Food products and systems and methods of making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12133537-B2
Application number	US-202217573476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2022
Priority date	May 7, 2019
Publication date	Nov 5, 2024
Grant date	Nov 5, 2024

Abstract

Food products and systems and methods for their production involve subjecting pasteurized milk to a concentration process thereby forming liquid concentrated milk, then fermenting the liquid concentrated milk to form a fermented concentrated milk product. The fermented concentrated milk product is combined with a liquid emulsifying agent, thereby forming a food product. The food product is formed without the fermented concentrated milk product and the food product reaching a temperature of 145° F.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for the production of a dairy product, the method comprising:
subjecting liquid dairy milk to a concentration process thereby forming liquid concentrated milk;
adding one or more active dairy cultures to the liquid concentrated milk thereby forming a fermented concentrated milk product containing the one or more active dairy cultures; and
combining the fermented concentrated milk product with a liquid emulsifying agent thereby forming the dairy product, wherein during the step of combining, the one or more active dairy cultures from the fermented concentrated milk product are retained in the dairy product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein adding one or more active dairy cultures to the liquid concentrated milk includes adding a freeze-dried starter active dairy culture to the liquid concentrated milk.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein adding a freeze-dried starter active dairy culture to the liquid concentrated milk includes adding the freeze-dried starter active dairy culture to the liquid concentrated milk in an amount of about 0.002 wt % to about 0.5 wt % of the liquid concentrated milk.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein subjecting liquid dairy milk to a concentration process thereby forming liquid concentrated milk includes subjecting unsalted liquid dairy milk to the concentration process thereby forming liquid concentrated milk having a total solids content of about 20 wt % to about 55 wt % of the liquid concentrated milk.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising adding salt to the liquid concentrated milk in an amount of about 0.5 wt % to about 3 wt % of the liquid concentrated milk.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein combining the fermented concentrated milk product with a liquid emulsifying agent thereby forming the dairy product includes combining the fermented concentrated milk product with the liquid emulsifying agent in an amount of about 1.0 wt % to about 6.0 wt % of the dairy product.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the liquid emulsifying agent includes at least one of liquid sodium phosphate, liquid sodium citrate, or liquid potassium phosphate.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing moisture from the dairy product through evaporative processing thereby producing a plastic food product having a moisture content of about 30 wt % to about 70 wt % of the plastic food product, wherein during the step of removing moisture from the dairy product, the one or more active dairy cultures are retained in the plastic food product.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein removing moisture from the dairy product through evaporative processing includes removing the moisture in a wiped film evaporator.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising combining the fermented concentrated milk product with chymosin, wherein the dairy product has a total solids content of about 45 wt % to about 65 wt % of the dairy product, a fat content of about 15 wt % to about 35 wt % of the dairy product, a protein content of about 15 wt % to about 20 wt % of the dairy product, and a lactose content of about 2 wt % to about 6 wt % of the dairy product.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration process includes at least one of ultrafiltration or microfiltration, and the concentration process removes at least a portion of lactose or serum proteins from the liquid dairy milk using diafiltration.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein combining the fermented concentrated milk product with a liquid emulsifying agent thereby forming dairy product includes combining the fermented concentrated milk product with a predetermined amount of the liquid emulsifying agent to form the dairy product of a spreadable cheese.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing moisture from the fermented concentrated milk product through evaporative processing after fermenting the liquid concentrated milk and before combining the fermented concentrated milk product with the liquid emulsifying agent, wherein during the step of removing moisture from the fermented concentrated milk product, the one or more active dairy cultures are retained in the fermented concentrated milk product.

14. A fermented dairy product comprising:
an admixture of a dairy product,
one or more active dairy cultures,
an emulsifying agent, and
a total solids content of about 25 wt % to about 65 wt %,
the fermented dairy product having one of an elastic texture or a plastic texture and being formed at or below 145° F. when the emulsifying agent is added as a liquid to a combination of the dairy product and the one or more active dairy cultures such that the fermented dairy product retains the one or more active dairy cultures,
wherein the dairy product includes a concentrated dairy milk.

15. The fermented dairy product of claim 14 , wherein the fermented dairy product has a total solids content of about 35 wt % to about 45 wt % of the fermented dairy product, a fat content of about 18 wt % to about 22 wt % of the fermented dairy product, and a protein content of about 8 wt % to about 18 wt % of the fermented dairy product, and a lactose content of about 0.5 wt % to about 7 wt % of the fermented dairy product.

16. The fermented dairy product of claim 14 , wherein the fermented dairy product has the plastic texture and includes a moisture content of about 30 wt % to about 70 wt % of the fermented dairy product.

17. The fermented dairy product of claim 14 , wherein the fermented dairy product includes chymosin, the total solids content is about 45 wt % to about 65 wt % of the fermented dairy product, a fat content of about 15 wt % to about 35 wt % of the fermented dairy product, a protein content of about 15 wt % to about 20 wt % of the fermented dairy product, and a lactose content of about 2 wt % to about 6 wt % of the fermented dairy product.

18. A method for the production of a dairy product, the method comprising:
fermenting liquid concentrated dairy milk with one or more active dairy cultures thereby forming a fermented concentrated milk product including the one or more active dairy cultures; and
combining the fermented concentrated milk product with a liquid emulsifying agent thereby forming the dairy product, wherein during the step of combining, the one or more active dairy cultures from the fermented concentrated milk product are retained in the dairy product.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising removing moisture from the dairy product after combining the fermented concentrated milk product with the liquid emulsifying agent through evaporative processing thereby producing a plastic dairy product, wherein during the step of removing moisture from the food product, the one or more active dairy cultures from the fermented concentrated milk product are retained in the plastic food product.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising subjecting pasteurized milk to a concentration process thereby forming the liquid concentrated milk, wherein the concentration process includes at least one of ultrafiltration or microfiltration and removes at least a portion of lactose or serum proteins from the pasteurized milk using diafiltration.

Assignees

• Land Olakes Inc

Inventors

• Glenn Iii Thomas Alexander
• Di Pietro Christina Maria

Classifications

• A23B11/12

  by heating (by irradiation, e.g. by microwaves A23B11/16) · CPC title

• A23C9/137

  Thickening substances · CPC title

• A23C19/043

  Enzymes other than proteolytic enzymes or milk clotting enzymes, e.g. lipase, lysosyme · CPC title

• A23C19/08

  Process cheese preparations; Making thereof, e.g. melting, emulsifying, sterilizing · CPC title

• A23C9/1322

  Inorganic compounds; Minerals, including organic salts thereof, oligo-elements; Amino-acids, peptides, protein-hydrolysates or derivatives; Nucleic acids or derivatives; Yeast extract or autolysate; Vitamins; Antibiotics; Bacteriocins · CPC title