Process for producing a milk product free of lactose

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018249726-A1
Application number	US-201715448896-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 3, 2017
Priority date	Mar 3, 2017
Publication date	Sep 6, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a process for producing milk products free or at least substantially free of lactose (lactose content less than 0.1% b.w.) which includes a combination of a specific heat treatment, filtration, recombination of permeates and retentates thus obtained and optionally hydrolyzation of lactose by lactase.

First claim

1 . A process for producing a milk product free of lactose comprising the following steps:
(a1) heating raw milk over a period of 5 to 25 minutes at a temperature of from 55 to 65° C. to produce an intermediate; (a2) subjecting said intermediate of step (a1) to a first ultrafiltration to produce a first permeate UFP1 and a first retentate UFR1; (a3) subjecting said first permeate UFP1 to reverse osmosis to produce a second permeate ROP2 and a second retentate ROR1; (a4) subjecting second retentate ROR1 to decalcification; (a5) subjecting said decalcification product of step (a4) to a second ultrafiltration to produce a third permeate UFP3 rich in lactose and a third retentate UFR3 rich in minerals, (a6) mixing said first retentate UFR1 with such amount of said third permeate UFP3 to produce standard milk showing a lactose content of less than 0.1% b.w. and a mineral and protein content similar to said raw milk; and optionally (a7) subjecting said standard milk of step (a6) to hydrolysis by addition of lactase in an amount sufficient to convert all remaining lactose into glucose and galactose; or (b1) subjecting standard milk to hydrolysis by addition of lactase in an amount sufficient to convert about 25 to about 100% of its lactose content into glucose and galactose; (b2) heating said hydrolyzation product of step (b1) over a period of 5 to 25 minutes at a temperature of from 55 to 65° C. to produce an intermediate; (b3) subjecting said intermediate to nanofiltration to produce a first permeate NFP1 and a first retentate NFR1; (b4) subjecting said first permeate NFP1 either to reverse osmosis or another nanofiltration to produce a second permeate RO/NFP1 and a second retentate RO/NFR2; (b5) mixing said first retentate NFR1 with such amount of said third permeate RO/NFP3 to produce standard milk showing a lactose content of less than 0.1% b.w. and a mineral and protein content similar to said raw milk; and optionally (b6) subjecting said standard milk of step (a6) to hydrolysis by addition of lactase in an amount sufficient to convert all remaining lactose into glucose and galactose; or (c1) heating raw milk over a period of 5 to 25 minutes at a temperature of from 55 to 65° C. to produce an intermediate; (c2) subjecting said intermediate of step (a1) to a first ultrafiltration to produce a first permeate UFP1 and a first retentate UFR1; (c3) subjecting said first permeate UFP1 to nanofiltration to produce a second permeate NFP2 and a second retentate NFR1; (c4) subjecting said second retentate NFR1 to hydrolysis by adding lactase in an amount sufficient to convert about 25 to about 90% of its lactose content into glucose and galactose; (c5) mixing said first retentate UFR1 with such amount of said second permeate NFP2 and said hydrolyzation product of step (c4) to produce standard milk showing a lactose content of less than 0.1% b.w. and a mineral and protein content similar to said raw milk; and optionally (c6) subjecting said standard milk of step (c5) to hydrolysis by addition of lactase in an amount sufficient to convert all remaining lactose into glucose and galactose.

2 . The process of claim 1 wherein said raw milk is full milk, skim milk or standard milk.

3 . The process of claim 1 wherein said raw milk shows lactose content of about 3 to about 5% b.w.

4 . The process of claim 1 wherein ultrafiltration is conducted with such an amount of water that the retentate thus obtained shows a dilution factor of about 5 to about 15.

5 . The process of claim 4 , wherein said water represents the permeate of a reverse osmosis process.

6 . The process of claim 1 wherein said ultrafiltration is conducted using membranes showing an average pore diameter of from about 1,000 to about 50,000 Dalton.

7 . The process of claim 1 wherein said each ultrafiltration independently from the other is conducted at a temperature of from about 4 to about 25° C.

8 . The process of claim 1 wherein said reverse osmosis is conducted by applying a concentration factor of about 2.5 to about 5.

9 . The process of claim 1 wherein said decalcification is conducted by adding calcium or magnesium salts.

10 . The process of claim 1 wherein said decalcification is conducted at temperatures of from about 50 to about 90° C. and/or over a period of from about 10 to about 60 minutes.

Assignees

• Dmk Deutsches Milchkontor Gmbh

Inventors

• Döring Sven-Rainer
• Oehlckers Thorben
• Aschemann Jan

Classifications

• 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

• A23C9/1422 Primary

  by ultrafiltration, microfiltration or diafiltration of milk, e.g. for separating protein and lactose; Treatment of the UF permeate · CPC title

• A23C9/1206 Primary

  Lactose hydrolysing enzymes, e.g. lactase, beta-galactosidase · CPC title