender. The method of claim 1, where the aqueous food product is: pozole, meat broth, "Pancita", "menudo", meat broth, aqueous soups, seafood broth, and atoles. The method as claimed in claim 1, where the aqueous fraction is selected from the following group: broths, bouillon, extracts, and juices. The method of the preceding claim, where the aqueous fraction is pozole broth. The method of claim 1, where the stainless dehydration surface is a stainless metal tray on which a layer of the thick mixture is distributed. The method according to the previous claim, where the thickness of the layer of the thick mixture is from 0.3 to 0.5 cm. - 17-

10 . The method as claimed in claim 1, where the dehydrated layer is ground to a particle size of 500 p, with a stone mill.

eleven . A dehydrated aqueous fraction of brothy food products, obtained by the method according to any of the preceding claims; where said dehydrated fraction has a particle size of 500 p.

12 . An instant preparation food product, which comprises a sufficient amount of the dehydrated aqueous food fraction, in accordance with the preceding claim.

13 . The food product of the preceding claim, wherein the sufficient amount of the dehydrated aqueous food fraction is 4. 3% .

14 . The food product of claim 12, wherein said product is instant pozole.