Purification of fish oil
OwnerStephen S. Chang, Yongde Bao +1inventors
InventorsStephen S. Chang, Yongde Bao, Timothy J. Pelura
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Abstract
A process of treating oils containing Omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish oils like Menhaden oil, sardine oil, salmon oil and other oils, to produce odorless and flavorless oils which contain only insignificant amounts of undesirable minor constituents, such as thermal and oxidative polymers of unsaturated glycerides, trans-isomers, positional isomers, conjugated dienes and trienes, cholesterols, pesticides, PCBs and heavy metals, and which have reasonably good flavor and oxidative stabilities.
Claims11
A process of treating an edible fish oil containing EPA and DHA consisting essentially of:
- subjecting said oil to vacuum steam distillation under mild conditions for a time sufficient to reduce low temperature boiling and less polar volatile flavor compounds;
- contacting said oil with an adsorbent selected from the group consisting of silica gel and silicic acid to reduce high temperature boiling and more polar volatile flavor compounds and undesirable minor constituents selected from the group consisting of polymers, cholesterol, pigments, pesticides, PCB'S, heavy metals and mixtures thereof, and
- recovering the treated oil.
A process for treating fish oil containing EPA and DHA consisting essentially of:
- subjecting said fish oil to vacuum steam distillation at a temperature between 30.degree. C. and 150.degree. C. for 2-5 hours;
- contacting said oil with an adsorbent selected from the group consisting of silica gel and silicic acid to reduce high temperature boiling and more polar volatile flavor compounds and undesirable minor constituents selected from the group consisting of polymers, cholestrol, pigments, pesticides, PCB's heavy metals and mixtures thereof;
- and
- recovering the treated oil.
A process of treating an edible fish oil containing EPA and DHA consisting essentially of:
- subjecting said oil to deodorization by vacuum steam distillation at temperatures in excess of 150.degree. C. for a time sufficient to reduce volatile flavor compounds;
- contacting said deodorize oil with an adsorbent selected from the group consisting of silica gel and silicic acid to reduce volatile flavor compounds and undesirable minor constituents selected from the group consisting of polymers, cholesterol, pigments, pesticides, PCB's, heavy metals and mixtures thereof;
- and
- recovering the treated oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.