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US 12,268,218 B2Granted
Food safety method
AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsDavid J. Domingues, Steven R. Pretzel, Yuewei Hu, Craig A. Dowd, James P. Michaels
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods for inoculating a grain suitable for use in testing methods of reducing bacterial load are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of reducing bacterial load on a grain by using elevated temperature and an organic acid. Also disclosed are methods of tempering a grain at an elevated temperature and reduced time as compared to standard tempering methods.
Claims12
A method of producing a flour, the method comprising:
- a. heating grain in the absence of a tempering solution to a temperature of at least 115° F. to produce heated grain,
- b. adding a tempering solution to the heated grain to arrive at a moisture content of 12% to 20% to produce a tempering mixture,
- c. incubating the tempering mixture at a temperature of least 70° F. for sufficient time to achieve a tempered grain, and
- d. milling the tempered grain to produce the flour, wherein:
- the tempering solution is an organic acid solution;
- the organic acid is lactic acid, peracetic acid, acetic acid, citric acid or salicylic acid;
- and
- the time is less than 24 hours.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.