Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to a process for the produc-
tion of a lo~ calorie cellulo~e food filler with an impro-
ved flavour or texture, more particularly a powdered¦cellu-
lose food filler.
In the preparation of low calorie foods the general met~od
is to reduce the proportion of carbohydrate and fat in the
food. However, if the carbohydrate and fat content were re-
duced without adding a substitute, there would be a reduc-
tion of bulk volume and change of texture of the food pro-
duct. Therefore a bulking agent with a low calorie content is
needed to provide the bulk volume and reduce the caloric
densi,ty of the food. The bulking agents are known as low
calorie fillers.
Fat and oil may be replaced by recently developed fillers
such as sucrose polyester and polyglycerol esters which have
the characteristics of oil and fat but have a much lower
calorie content.
Carbohydrate may be replaced by two types of filler one
being a soluble material for replacing sugar and the other
being an insoluble material ~or replacing starch and ~lour.
The most common materials used for replacing starch and
~lour are dietary fibres or the so-called "unavailable" car-
bohydrates, examples of which are pectic substances, gums,
mucilages, hemicellulose, cellulose and lignins. Of these
materials, puri~ied cellulose is most e~fective because of
its high flbre content, good shelf life and negligible le-
vels o~ microbial con~amination. ~here are two purifiedcelluloses available commeraially these being powdered
celLulosq and microcrystalline cellulose o~ which powdered
cellulose is the most used in low calorie ~oods because o~
its lower cost. However, there axe two major disadvantages
" 35 o~ powdered cellulose when used in foods. One i5 that it
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possesses an undesirahle cardboard taste and odour and thesecond is that it has a very gritty texture after rehydra-
tion. Because of the undesirable taste and odour, the pala-
tability of foods containing powdered cellulose has always
been a problem and this has meant that only a limited
amount of powdered cellulose could be used not only in low
calorie foods but also in high ~ibre foods such as break-
fast cereals in which calorie reduction is not necessary
but addition of fibre content is beneficial~ This undesira-
ble taste and odour is most significant when the powderedcellulose is used in instant foods which re~uire minimum
or no cooking.
It is common practice to add flavouring ingredients to
powdered cellulose but this only masks or neutralises the
cardboard taste and odour of the cellulose: it does not
remove or alter it. For example, United States Patent
4,089,981 describes a process for making simulated oods
by adding flavouring agent, gelling agent, oil and water
to the cellulose with mild temperature pasteurisation at
165F, but the flavour of the cellulose itself is not
altered.
In a ~irst embodiment of this invention we have found sur- ;
prisingly that by mixing powdered cellulose with water and
a flavouring ingredient and then heating the mixture to re-
move water the undesirable taste and odour of the cellulose
is substantially removed and a more pleasant flavour isobtained.
With re~ard to the gritty texture o~ powdered ceLlulose,
e~Eorts have been made to ellminate it by adding yelling
agents such as cellulose gums, pectins, alyinates and
starches to the cellulose to provide a cohesive gel-like
texture and smooth mouth~eel. However the addikion o~ larye
amounts o gelling agents causes lumpines~ when the mixture
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is rehydrated leadiny to poor dispersibility. In a second
embodiment of the invention we have found surprisingly that
by mixing powdered cellulose with water and a gelling
agent and then heating the mixture to remove water the
grittiness of the cellulose is substantially eliminated
without any lumpiness thus providing the mixture with a
good dispersibility.
More particularly in accordance with the invention there is
provided, a process of treating a powdered cellulose food-filler
which comprises mixing powdered cellulose and a flavouring agent
with water in an amount sufficient to wet substantially all the
cellulose powder, and afterwards hea-ting the mixture to remove most
of the water. A gelling agent may be mixed with the cellulose and
flavouring agent before heating.
The amount of water mixed with the powdered cellulose de-
pends on the type of cellulose and the water absorption
o the cellulose. Less water is required to wet fine cellu-
lose than coarse cellulose. The principle is to wet all or
substantially all the powdered cellulose. This can conve-
niently be achieved by mixing from 25 to 75 parts by weightand preferably from 40 to 60 parts by weight of water with
100 parts by weight of powdered cellulose.
The amount of flavouring agent mixed with the powdered
cellulose depends on the amount of the treated powdered
cellulose used, on the type of food product into which it
iq lncorporated and on the type o~ ~lavouring agent itsel~.
~h~ amoun~ may vary Erom 0.05 ~o 10 par~s by wolgh~ p~r
100 parts by weight o~ cellulose. q'he amoun~ of ~lavouring
a~en-k ~hat i5 pre~erred is -~he amount whlch give~ an opti-
mum u5e level ln the treated cellulose. For example i~ the
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flavour is too strong it~is not desirable to add too much ofthe treated-cellulose powder to foods. Generally the amount
of ~lavouring agents such as cysteine and thiamine are from
0.1 to 1.0 parts by weight and preferably from 0.2 to 0.5
parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of powdered cellu-
lose. Other types of flavourlng agent such as beef extract,
yeast extract, cheese powder, egg yolk powder and cocoa
powder are generally used in amounts of from 0.5 to 10 parts
by weight and preferably from 1 to 5 parts by weight per
100 parts by weight of powdered cellulose.
The amount of gelling agent may be from 1 to 15 parts by
weight, preferably from 3 to 10 parts by weight per 100
parts by weight of powdered cellulose. The gelling agent
may be a cellulose gum, a pectin, an alginate or a starch.
Preferably the mixture of powdered cellulose, flavouring
agent or gelling agent or both, and water is mixed thorough-
ly until uniform before being heated. This mixing may conve-
niently be carried out in a high shear mixer such as aLodige or turbulent mixer.
The heating temperature and the time of the ~eat treatment
are related to the amount of water added. Conveniently tem-
peratures from 70C to 160C may be used, preferably from90C to 150C. The heating time may vary, for example, from
15 minutes to 2 hours, shorter heating tlmes being adequate
at higher temperatures.
The heatlng can be carried out in any drying device tha~
contacts ancl stirs the product. The water ls removed until
thq moisture conten-t o~ the treatecl cellulose powder is less
than 10 ~ pre~erably less than 5 ~. A vacuum evacuation
sy~tem may be used to evaporate the addecd water.
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In a preferred embodiment of the invention both the flavou-
ring agent and the gelling agent may be mixed with the
powdered cellulose and water and the mixture afterwards
heated to remove most of the water. The treated cellulose
powder then has not only an improved flavour but also an
improved texture.
The treated cellulose powder may be used in two types of
applications:
a) As a substitute for carbohydrate in foods to reduce ca-
lories and provide bulk volume e.g. to replace dehydrated
potato in mashed potato mix.
lS b) As a fibre source in foods in which calorie reduction i5
not necessary but addition of fibre content is benefi-
cial e.g. addition of fibre to hot breakfast cereal.
The present invention also provides a foodstuff to which
has been added a powdered cellulose filler treatecl as
hereinbefore described. Examples of such foodstuffs are
mashed potato mix, sauce mix and instant cream of wheat.
The process of the present invention has the following
advantages:
1. It enables a greater quantity of powdered cellulose to
be added to foods as a high fibre, low calorie filler.
2. It imparts a better flavour to -the powdered celLulose.
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3. It allows usage o~ the powdered cellulose in a larger
variety of foods.
. It improve~ the texture o~ -the powdered cellulose without
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causing lumpiness on rehydration and thus provides a
powdered cellulose with good dispersibility. Gums added
to the cellulose after treatment with a gelling agent
in accordance with this invention have a better disper-
si~ility than gums added to the cellulose which has not
been so treated.
5. The powdered cellulose has a better wetting quality.
The following Examples further illustrate the present inven-
tion in which parts are given by weight.
Example 1
To 98.5 parts o powdered cellulose, 1.5 parts of yeast
extract powder and then 50 parts of water were added and
the whole was mixed in a turbulent high shear mixer until
uniform. The wet premix was fed into a Wyssmont Turbo R-10
unit dryer at a rate of S0 pounds per hour and heated for
30 minutes at 150C until the moisture content was below
7 ~.
To demonstrate the advantage of the present invention
40 parts of water were added to 10 parts of each of
a) cellulose and b) cellulose/yeast extract,one sample of
aach of which was untreated and one sample of' each of which
had been mixed with water and heated to remove most of the
water as in the process of the present invention. The results
are given in the following Table I.
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TABLE I
CELLULOSE CELLULOSE/YE~ST EXTRACT
without with without with
treatment treatment treatment treatment
Cellulose existing none existing none
odour
flavour cardboard slight slight pleasant
cardboard cardboard roast note
It is clear that treatment of the cellulose/yeast extract ln
accordance with the present invention produces a powdered
cellulose with no odour and a pleasant flavour.
Examples 2 to 8
A similar procedure to that described in Example 1 was follo-
wed but employing, instead of the yeast extract, the flavou-
ring agents listed in the following Table II in the amounts
designated. The amounts of cellulose used and the flavour
characteristics produced are also specified in the Table.
TABLE I I
E~_e Flavouring Agent (Parts) Parts of Cellulose Flavour charac-
.. . . .. _ _ _
teristics
2 Beef-extract (3.0) 97.0 Beefy
3 Cysteine HCl (0.2) 99.8 Roast
30 4 ~hi~mine HCl ~0.2) 99.8 Roast
5 Egg Yolk Powder (3.0) 97.0 ~hicken Type
6 Romano Chee~e Powder
(2.0) 98.0 Dairy
7 Cocoa Powder (3.0) 97.0 Cocoa
3S 8 Hydrolysed Plant
Pro~ein (2~5) 97.5 Meaty
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E~ample 9
To 95 parts of powdered cellulose, 5 parts of cellulose gum
and then 60 parts of water were added and the whole was mi-
xed in a turbulent high shear mixer until uniform. The wetpremix was fed into a Wyssmont Turbo K-10 unit dryer at a
rate of 50 pounds per hour heated for 30 minutes at 150C
until the moisture content was below 7 %.
To demonstrate the advantage o~ the present invention 40
parts of water were added to 5 parts of both of the follo-
wing samples of cellulose/cellulose gum mixtures one of
which was untreated and the other was mixed with water and
heated to remove most of the water as in the present inven-
tion. The results are shown in Table III below.
TABLE III
CELLU~OSE/CELLULOSE GUM
Without reatment With treatment
Texture and not gritty but lumpy smooth and not lampymouthfeel
25 Dispersibility poor good
It is clear that a cellulose/cellulose gum mixture treated
in accordance with the present invention has a superior
texture and superior dispersibility to an untreaked mixture.
97.S parts o~ powdered cellulose, ~.5 parts o~ hydrolysed
plant proteln powder and 35 parts o~ water were mixed in a
mlxer wlth heating jacket and vacuum evacuation system. ~he
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mixture was hea.ted at 90C for 90 minutes and dried till
the moisture content was 5 %.
Ex~ple 11
To 95.5 parts of powdered cellulose, 1.5 parts yeast extract
powder and 3 parts cellulose gum were added S0 parts of
water and the whole was mixed in a turbulent high shear mi-
xer until uniform. The wet premix was fed into a Wyssmont
Turbo K-10 unit dryer at a rate of 50 pounds per hour and
heated for 30 minutes at 150C until the moisture content
was below 7 ~.
The treated powdered cellulose had a pleasant roast flavour
note and a smooth texture after it was rehydrated.
Example 12
.
To produce a reduced calorie mashed potato 15 g of 76 g
potato fla~e was replaced by 15 g of the cellulose powder
treated as in Example 11 and rehydrated with 300 ml hat
water and 100 ml milk.
To demonstrate the advantages of a mashed potato produced
in accordance with the present invention 76 g o:E a control
potato was compared with 61 g of a potato to which was
added 1~.3 g of non-treated powdered cellulose and also 61 g
of a potato to which was added 15 g of a powdered cellulose
treated as in Example 11. The results are given in Table IV
below.
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TABLE IV
RECONSTITUTED MASHED POTATO
Control potato Potato + non Potato and
t_eated cel- treated
lulose cellulose
Flavour potato cardboard cooked
characteristic potato
Texture smooth grainy and smooth
dry
Calorie 346 cal. 291 cal. 292 cal.
content
This demonstrates that a mashed potato containing a powdered
cellulose filler treated in accordance with the present inven-
tion contains fewer calories than an ordinary mashed potatoand has a superior flavour and texture to a potato contai--
ning a non-treated powdered cellulose filler.
Example 13
To prepare a high fibre instant cream of wheat 98 parts of
powdered cellulose were premixed with 2 parts Romano Cheese
Powder. 50 parts of water were added and the whole was mixed
in a turbulent high shear mixer until uniform. The wet premix
was ~ed into a Wyssmont Turbo K-lO unit dryer at a rate o~
50 pounds per hour and heated for 30 minutes at 150C until
the moisture content was below 7 %. The treatad cellulose
powder had a pleasant dairy note.
7 ~ o~ -th.~s treated powdered cellulose was premlxed wi~h
30 g in~tant cream o~ whea-t mix and 12 g o~ sugar. The mix-
kure was ~prinkled into 200 ml o~ milk, brouyht to the boll
and cooked ~or 30 seconds. The di~arences betwe~n regular
cream o~ wheat, cream o~ wheat con~aininy non-tr~ated cellu-
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lose and cream of wheat containiny powdered cellulose trea-
ted in accordance with the present invention are given in
Table V below.
TABLE V
RECONSTITUTED CREAM OF WHEAT
Reqular Cream of wheat Cream of wheat
cream of and non-treated and treated
wheat cellulose cellulose
Flavour good slight pleasant dairy
characte- cardboard note
ristic
.
1 Crude 0.5 g 6.1 g 6.1 g
5 fibre
This demonstrates that cream of wheat containing powdered
cellulose treated in accordance with the present invention
not only has a higher fibre content than regular cream of
wheat but also a much more pleasant flavour than wheat con-
taining a non-treated powdered cellulose.
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