Recovery of nitrate reductase activity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12004547-B2
Application number	US-201917051844-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2019
Priority date	May 4, 2018
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

The present invention is related to the field of reddening of food products. In particular the present invention relates to the preservation or optimization of nitrate reductase activity of frozen and/or dried lactic acid bacteria cultures or Micrococcaceae cultures (particularly cultures comprising one or more species of Staphylococcus having nitrate reductase activity).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for preserving or increasing nitrate reductase activity of lactic acid bacteria or Micrococcaceae bacteria having nitrate reductase activity, comprising preparing a mixture comprising citric acid or a salt thereof and bacteria having nitrate reductase activity to obtain a mixture, wherein the bacteria having nitrate reductase activity are selected from lactic acid bacteria and Micrococcaceae bacteria, and wherein the bacteria in the mixture are protected from loss of nitrate reductase activity due to one or more of freezing, drying, and freeze-drying, as compared to bacteria formulated without the citric acid or salt thereof.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bacteria having nitrate reductase activity comprise Micrococcaceae bacteria of genus Kocuria.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bacteria having nitrate reductase activity comprise one or more selected from Staphylococcus carnosus strain CHCC4055 deposited at Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ) under accession No. DSM 32779, Staphylococcus vitulinus strain CHCC10896 deposited with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ) under accession no. DSM 25789, and the Staphylococcus vitulinus specie strain CHCC11576 deposited with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ) under accession no. DSM 27311, and mutants derived therefrom.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the citric acid or salt thereof comprises trisodium citrate.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mixture further comprises one or more selected from monosaccharides, disaccharides, trisaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mixture further comprises a disaccharide selected from sucrose, lactose, maltose, and trehalose.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising freezing the mixture to obtain a frozen material.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising drying the mixture to obtain a dried material.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the drying is effected by one or more of desiccation, fluidized bed drying, freeze-drying, vacuum-drying, and spray-drying.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising freezing the mixture in a tray and thereafter freeze-drying the mixture.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more of freezing, drying, and freeze-drying the mixture, and subsequently grinding or milling the mixture into smaller particles.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bacteria having nitrate reductase activity comprise Staphylococcaceae bacteria.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bacteria having nitrate reductase activity comprise bacteria of one or more Staphylococcus species selected from Staphylococcus xylosus, Staphylococcus carnosus , and Staphylococcus vitulinus.

14. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising packing the material to obtain a packaged product.

15. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising pelletizing the material.

16. A method for making a concentrated culture of bacteria having nitrate reductase activity, comprising mixing bacteria having nitrate reductase activity selected from the group consisting of lactic acid bacteria and Micrococcaceae bacteria having nitrate reductase activity with citric acid or a salt thereof to obtain the concentrated culture, wherein the bacteria in the concentrated culture are protected from loss of nitrate reductase activity due to one or more of freezing, drying, and freeze-drying, as compared to bacteria formulated without the citric acid or salt thereof.

17. A method for reddening a food product, comprising adding to a food product a concentrated culture comprising citric acid or a salt thereof and bacteria having nitrate reductase activity, wherein the bacteria having nitrate reductase activity are selected from the group consisting of lactic acid bacteria and Micrococcaceae bacteria having nitrate reductase activity, and wherein the bacteria in the concentrated culture are protected from loss of nitrate reductase activity due to one or more of freezing, drying, and freeze-drying, as compared to bacteria formulated without the citric acid or salt thereof; and
fermenting, ripening or curing the food product with the concentrated culture.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the food product is a meat product.

Assignees

• Chr Hansen As

Inventors

• Thorsen Tina Malling
• Baroi George Nabin
• Taponen Robin
• Soeltoft-Jensen Jakob
• Yde Birgitte

Classifications

• C12Y107/99004

  Nitrate reductase (1.7.99.4) · CPC title

• C12N2500/38

  Vitamins · CPC title

• C12N2500/35

  Polyols, e.g. glycerin, inositol · CPC title

• C12N2500/34

  Sugars · CPC title

• C12N9/0044

  acting on other nitrogen compounds as donors (1.7) · CPC title