Product and process of producing a sterilized flour
OwnerMark Gudmund Ljungström, Bengt Lennart Lindahl +1inventors
InventorsMark Gudmund Ljungström, Bengt Lennart Lindahl, Johan Claes Wilhelm Axelsson
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Abstract
The invention relates to a closed continuous process to sterilise flour to reduce the enzymatic activity within the flour as well as to reduce microbial contamination of the flour and thereby minimise pasting of the starch and maintaining the flour in its native form. The invention also relates to the flour obtained by the method as well as the use of the flour.
Claims21
A continuous closed process for sterilizing a flour mixture, the process consisting essentially of the steps of:
- providing a mixture including one or more flours and ethanol;
- and
- transporting the mixture through an extruder comprising one or more airtight zones, wherein, during the transporting step,
- the one or more airtight zones are obtained by compressing the mixture using a screw of the extruder to form one or more airtight plugs of the mixture in the one or more airtight zones, the one or more airtight plugs, together with an extruder barrel of the extruder, enclose the mixture within an airtight volume, and wherein the process further comprises:
- heating the mixture to between 78° C. and 350° C. in the one or more airtight zones, ethanol vapors that are formed due to the heating are enclosed in the airtight volume during the sterilization, and
- obtaining a pressure above 1 bar absolute in the one or more airtight zones,
- thereby resulting in the mixture being sterilized into a sterile flour mixture, such that at least 50% of the starch in the sterile flour mixture is non-gelatinized.
A continuous closed process for sterilizing a flour mixture, the process comprising:
- providing a mixture including one or more flours and ethanol;
- and
- transporting the mixture through an extruder comprising one or more airtight zones, wherein, during the transporting step,
- the one or more airtight zones are obtained by compressing the mixture using a screw of the extruder to form one or more airtight plugs of the mixture in the one or more airtight zones, the one or more airtight plugs, together with an extruder barrel of the extruder, enclose the mixture within an airtight volume, and wherein the process further comprises:
- heating the mixture to between 78° C. and 350° C. in the one or more airtight zones, ethanol vapors that are formed due to the heating are enclosed in the airtight volume during the sterilization, and
- obtaining a pressure above 1 bar absolute in the one or more airtight zones,
- thereby resulting in the mixture being sterilized into a sterile flour mixture, such that at least 50% of the starch in the sterile flour mixture is non-gelatinized, wherein the residence time in the extruder for the mixture is less than 2 minutes.
A continuous closed process for sterilizing a flour mixture, the process comprising:
- providing a mixture including one or more flours and ethanol;
- and
- transporting the mixture through an extruder comprising one or more airtight zones, wherein, during the transporting step,
- the one or more airtight zones are obtained by compressing the mixture using a screw of the extruder to form one or more airtight plugs of the mixture in the one or more airtight zones, the one or more airtight plugs, together with an extruder barrel of the extruder, enclose the mixture within an airtight volume, and wherein the process further comprises:
- heating the mixture to between 78° C. and 350° C. in the one or more airtight zones, ethanol vapors that are formed due to the heating are enclosed in the airtight volume during the sterilization, and
- obtaining a pressure above 1 bar absolute in the one or more airtight zones,
- thereby resulting in the mixture being sterilized into a sterile flour mixture, such that at least 50% of the starch in the sterile flour mixture is non-gelatinized, wherein the water content in the mixture inside the airtight zone of the extruder is less than 21%.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.