Method for processing animal skim milk

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10674739-B2
Application number	US-201415022815-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2014
Priority date	Sep 19, 2013
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

Claimed is the preparation of an infant formula base product, comprising: (a) microfiltration (ME) of animal skim milk over a membrane having a porosity of 0.10-0.35 micrometer and operating with a volume concentration factor of 1.5-8, resulting in a retentate (MFR) and a permeate (MFP); (b) ultrafiltration (UF) of the MEP originating from step (a) over a membrane having a molecular weight cut-off of at most 25 kDa and operating with a volume concentration factor of 1.5-8, resulting in a retentate (UFR) and a permeate fUEP); (c) combining the MFR from step (a) and the UFR from step (b), to obtain a defined casein/whey ratio. Alternatively, the product of step (a) is used as a protein source. Claimed is also a composition comprising 40-50 g casein, 30-40 g lactose and 5-16 g ash per 100 g dry weight.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for preparing a first nutritional product and a second nutritional product, the process comprising:
(a) microfiltering (MF) animal skim milk over a membrane having a porosity of 0.10-0.35 micrometer and at a volume concentration factor of 1.5-8, resulting in a retentate (MFR) and a permeate (MFP), wherein the protein fraction of the MFR comprises at least 85 wt. % casein and less than 15 wt. % whey protein;
(b) ultrafiltering (UF) the MFP over a membrane having a molecular weight cut-off of at most 25 kDa at a volume concentration factor of 1.5-8, resulting in a retentate (UFR) and a permeate (UFP);
(c1) combining part of the MFR and the UFR to obtain a composition having a casein/whey protein weight ratio of 20/80-70/30 to prepare the first nutritional product;
(c2) using the remainder MFR to prepare the second nutritional product;
wherein:
the first nutritional product is an infant formula base product; and
the second nutritional product is a growing-up milk for a child of 12-36 months of age; and
the second nutritional product comprises less than 50 wt. % of protein from a different source than the protein comprised in the MFR.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) is enhanced with diafiltration, wherein the enhancement is diafiltration of the MFR at least one time with an amount of water and the resultant diafiltered MFR which is used as the MFR in steps (c1) and (c2), or by diluting the animal skim milk with an amount of water and subjecting the diluted animal skim milk to MF.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) is performed over a ceramic membrane having a porosity of 0.10-0.30 micrometer or over a spiral wound organic membrane having a porosity of 0.10-0.35 micrometer.

4. The process according to claim 3 , wherein step (a) is performed over a spiral wound organic membrane having a porosity of 0.15-0.25 micrometer.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) is performed at a temperature from 5-25° C.

6. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising: (d) demineralizing of at least part of the UFP, resulting in a demineralized UFP, wherein the demineralized UFP is combined in step (c1) with the MFR and the UFR to obtain a composition having a casein/whey protein weight ratio of 20/80-70/30 to prepare the first nutritional product.

7. The process according to claim 6 , wherein the demineralizing comprises:
(d1) nanofiltration (NF) of at least part of the UFP, resulting in a retentate (NF3R) and a permeate (NF3P);
(d2) subjecting the NF3R to calcium phosphate salt precipitation;
(d3) removing the precipitated salts, resulting in the demineralized UFP.

8. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising:
concentrating the UFR, resulting in a concentrated UFR which is used as UFR in step (c1).

9. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising:
concentrating the part of the MFR in step (c1), resulting in a concentrated MFR which is used as MFR in step (c1).

10. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising:
concentrating the MFP, resulting in a concentrated MFP which is used as MFP in step (b).

11. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising spray-drying the combined product of step (c1).

12. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising processing the combined product of step (c1) into an infant formula, follow-on formula or growing-up milk.

13. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising: combining a part of the MFR with UFP.

14. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising combining with a part of the MFR, UFP, and an NFP or an ROR, as obtained in any of optional steps (d), (e), (f) and (g):
(d) demineralizing of at least part of the UFP, resulting in a demineralized UFP, wherein the demineralized UFP is combined in step (c1) with the MFR and the UFR to obtain a composition having a casein/whey protein weight ratio of 20/80-70/30 to prepare the first nutritional product,
wherein the demineralizing comprises (d1) nanofiltration (NF) of at least part of the UFP, resulting in a retentate (NF3R) and a permeate (NF3P); (d2) subjecting the NF3R to calcium phosphate salt precipitation; and (d3) removing the precipitated salts, resulting in the demineralized UFP;
(e) concentrating the UFR, resulting in a concentrated UFR which is used as UFR in step (c1);
(f) concentrating the MFR by reverse osmosis (RO), resulting in a concentrated MFR which is used as MFR in step (c1); and/or
(g) concentrating the MFP, resulting in a concentrated MFP which is used as MFP in step (b).

15. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the second nutritional product comprises less than 10 wt % of protein from a different source than the protein comprised in the MFR.

16. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the diafiltration is performed with 50-500 wt % diafiltration water, based on the total volume of the animal skim milk used in step (a).

17. The process according to claim 7 , wherein the removal of the precipitated salts is performed by filtration.

18. The process according to claim 8 , wherein the concentrating the UFR is performed by nanofiltration (NF) over a membrane having a molecular weight cut-off of at most 500 Da, resulting in a retentate (NF2R) and a permeate (NF2P), wherein the NF2R is used as UFR in step (c1).

19. The process according to claim 9 , wherein the concentrating the part of the MFR in step (c1) is performed by:
reverse osmosis (RO), resulting in a retentate (ROR) and a permeate (ROP); or ultrafiltration (UF) over a membrane having a molecular weight cut-off of at most 25 kDa and operating with a volume concentration factor of 1.5-5, resulting in a retentate (UF2R) and a permeate (UF2P),
wherein the UF2R or the ROR is used as MFR in step (c1).

20. The process according to claim 10 , wherein the concentrating the MFP is performed by reverse osmosis (RO), resulting in a retentate (RO2R) and a permeate (RO2P), wherein the RO2R is used as MFP in step (b).

21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising combining the growing-up milk with one or more ingredients selected from lactose, sucrose, fat, vitamins, minerals, prebiotics or probiotics.

Assignees

• Nutricia Nv

Inventors

• Tobin John
• Verdurmen Rudolph Eduardus Maria

Classifications

• A23L33/19

  Dairy proteins · CPC title

• A23C2210/252

  Separating a milk product in at least two fractions followed by treatment of at least one of the fractions and remixing at least part of the two fractions · CPC title

• A23J3/08

  Dairy proteins · CPC title

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A23C2210/206

  Membrane filtration of a permeate obtained by ultrafiltration, nanofiltration or microfiltration · CPC title