Coated food product and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10499681-B2
Application number	US-201213624073-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2012
Priority date	Sep 21, 2011
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

Described are food products such as ready to eat cereal having a base and a coating; examples include a base, a slurry layer over the base produced by applying a slurry coating to the base, the slurry layer having less than about 80% sucrose on a dry weight basis, and a particulate layer on the slurry layer. The particulate layer can be produced by dry charging particulates onto the slurry coated base. Particulates include be one or more of pregel starch, high molecular weight dextrin, high molecular weight soluble fiber, partially soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, protein, low solubility non-sugar compound, or sucrose, for example.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ready to eat cereal comprising:
a base;
a slurry layer on the base produced by applying a slurry coating to the base, the slurry layer containing from about 30 to about 80 parts by weight sucrose, from about 10 to 60 parts by weight non-sucrose soluble solids, and not more than 10 parts by weight oil based on total parts by weight sucrose, non-sucrose soluble solids, and oil;
a particulate coating on the slurry layer, the particulate coating produced by applying particulates to the slurry coating, wherein the particulates comprise pregelatinized starch, whole grain flour, non-whole grain flour, dextrin, soluble fiber, partially soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, protein, or a combination thereof, wherein the coating of the slurry layer and the particulate coating has a ratio of weight sucrose to total weight soluble solids in a range from 0.3 to 0.85.

2. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the cereal has about 32 weight percent or less sugar.

3. The ready to eat cereal of claim 2 wherein the slurry layer contains about 40-79 parts by weight sucrose.

4. The ready to eat cereal of claim 2 wherein the slurry coating is provided in a sufficient amount and to adhere the particulate coating to the cereal base and slurry without a coating layer around the particulate layer.

5. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the particulates are pregelatinized starch.

6. The ready to eat cereal of claim 5 wherein the pregelatinized starch comprises cereal regrinds.

7. The ready to eat cereal of claim 5 wherein at least a portion of the pregelatinized starch is present as pregelatinized whole grain flour.

8. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the slurry comprises high conversion maltodextrin and/or low conversion glucose syrup having a dextrose equivalent of about 1 to less than about 10.

9. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the particulates have a mean particle size (volume average) of about 150 microns or less (≤150 μm).

10. The ready to eat cereal claim 1 wherein the combined slurry layer and particulate layer coating comprises less than 5% moisture and less than 80% sucrose.

11. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the particulates comprise from 0.1 to 10 weight percent flavorant.

12. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the particulates comprise from 0.1 to 10 weight percent insoluble solid selected from calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, and a combination thereof.

13. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the particulates comprise at least 50 weight percent flour particulates.

14. The ready to eat cereal of claim 1 wherein the particulates have a mean particle size (volume average) in a range from 2 to 50 microns (from 2 μm to 50 μm).

15. A method of preparing a ready to eat cereal comprising:
providing a cereal base;
coating the base with a slurry, the slurry containing from about 30 to about 80 parts by weight sucrose, from about 10 to 60 parts by weight non-sucrose soluble solids, and not more than 10 parts by weight oil, based on total parts by weight sucrose, non-sucrose soluble solids, and oil; and
coating the slurry-coated base with particulates, wherein the particulates comprise pregelatinized starch, whole grain flour, non-whole grain flour, dextrin, soluble fiber, partially soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, protein, or a combination thereof, wherein the coating of the slurry layer and the particulate coating has a measured sucrose crystallinity value that is greater than or equal to a calculated crystallinity (y) value calculated according to the formula:
crystallinity ( y )≥2.28 x 2 −1.19 x+ 0.28

wherein x is a ratio of weight sucrose per total weight soluble solids in the coating.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the particulates form a particulate layer as an outermost layer of the cereal.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the particulates adhere to the cereal without the use of an overcoating layer.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the slurry is applied at a moisture content of at least 5%, the method comprising drying the slurry such that the combined slurry layer and particulates coating comprises less than 5% moisture and less than 80% sucrose.

19. A ready to eat cereal comprising:
a base:
a slurry layer on the base produced by applying a slurry coating to the base, the slurry layer containing from about 30 to about 80 parts by weight sucrose, from about 10 to 60 parts by weight non-sucrose soluble solids, and not more than 10 parts by weight oil based on total parts by weight sucrose, non-sucrose soluble solids, and oil;
a particulate coating on the slurry layer, the particulate coating produced by applying particulates to the slurry coating, wherein the particulates comprise pregelatinized starch, whole grain flour, non-whole grain flour, dextrin, soluble fiber, partially soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, protein, or a combination thereof, wherein the coating of the slurry layer and the particulate coating has a measured sucrose crystallinity value that is greater than or equal to a calculated crystallinity (y) value calculated according to the formula:
crystallinity ( y )≥2.28 x 2 −1.19 x+ 0.28

wherein x is a ratio of weight sucrose per total weight soluble solids in the coating.

20. A ready to eat cereal comprising:
a base;
a slurry layer on the base produced by applying a slurry coating to the base, the slurry layer containing from about 30 to about 80 parts by weight sucrose, from about 10 to 60 parts by weight non-sucrose soluble solids, and not more than 10 parts by weight oil based on total parts by weight sucrose, non-sucrose soluble solids, and oil;
a particulate coating on the slurry layer, the particulate coating produced by applying particulates to the slurry coating, wherein the particulates comprise pregelatinized starch, whole grain flour, non-whole grain flour, dextrin, soluble fiber, partially soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, protein, or a combination thereof, wherein the non-sucrose soluble solids are selected from the group consisting of: fruit juices, purees, honey nectars, concentrated fruit, glucose syrup solids, corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, honey, refiners' syrup, molasses, maple syrups, barley syrups, oat syrup, tapioca syrups, malt syrups, malt syrup solids, rice syrup solids, rice syrups, sorghum syrups, glucose, dextrose, fructose, levulose, mannose, invert sugar, galactose, maltose, trehalose, and lactose.

21. The ready to eat cereal of claim 20 wherein the non-sucrose soluble solids are selected from the group consisting of: fruit juices, purees, honey nectars, concentrated fruit, glucose syrup solids, corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, honey, refiners' syrup, molasses, maple syrups, barley syrups, oat syrup, tapioca syrups, malt syrups, malt syrup solids, rice syrup solids, rice syrups, and sorghum syrups.

22. The ready to eat cereal of claim 20 wherein the non-sucrose soluble solids are selected from the group consisting of: glucose, dextrose, fructose, levulose, mannose, invert sugar, galactose, maltose, trehalose, and lactose.

23. A method of preparing a ready to eat cereal comprising:
providing a cereal base;
coating the base with a slurry, the slurry containing from about 30 to about 80 parts by weight sucrose, from about 10to 60 parts by weight non-sucrose soluble solids, and not more than 10 parts by weight oil, based on total parts by weight sucrose, non-sucrose

Assignees

• Gen Mills Inc

Inventors

• Barrett Christopher J
• Green Daniel R
• Huang Victor T
• Nowakowski Christine M

Classifications

• A23P20/10 Primary

  Coating with edible coatings, e.g. with oils or fats · CPC title

• A23L7/122

  Coated, filled, multilayered or hollow ready-to-eat cereals · CPC title

• A23G3/0089

  Coating with atomised liquid, droplet bed, liquid spray · CPC title

• A23G3/343

  Products for covering, coating, finishing, decorating · CPC title

• A23G3/0065 Primary

  Processes for making filled articles, composite articles, multi-layered articles · CPC title