A thermal treatment apparatus includes a pair of heat exchangers and an intake that receives a main flow of filling material and a branch that diverts filling material to form a branch flow. The branch flow takes a part of the heat energy used in a primary process for use in a secondary process. It then rejoins the main flow.

Provided is a sterilization processing line resulting from an upstream tank (16) and a downstream tank (17) that each retain a product liquid being connected by a duct (18) that transfers the product liquid, a high-temperature heating unit (21) that sterilizes the product liquid being provided to the intermediate section of the duct, one or a plurality of stages of heating units (22, 23) that heat the product liquid in stages being provided to the duct reaching from the upstream tank to the high-temperature heating unit, and one or a plurality of stages of cooling units (24, 25, 26) that cool the product liquid in stages being provided to the duct reaching from the high-temperature processing unit to the downstream tank. A plurality of parallel intermediate duct systems (P, Q) are provided at the interval from the heating unit (23) at the stage that is in a temperature range at which burning to the product liquid can occur to the cooling unit (24) at the stage that similarly is in the temperature range at which burning to the product liquid can occur, and the sterilization processing and the CIP and positive pressure holding processing of the product liquid transferred from the upstream tank to the downstream tank are performed switching between the parallel plurality of intermediate duct systems.

Disclosed herein are shelf-stable, clear liquid nutritional compositions having a pH ranging from 2.5 to 4.6 and comprising water; at least one source of EGCg in an amount sufficient to provide 200-1700 mg/L of EGCg; and at least one source of protein in an amount sufficient to provide 25-45 g/L of total protein. The shelf-stable, clear liquid nutritional compositions lose no more than 20% by weight solids of the EGCg content present in the initial formulation of the compositions to epimerization, degradation, or both epimerization and degradation during heat sterilization. In certain embodiments, the loss of EGCg is exhibited by the amount of epimerization product GCg present in the shelf-stable, clear liquid nutritional composition following heat sterilization. Methods for preparing the shelf-stable, clear liquid nutritional compositions are also disclosed herein.

A system for processing a liquid or semi-liquid food product is provided. The food product is a composition of a first sub-composition having a low concentration, such as water or a sugar solution, and a second sub-composition having a high concentration, such as a concentrate. The high concentration is greater than the low concentration. The system comprises an ultra violet (UV) light treatment apparatus for reducing an amount of microorganisms in the first sub-composition and a blending apparatus for aseptically combining the first sub-composition and the second sub-composition into the liquid or semi-liquid food product.

A cyclic dipeptide-containing composition containing each of tyrosine-containing cyclic dipeptides selected from the group consisting of cyclotryptophanyltyrosine, cycloseryltyrosine, cycloprolyltyrosine, cyclotyrosylglycine, cyclotyrosyltyrosine, cyclophenylalanyltyrosine, cycloleucyltyrosine, cyclolysyltyrosine, cyclohistidyltyrosine, cycloalanyltyrosine, cycloglutamyltyrosine, cyclovalyltyrosine, cycloisoleucyltyrosine, cyclothreonyltyrosine, cycloaspartyltyrosine, cycloasparaginyltyrosine, cycloglutaminyltyrosine, cycloarginyltyrosine, and cyclomethionyltyrosine, or a salt thereof in a specified amount. The cyclic dipeptide-containing composition of the present invention has an excellent action of lowering a uric acid level, and the cyclic dipeptide-containing composition is useful in, for example, prevention or treatment of hyperuricemia, gout or the like.

A flavored, fiber-enriched liquid beverage concentrate of an acidulant, a flavor, a high-intensity sweetener, a dietary fiber, and water, the dietary fiber comprising about 20 to 60 percent by weight of the concentrate volume with a pH in a range of about 1.4 to about 4.0. A method of delivering dietary fiber from a liquid beverage concentrate is disclosed.

Disclosed is a method for processing Pachyrhizus juice concentrate with good taste and stable color value, with the steps as follows: (1) pretreatment of raw materials; (2) high-temperature enzymolysis: adding the high-temperature amylase for enzymolysis 30 min at 95 C.; (3) juicing; (4) pasteurization; (5) acidity adjustment; (6) enzymolysis: adding raw materials of glucoamylase 747 ml/T pectinase 50 ml/T, activated carbon 3 kg/T, bentonite 1 kg/T to the Pachyrhizus juice after acidity adjustment; (7) secondary pasteurization: cooling to 53 C. ; (8) filtration; filtering through 0.45 um twice; (9) acidity adjustment, concentrating and cardboard filtration to obtain the finished product. The method for processing Pachyrhizus juice concentrate provided herein is proved through experiments that, the conventional method for color protection by adding VC is not applicable for Pachyrhizus juice concentrate, without adding VC, the browning during the product processing is significantly reduced, and the color value of final samples is well controlled; therefore, the method in the invention is simple, suitable for industrial production.

It is provided a processing system for processing a liquid or semi-liquid food product. The food product is a composition of a first sub-composition having a low concentration of particles and a second sub-composition having a high concentration of particles. The high concentration is greater than said low concentration. The processing system comprises a first mixing tank for mixing said first sub-composition, a second mixing tank for mixing said second sub-composition, and a heat treatment apparatus arranged to receive said first sub-composition and said second sub-composition and to heat treat said first sub-composition and said second sub-composition.

Heat-treated, shelf-stable liquid nutritional compositions comprising whey protein and non-whey protein, and methods of producing and using these compositions. The compositions have a pH of from about 6.0 to about 8.0, a total protein content of at least about 6 g per 100 mL of the composition. The whey protein comprises or is provided by an ingredient that comprises heat-denaturable protein of which at least about 55% is present in a denatured state, and the non-whey protein comprises or consists of casein, or one or more non-dairy proteins, or casein and one or more non-dairy proteins.

Heat-treated, shelf-stable liquid nutritional compositions comprising whey protein and non-whey protein, and methods of producing and using these compositions. The compositions have a pH of from about 6.0 to about 8.0, a total protein content of at least about 6 g per 100 mL of the composition. The whey protein comprises or is provided by an ingredient that comprises heat-denaturable protein of which at least about 55% is present in a denatured state, and the non-whey protein comprises or consists of casein, or one or more non-dairy proteins, or casein and one or more non-dairy proteins.