Pressure treating food to reduce spoilage
AssigneeFonterra Co-Operative Group Limited
InventorsTim Carroll, Ping Chen, Michelle Harnett, James Harnett
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Abstract
The present invention broadly describes a method of pressure treating foods containing cultures, wherein the pressure treatments are performed under such conditions such that cultures survive while the growth of spoilage microflora is reduced, delayed, prevented or eliminated. Foods treated according to the invention include cultural dairy foods (such as yoghurts), fruit and vegetable juices and other dairy foods (such as cheese).
Claims37
A method of treating a food comprising the following steps:
- selecting a food comprising at least one strain of a culture, said strain capable of surviving a pressure treatment at a predetermined pressure and pH, wherein the food is a cultured dairy product, yoghurt, or is selected from the group consisting of a yoghurt drink, a dairy dessert, cottage cheese, cream cheese and cultured beverages and
- subjecting the food to a treatment pressure at or below the predetermined pressure, wherein the treatment pressure reduces, delays, prevents or eliminates growth of spoilage microflora;
- wherein the treatment pressure is at least 350 MPa and wherein the food is subjected to the treatment pressure for about 5 minutes or less.
A method of treating a food comprising the following steps:
- selecting a food comprising at least one strain of a culture, said strain capable of surviving a pressure treatment at a predetermined pressure and pH, wherein the strain of culture is selected from the group consisting of:
- i) Lactobacillus acidophilus
- ii) Bifidobacterium lactis
- iii) Streptococcus thermophilus
- iv) Lactobacillus helveticus
- v)Lactobacillus delbrukeii subsp bulgaricus;
- and any combination thereof;
- and
- subjecting the food to a treatment pressure at or below the predetermined pressure, wherein the treatment pressure reduces, delays, prevents or eliminates growth of spoilage microflora;
- wherein the treatment pressure is at least 350 MPa and wherein the food is subjected to the treatment pressure for about 5 minutes or less.
A method of treating a food comprising the following steps:
- selecting a food comprising at least one strain of a culture, said strain capable of surviving a pressure treatment at a predetermined pressure and pH, wherein the food is selected from a yoghurt, a cultured dairy product, a beverage, a fruit juice and a vegetable juice, and wherein said strain is a probiotic strain capable of surviving a pressure treatment at a predetermined pressure and pH, and
- subjecting the food to a treatment pressure at or below the predetermined pressure, wherein the treatment pressure reduces, delays, prevents or eliminates growth of spoilage microflora;
- wherein the treatment pressure is at least 350 MPa and wherein the food is subjected to the treatment pressure for about 5 minutes or less.
A method of treating a food comprising the following steps:
- selecting a food comprising a bacterial strain selected from the group consisting of Lactobacillus acidophilus HN017 AGAL deposit number NM97/09515 dated 18 Aug. 1997 and Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 AGAL deposit number NM97/09513 dated 18 Aug. 1997;
- and
- subjecting the food to a treatment pressure of between 350 MPa and 600 MPa, at a pH of between about 3.0 and about 8.0.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.