A FUNCTIONAL FOOD INPUT AND ITS PRODUCTION METHOD

Abstract

The subject of the invention relates to a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein, intended for use in confectionery products such as cream, chocolate, dragees, and fruit-flavored candies, which reduces the use of existing sugar and reduces or eliminates the use of natural or artificial sweeteners without compromising sweetness values, and the production of this said food ingredient.

Description

DESCRIPTION A FUNCTIONAL FOOD INPUT AND ITS PRODUCTION METHOD TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein and its production method, which enables the reduction of the amount of sugar used and the reduction or non-use of natural or artificial sweeteners without reducing the sweetness values, for use in sugar-containing food products such as cream, chocolate, dragees, fruit-flavored candy. PREVIOUS TECHNOLOGY Sugars are chemical compounds consisting of molecules formed by the combination of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in a specific order. The smallest sugar molecules are called monosaccharides, or simple sugars. Glucose (grape sugar, blood sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar) are examples. The structure formed by the combination of two simple sugar molecules is called a disaccharide. Sucrose (beet sugar, white sugar) is an example. Commercially, sugar refers to liquid or solid products containing simple sugars and / or higher sugars, either pure or in mixtures. Commercial sugars include beet sugars, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS, fructose-glucose syrup, isoglucose, corn syrup), invert sugar syrup, maltose, and dextrose. The primary function of sugars is to impart flavor, aroma, and certain structural properties to foods. Numerous studies have been conducted, and are still being conducted, to demonstrate that the consumption of high amounts of commercial sugars leads to numerous health problems. High sugar consumption is believed to contribute to heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease. Therefore, numerous technical studies and studies are being conducted to reduce the amount of sugar used in food products. In food products, natural or artificial sweeteners are used to reduce high sugar consumption, or fillers are used to fill the dry matter gap. The aim of using these sweeteners and fillers is to reduce the amount of sugar used without changing the sweetness of the products. However, because these materials are used as sugar substitutes, the sensory quality of the final confectionery products is negatively affected and production costs increase. Furthermore, sweeteners and fillers have been shown to have carcinogenic (Health Risks of Saccharin Revisited. Ellwein & Cohen. I. Stanford University, 1990) and toxic (Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences Volume 6 Number 8, October 2014) effects on human health and to cause diabetes (Jotham Suez et al.Many studies have proven that artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota (September 2017) and their use in pregnant women is very harmful ((Soffritti, M., Belpoggi, F., Tibaldi, E., Esposti, dd, Lauriola M. 2007; 115 (9), 1293-1297)). Ingredients used to reduce sugar in food products include a wide range of natural and synthetic ingredients with varying sweetness levels. Natural substitutes include stevia, thaumin, tagatose, inulin, and monk fruit, which are very sweet, while synthetic substitutes include acesulfame K, aspartame, neohesperidin, saccharin, and neotame. Because these food ingredients have sweetness levels at least 100 times higher than sugar, they are rarely used as sugar substitutes. Furthermore, some of these food ingredients are difficult to source and costly, and they cannot fill the large mass of sugar in a recipe on their own. Therefore, these sweeteners are generally used in combination with other food ingredients such as polyols (maltitol, xylitol, isomalt, etc.) and saccharins.However, these fillers are known to be inadequate in meeting the aforementioned sugar functionalities—specifically, texture and color development—and to contribute little or nothing to Maillard reactions, leading to inadequate flavor development. Furthermore, these fillers negatively impact the sensory quality of the product and can leave an unpleasant aftertaste. These food ingredients also present supply and cost challenges. The subject of the invention, patent number US2020370138 A1, relates to sugar-derived compositions and the production of said compositions. The main purpose of this invention is to obtain amorphous sugars that can be an alternative to crystalline sugars and to produce products with a low glycemic index using these sugars. The invention, patent number WO2017093309, includes regulations for reducing the amount of sugar used in confectionery products. Accordingly, the final product is described as containing at least one sugar, at least one bulking agent, and at least one surfactant, and the sugar is comprised of porous particles with an amorphous structure. The invention has found that amorphous porous sugar has a higher sweetness than crystalline sugars when used in equivalent amounts, and therefore, using less amorphous porous sugar than crystalline sugars is sufficient for the same sweetness values. As a result, it has become necessary to make innovations in the technical field to reduce the use of sugar, sweeteners and filling materials, which are known to have many disadvantages in food products containing sugar. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a new functional food ingredient and the production of said food ingredient in order to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages and bring new advantages to the relevant technical field. One aim of the invention is to produce a functional food ingredient containing at least 60% sugar. By obtaining this food ingredient in powder form, the disadvantages of liquid sugar syrups, which are known to be difficult to store in liquid form and have limited storage life, can be eliminated. One purpose of the invention is to produce invert sugars using enzyme inversion processes at high yields, specifically at least 98% efficiency, and to provide a functional food ingredient containing these invert sugars. The inversion process of the invention allows for the production of equivalent amounts of glucose and fructose sugar components. One aim of the invention is to provide a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar, which has high sweetness levels thanks to the presence of fructose sugar components and good texture properties thanks to the presence of glucose sugar. One purpose of the invention is to produce a food ingredient containing invert sugars with very low particle size values. The functional food ingredient containing the invert sugars of the invention can be used as a raw material in confectionery products such as cream and chocolate, where the particle size is expected to be 30 microns or less. One aim of the invention is to produce a functional food ingredient containing protein in the range of 10% to 40% by weight. Thus, the amount of protein can be high in sugar-containing food products using this food ingredient as a raw material. One aim of the invention is to present a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein, which has the feature of participating in Maillard reactions and contributing to aroma development thanks to the presence of reducing sugars such as glucose and fructose sugar and the presence of protein. One aim of the invention is to provide a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein, which, due to its high sweetness, allows for the reduction or elimination of the use of synthetic sweeteners or fillers used to compensate for dry matter deficits. This allows for the production of confectionery products that are more suitable for human health. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In this detailed description, the subject of the invention is related to the production of a new food ingredient containing protein and the said functional food ingredient, which enables the reduction of the current amount of sugar usage and the reduction or non-use of natural or artificial sweeteners without decreasing the sweetness values ​​for use in similar sugar-containing food products such as cream, chocolate, dragees, fruit-flavored candy, and is explained only with examples that will not create any limiting effect for a better understanding of the subject. "Sucrose or white sugar", used as a raw material in the invention, describes crystalline substances traditionally obtained from plants, especially sugar cane and beet, and used as sweeteners in food and beverages. In the invention, the term "invert sugar syrup" is expressed as the liquid product obtained by releasing monosaccharides as a result of the hydrolysis of sucrose with acid or enzymes. The invention aims to eliminate all the disadvantages encountered in the current state of the art, namely the production of a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein, and essentially consists of two process steps. The process steps mentioned here are: a) performing high-efficiency inversion processes on white sugar, resulting in invert syrup; b) drying the resulting invert syrup in a spray dryer to produce a functional new food ingredient with a particle size of up to 30 microns and containing protein. The innovative aspect of the food ingredient in question is that it contains invert sugars obtained through inversion processes with at least 98% efficiency. The inversion process in question is carried out using at least one enzyme. This enzyme, called invertase, enables the inversion of white sugar or sucrose, the raw material for confectionery products, that is, the separation of its components into glucose and fructose. Here, the term "at least 98% efficiency" refers to the conversion of the sucrose solution into glucose and fructose components at least 98% of the time in the presence of enzymes through inversion reactions. In other words, it expresses the efficiency of the reaction. Current techniques generally involve inverting sucrose with various acids to produce invert sugar. Inversion processes with acids have disadvantages such as the use of acids, the high temperature at which the reaction occurs, which increases energy requirements and costs, difficulty in controlling the reaction, low inversion efficiency, and the potential for negative flavor effects due to the irritating properties of acids. The use of acids in inversion processes, coupled with the resulting low inversion efficiency, results in lower fructose yields. This leads to invert sugar, intended as a substitute for white sugar, failing to achieve the desired sweetness levels. To overcome these disadvantages, invertase enzymes are used in the inversion process of sucrose to produce the functional new food ingredient in the present invention. Invertase Enzyme and the Inversion Process The invertase enzyme used in the invention breaks the bonds within sucrose, converting it into a glucose-fructose mixture. It is obtained from S. cerevisiae cultures. The temperature of this enzyme is between 50 and 65°C, and the pH is between 4 and 6. Details of the inversion process are provided in Table 1. Table 1. Inversion Process Parameters Process Parameter Parameter Value Sucrose Solution 60%-75% Invertase Enzyme amount 2-8 mL / kg Process Time 12-36 hours Process Temperature 50-65 °C Ambient pH Value 4-6 With the values ​​specified in Table 1, as a result of the inversion process of the sucrose solution, glucose is obtained at a value between 45% and 55% by weight and fructose is obtained at a value between 45% and 55% by weight. In the invention, inversion processes performed with invertase enzymes yield invert sugar in liquid form (a syrup can be used to describe its liquid nature). Invert syrup can be frequently used in products such as various candies, cakes, and bakery products. However, in order to use invert sugar as a sucrose substitute in confectionery products such as chocolate and cream, it must be obtained in solid form. The invention essentially enables the use of invert sugars as a substitute ingredient in confectionery products that use sucrose as a raw material. The innovative aspect of the invention is that it includes arrangements for converting invert sugar into powder form. The most important of these arrangements is to spray-dry the invert syrup, obtained through inversion processes with a yield of at least 98%, with whey or its derivatives, resulting in a functional new food ingredient containing at least 60% sugar and up to 40% protein at micron values. Application of the Spray Drying process In this process step, the invert syrup, obtained through an inversion process with at least 98% efficiency, is converted into solid particles. Spray drying devices are used to perform these processes. Spray drying involves spraying liquid samples or mixtures into hot air and evaporating the liquids, resulting in powdered product. The resulting product consists of solid particles and granules with micron-sized powder particles. If preferred, a vacuum can be added to the spray drying device, allowing the process to be carried out at lower temperatures. The spray drying machine essentially performs the following process steps: (1) droplet formation by atomization of the feed, (2) contact of the droplets with hot drying air, (3) moisture removal from the droplets, (4) separation of the powdered product from the air stream. Invert syrup, which is obtained by performing inversion processes with at least 98% efficiency before the invention, is added as the first feed to the spraying device. To obtain a functional food input in micron-sized powder form containing invert sugars, whey or its derivatives (whey isolate, whey concentrate, etc.) are added to the feed portion, along with invert syrups, to increase the glass transition temperature and ensure the cohesion of the ingredients. At this stage, at least one drying agent can be added alongside the whey or its derivatives. Drying agents may include milk powder, gum arabic, guar gum, maltodextrin, starch, at least one of the following dietary fibers, or a mixture of these in certain weight ratios. The invention uses whey or its derivatives as a drying agent. The "glass transition temperature" (referred to as Tg) is defined in the invention as the temperature at which an amorphous solid softens when heated or becomes brittle when cooled, as is well known in the art. Various techniques can be used to measure the glass transition temperature, and any available or suitable technique can be employed, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). In a possible embodiment of the invention, protease enzymes are added to hydrolyze proteins contained in whey or its derivatives to break down and denature them and prevent agglomeration within the confectionery product. Protease is essential for the production of the functional food ingredient of the invention. Protein can cause problems, particularly in the processing of fat-based confectionery products where the functional food ingredient is used. If the functional food ingredient of the invention is to be used in baked goods, the use of protease is not necessary during the drying phase. The invention may include the addition of emulsifiers or surfactants to the feed to enhance the spray drying process. If preferred, the emulsifier may be selected from sucrose monopalmitate, sucrose monolaurate, sucrose distearate, sorbitan monooleate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitan monopalmitate, sorbitan monolaurate, sorbitan tristearate, PGPR, PGE, lecithin, PGPR, GMS, and any combination thereof. In a spray dryer, the invert syrup, whey or its derivatives, protease enzyme, and preferably an emulsifier added to the feed are brought into contact with a gas. Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, air, argon, or nitrogen can be used as the gas. Air is the preferred gas. Studies have shown that for products with high sugar content to be dried without sticking in spray dryers, the air outlet temperature must be a maximum of 20°C above the glass transition temperature of the product. This temperature is called the sticking temperature (Bhandari and Hartel, 2005). The functional food ingredient obtained by completing the drying process in the spray dryer contains at least 60% powdered sugar in micron sizes and up to 40% protein by weight. These micron values ​​are preferably between 10 and 30 microns. Functional food ingredients containing invert sugar and protein with particle sizes in these micron values ​​can be used in chocolate and cream-like confectionery products where sugar raw material particle sizes of 30 microns or less are required in the relevant technical field. This allows for the use of less sugar raw material at the same sweetness levels. Rheological problems arising from low sugar consumption in confectionery products can be resolved through the use of protease enzymes. In the invention, invert sugar is obtained with at least 98% efficiency through inversion processes, where 1 mole of sucrose is converted into 1 mole of glucose and 1 mole of fructose. As is known in the art, 1 mole of fructose has a higher sweetness value than 1 mole of sucrose, the main raw material. Therefore, the fructose and glucose mixture obtained through inversion processes is sweeter than the main raw material. Because equivalent amounts of invert sugar have higher sweetness values ​​than sucrose, lower amounts of sugar can be used in confectionery products without changing the sweetness. Consequently, the functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein obtained in the invention can be used in confectionery products such as chocolate and cream, with less sucrose added at equivalent sweetness values. This allows for the production of confectionery products with the same sweetness values ​​but reduced sugar consumption.In this context, using this functional food ingredient, which contains invert sugar and protein, is a logical solution to reduce sugar consumption in confectionery products. It can also eliminate the use of artificial and natural sweeteners and fillers that reduce sugar consumption. This allows for the creation of confectionery products that are more natural and less harmful to human health. The functional food ingredient of the invention, which contains sugar and protein, allows for the production of a product with a micron size significantly lower than sugar while also being porous. This allows for a product with a lower density than sugar, while also exhibiting sweetness-enhancing properties when dissolved in the consumer's taste buds. Due to these properties, the functional food ingredient of the invention differs from the fructose used in the current state of the art. As mentioned before, sweeteners such as stevia, thaumin, tagatose, inulin, monk fruit, acesulfame K, aspartame, neohesperidin, saccharin, neotame, polyols (maltitol, xylitol, isomalt, etc.) and saccharins, which are frequently used in confectionery products and are harmful to human health, as well as causing rheological problems in the production of confectionery products and causing increased production costs, are not used. In this invention, enzymes are used as inversion inputs in the production of invert sugar. Inversion with enzymes is not a process performed at high temperatures. Furthermore, these processes either eliminate the formation of HMF, a byproduct that can have adverse health effects, or keep it below the 40 mg / kg limit. At the end of the inversion, no impurities or foreign substances are formed, resulting in a pure product. Because the reaction is enzyme-driven, it can be controlled and started or stopped according to the desired result. The functional food ingredient in question also contains protein at a value between 10% and 40% by weight. Therefore, sugar-containing food products using functional food ingredients as raw materials can be high in protein. The food ingredient in question essentially reduces the amount of sugar in the final product by 5% while increasing the protein content, giving the new food ingredient its functional properties. The scope of protection for the invention is specified in the appended claims and cannot be limited to what is explained in this detailed description for illustrative purposes. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can devise similar embodiments in light of the above without deviating from the main theme of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. The invention relates to the production of a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein for use in sugar-containing food products such as cream, chocolate, dragees, fruit-flavored candies, etc., and its characteristic is that the production of the functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein is carried out as follows: a) subjecting white sugar to inversion reactions with invertase enzymes with at least 98% efficiency and obtaining invert sugar syrup containing mixtures of equal amounts of fructose and glucose sugars, b) the resulting invert sugar syrup,The process involves drying in a spray dryer with invert sugar syrups, whey or its derivatives used as drying agents to raise the glass transition temperature and ensure the components remain together, and protease enzymes used to break down the proteins in this whey or its derivatives and prevent agglomeration in the sugar-containing food product. The aim is to obtain a food input containing invert sugar and protein with particle sizes ranging from 10 to 30 microns. The resulting food input must contain at least 60% invert sugar by weight and between 10% and 40% protein by weight.

2. This is a production method that complies with Claim 1, and its characteristic feature is that in process (a) mentioned above, the invertase enzyme is added in the range of 2 to 8 mL / kg.

3. A production method that conforms to Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterized by: a) the inversion process step being carried out at a process temperature between 50 and 65 °C.

4. A production method that conforms to one of the requirements 1-3, characterized by: a) the inversion process step being performed for a process time between 12 and 36 hours.

5. The production method must conform to one of the requirements 1-4, and its characteristic is that; a) the process pH value of the inversion process step must be between 4-6.

6. A production method conforming to one of the requirements 1-5, characterized by: b) containing, in addition to whey or its derivatives as a drying agent in the processing step, at least one of the following or mixtures in specific weight proportions: milk powder, gum arabic, guar gum, maltodextrin, starch, or dietary fiber.

7. A production method conforming to one of the claims 1-6, characterized by the addition of the following to the feed section of the spray drying device before commencing the aforementioned (b) spray drying processes: • invert sugar syrup, • whey or its derivatives to prevent invert sugar from adhering to the equipment walls during drying due to its low glass transition temperature, • protease enzymes to break down proteins in whey or its derivatives and prevent agglomeration in the sugar-containing food product, • and / or an emulsifier used to ensure the mixing of immiscible substances, • and / or a surfactant.

8. A production method conforming to Claim 7, characterized by the fact that the said emulsifier is one or a mixture of sucrose monopalmitate, sucrose monolaurate, sucrose distearate, sorbitan monooleate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitan monopalmitate, sorbitan monolorate, sorbitan tristearate, PGPR, PGE, lecithin, PGPR, GMS.

9. The invention is a functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein, with particle sizes of 30 microns or less, produced by a manufacturing method conforming to one of the claims 1-8.

10. A functional food ingredient containing invert sugar and protein, conforming to Claim 9, with equivalent amounts of fructose and glucose compounds.

11. According to one of the claims 9-10, invert sugar is used as a sugar raw material in confectionery products such as cream, chocolate, dragees, and fruit-flavored candies.