Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Background of the Invention
This invention relates to food products and a pro-
eess for their preparation to produee a multi-curdled milk
proauct with an acceptable and palatable flavor. More
specifically, this invention relates to a unique multi-
curdled milk product that employs a process that reduces `
the disaccharide sugar or lactose more completely than
heretofore thought possible thereby increasing the amount :
of glucose and galactose. Prior milk products that have
been prepared by multiple fermentation have used either
alcohol or heat during the preparation which have the effect ::
of hindering the enzymatic transformation of iactose to ~,;
glucose and galaetose. The use of alcohol in a milk pro~
duct through some form of fermentation with yeast inhibits ¦ :.
some of the enzymes normally present in milk and produces
food of lessened nutritional content. Moreover, some people
are allergie to the lactose in milk itself and are, there-
fore, denied the benefits of a milk produet. For millions .~
of people, intoleranee develops during the life cyele sueh j;
that they are unable to
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easily digest lactose, a condition that is believed to arise
from the defieiene~ of B-galaetosidase in the intestinal micro-
ville. `
Previously, bacteria u~sed as starters for culturing
various types of milk base products have included spherieal
types such as Streptococcus lactis, streptococcus cremoris, Leuconostoc ~ -~
citrovorum, streptococcus diacelelaetis, and Streptococcus durans which
are used primarily for buttermilk and sour cream while rod-
shaped types such as Laetobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus helveticus,
Lactobaeillus laetis, Laetobaeillus aeidophilus, Actinomyees bifidus, and
Doderlein's bacillus are used primarily for yogurt like pro-
duets. However, such milk base products generally have a lact- ~ -
ose content after one culturing still higher than it need be. -;
In previously developed processes, the lactose was
broken down by various fermentation processes converting the
lactose into lactic aeid as when milk with or without non-fat
milk solids, partly skim milk or skim milk is ehanged into
yogurt or buttermilk; however, over 80 pereent of the disaechar-
ide sugar may remain unspent after the buttermilk and sour eream
fermentation is completed. Further efforts to remove the laet-
ose have resulted in the past in lowering the nutritional value
o-f the milk produet or produeing produets that are unpalatable.
It has also been ineorrectly assumed that cultures
must be balanced when used together. One eulture will reach a
peak at which eurd starts to separate from the whey. At this
point, the addition of different varieties of souring cultures
will produce new curdling as though no souring had oceurred
when the produet is brought to a temperature suitable for optimal
growth. ~ere, temperature is the controlling factor. L. bifidus
and L. acidophilus, however, will culture separately at the same
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1 temperature if introduced at differen~ times, especially when
2 the first culturing is cooled and blended,
3 An inexpensive process to produce ~ilk products di-
gestable to the multitude of persons who cannot drink lt would
ha~e far-reaching effects, particularly if substantial quantities
of lactose can be transformed without altering the nutritional
~alue of the milk product, except to impro~e it.
~he therapeutic value of inoculating milk with various i~
strains o~ microorganisms has been reported by numerous autho-
1 rities and this is particularly true for maintaining a good
1 intestinal metabolism and health. ~hree species of such micro-
12 ¦ organism cultures include 1. b~du4, L.ac~doph~u~, and l~
13 ¦ ~.bu~a~u4. L.bu~ga~cu~ is used in the production of yogurt
14 ¦ and is believed to prolong human life by inhibiting the growth
15 ¦ of proteolytic microbes in the intestinal tract; however, the
1G ¦ culture will not survive in the digestive tract for prolonged
17 ¦ periods of time. L. ac~doph~u~ and L . b~du~ ~ on the other
18 handj are known to be able to retain their viability through the ¦ ~;
19 ¦ digestive tract, displacing proleolytic bacteria completely,
thus affording a means of implantation in the lower intestinal
21 ¦ tract. Both cultures have the faculties of maintaining a normal
22 ¦ microbiological balance, particularly in the intestinal flora, ¦
23 ¦ suppressing many undesirable organisms while promoting a bene-
24 ficial metabolism. L.ac~doph~u~ i~ completely non-pathogenic
25 ¦ and offers an entirely safe, therapeutic regimen.
26 ¦ Until a few years ago~ the beneficial effects result-
27 ¦ ing from the ingestion of L. ac~doph~u4 in cases of gastoin-
2$ testinal disturbances were attributed to the s~mple outgrowth
29 ¦ of the offending pathogen by the lactobacilli. Recently, a
number of workers established that there is more to the reaction
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than just competition between strains. A by-product produced by
L. a~dophil~ has been called variously antagonist (White and
Hall, J. Dental Res. 48272, 1949); lactobacillin (Wheater et al.,
ATE Nature 168, 659, 1951); lactocidin (Vincent et al., J. Bact.
78, 479, 484, 1959); and antibiotic (Shahani et al., U.S. Patent
3,689,640). ~ ^~
The form in which L. acidophilus has been usually
employed to obtain its therapeutic effect has been as fermented
milk. The number of viable organisms in acidophilus milk was
usually in the order o~ 250 million per milliliter which produced
a highly distasteful and for many a completely unpalatable prod-
uct. In addition, the product had a relatively short useful life,
usually limited to less than two weeks, which often created
problems in distribution and handling. Moreover, the processing
of such fermented milk as compared with ordinary milk was ex-
tremely expensive.
The beneficial effects of L. bifidus have also been
recently reported (The Milk Industry, September, 1973). Here,
it has been established that L. bifidus forms a substantial pro
portion of the intestinal flora of babies and performs an ;
inhibiting effect on pathogenic bacteria and the growth of
aerobic putrefactive microoganisms in the intestinal tract.
In efforts to improve the quality of my milk product,
I have discovered that the milk initially secreted durlng the
first few days after parturition, more commonly known as colos-
trum, can also be combined and made into a palatable milk prod-
uct. Colostrum is known to contain high protein content which ;~
when added to milk provides a highly nutritional product
without the need for any condensation. However, the possible
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1 benefit~ that could be gained from colostrum have been largely
2 ignored because of its bitter taste.
3 Various processes that have been developed to prepare
4 a multi-cultured milk product of ~his type have involved using ;
S yeast or alcohol which must necessarily interfere with the
6 antibiotic eff~t of the bacteria since alcohol destroys bacteria.
7 ~arious yogurt type products, as distinguished from ordinary
g dairy yogurt, have beèn produced by either a mixing together of -
9 separate fermented products such as in U.S. Patent 1,899,817
(Matt) issuing on February 28, 1933, high heat treatment as in
11 U.S. Patent 2,119,599 (~ordsiek) issuing on June 7, 1938; or 1 `
lZ alcoholicfermentation as in U.S. Patent 2,82~,80~ (Mishima) issu- i'
13 ing on February 25, 1958. None of these processes, however, l ~;
1~ produce a palatable product and attempts to improve the flavor ¦ ;~
have not been satisfactory. ~he addition of flavors and sugar, l I
16 ¦ particularly fresh fruits and berries, to the mixes undergoing , ~ -
17 I the incubation stage has met with disflavor in that the incuba-
¦ tion conditions have caused loss of flavor and color in the ~-
'9 i flavoring additives. Moreover, because the digestion of fruits
2~ and milk involve different enzymes and different digestive -
21 processes, such mixing may involve enzymatic and other con-
22j flicts ruining any such mixture as a health food. Milk should
23 ¦ be consumed alone and not mixed with other foods. Other pro-
24 ¦ cessing attempts have resulted in poorly controlled growth
25 ¦ conditions which yield inferior guality taste, poor shelf life,
2G ¦ as well as substantially alteri~g the nutritional value of the
27 ¦ milX prbduct.
Z8 ¦ It is the purpose of this invention to provide a new
29 ¦ nutritional and therapeutic milk product made by a multi-curdling
30 ¦ process that will significantly reduce the unspent lacto~e after
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1 ¦ a buttermilk or sour cream type fermentation is completed or
2 ¦ even yogurt fermentation and produce a product that is tasteful
3 ¦ and can be digested by persons h~ing an intolerance for lactose
4 ¦ besides being more easily digested by anyone.
Another purpose of this invention i9 to improve upon
6 the nutritional and therapeutic value of a milk product when
7 transforming the lactose content by using various ingredients
8 that individually are unpalatable but when combined in this in-
9 vention produce an inexpensive tasteful milk product.
It is still another ob~ect of this invention to provide
11 a food product with better flavor, consistency, and palatability
12 than previously obtained when culturing a milk product with
13 L.ac~duph~e~ or L . b~dub microorganisms.
14 In addition, the ingredients used in this invention
not only produce a more desirable milk food product but provide
16 for an inexpensive process that transforms the percentage of ¦ ;
17 lactose into glucose and galactose by an amount heretofore
18 thought impossible, thereby providing a food product that is
19 more easily digestable by anyone and particularly by the multi-
tude of people who cannot normally drink milk.
21 Other ob~ects of the invention will be apparent from
22 the following discussion and description of this invention.
23 .
24 Description of the Invention
~5 This invention comprises a buttermilk-like or yogurt-
26 like food product high in nutritional and therapeutic value but
27 low in lactose content. According to the instant invention,
28 ordinary milk, cream, or skim milk is raised to a temperature
29 suitable for the culturing process and inoculated with lactic
acid forming bacteria cultures used in ordinary commercial
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1 ¦buttermilk, such as Streptococcus lactis, stxeptococcus cremoris,
2 ¦Streptococcus diacetilactis, and Leuconostoc citrovorum. Typi-
3~ cally, the mixture is allowed to ferment at approximately 70 F. t
4l The curdling is allowed to continue until the lactose is hydro~
51 lyæed as fully as possible into glucose and galactose. While
61 this forms a product similar to ordinary bu~termilk, approximately ~`
7 ¦ 80 percent of the lactose remains. The mixture may then be inoc-
81 lated a second time with an L.bulgaricus strain of bacteria
9¦ and Streptococcus thermophilus and allowed to ferment at 105 F.
10¦ to 114F. The second curdling further reduces the lactose and
11¦ the ermentation is allowed to continue until curd starts to
12 ¦ ~eparate from the whey, at which point both flavor and texture
13 ¦ change. Upon cooling, small amounts of colostrum derived from
14 ¦ cow's milk is then added and the resulting mixture thoroughly
15 ¦ agitated. It has been found that for every 100 parts of milk,
16¦ up to 10 parts of colostrum may be added without unreasonable
17¦ changes in flavor. If desired, the mixture can be aged for
18¦ about twenty-foux (24) hours without affecting the nutritional
19¦ value while further improving the palatability of the mixture
20 ¦ as the bitter taste associated with colostrum is largely elimi-
21 ¦ nated. Attempts to add colostrum at a later stage of the process
22 ¦ have shown that its unpleasant flavor cannot be readily masked.
23 ¦ The combination described therein offers a means of masking such ~ ;
24 ¦ flavor. The mixture is then inoculated a third time by using
25 ¦ L.acidophilus or ~.bifidus strains of bacteria and the mixture
26 ¦ allowed to ferment at approximately 98F. Typically, the pre-
27 ¦ ferred acidophilus bacteria agent is a commercial culture
2~ ¦ marketed under the designation of Fargo 405, although other
29 ¦ well-known cultures may be used. The fermentation process as
30 ¦ before is allowed to be completed in order to ~ransform the
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1 ¦ lactose con~ent o the mixture as fully as possible and producing ~:
2 ¦ a mixture with the therapeutic advantages o~ the acidophilus
3 ¦ antibiotic. The ~ultiple curdling signifi~antly transforms the
4 ¦ amount of lactose while increasing the amount o~ lactase to pro-
5 ¦ duce as much of the enzyme as ma~ be produced thr~ugh multiple
6 ¦ curdling without processing inter~erence. While thi~ last
7 ¦ inoculation with L.acidophilus affects the lactobacillus that
8 ¦ ~oured the milk initially, it does not overwhelm the flavor that
9 ¦ has been previously imparted to the buttermilk. Alternatively,
10 ¦ L.hifidus, which can be purchased commercially as Eugalan Forte,
11 ¦ can also be used to effect the second or third curdling or can be
12 ¦ used to inoculate the mixture for a fourth curdling process.The
13 ¦ final culturing should involve symbiotic bacteria that will sur-
14 ¦ vive the human body temperature. It is important that no alcohol
15 ¦ or heat treatment occurs which would reduce the amount of lactase
16 ¦ being developed during the third and fourth curdling operations.
17 ¦ The resulting product is then agitated to provide a smooth con-
18 ¦ sistency to the multi-curdled milk product. The product has been ~:
19¦ found to have a pleasing, palatable taste similar to buttermilk
20¦ but with enhanced nutritional and therapeutic characteristics.
21 ¦ At various points during the process, suitable flavor-
22 ¦ ing and food enrichment material such as potassium salts and
23 ¦ vitamin ingredients can be added. The flavor of the end product
24 ¦ of this invention is suficiently palatable that it need not be
25 ¦ disguised with alcohol, fruit juices, or sugar, although such
26 ¦ additives may be added at the completion of the several fermen-
27 ¦tation processes.
28 ¦ An important feature of this invention is that a milk
29 ¦product with a good flavor can be produced through a multi-
30 ¦curdling process to provide a highly nutritional fo~d with a low
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1 lactose content with bacteria which will survive within the di-
2 gestive tract. The presence of L.acidophilus has the faculty of
5 maintaining a normal microbial balance, suppressing many undesîr-
4 able organisms and promoting a beneficial metabolism as there are
5 no known harmful side effects associated with its presence.
6 When a commercial culture of L.bulgaricus and
7 Streptococcus thermophilus bac~eria is used, 1 percent of cul-
8 ture is the usual amount and a time for fermentation of five to
9 seven hours may be expected. If a finished product is used as
10 a starter, the time required may be cut by o~e half or more.
11 In the event L.acidophilus i8 used without a yogurt producing
12 culture, approximately 10 parts of this culture is required as
13 a starter with commercial buttermilk. Incubation should occur
14 at body temperature with complete curdling occuring within three
15 to five hours. The same requirements and time apply when the
16 third culturing occurs with L.bidifus. While L.bifidus has been
17 used to curdle the milk product after inoculating with h.acido-
18 philus, it has been found that L.bididus may also be used before
19 inoculating with L.acidophilus.
It should be understood that the foregoing disclosure
21 relates to only a preferred embodiment of the invention and that
22 numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein with-
23 out departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as
2 set forth in the appended claims.
2 The product descxibed therein can also be started by
2 inoculating raw, certified milk which would require no pre-
2 heating before inoculation and results in a readily available `
2 safe, unpasteurized whole milk or skim milk product as that term
2 is used by the U.S. Public Health Code.
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