Process for manufacturing a fermented infant formula product

Abstract

The present invention concerns a process for manufacturing an infant formula product comprising: (a1) providing an aqueous mixture having a protein component and a carbohydrate component, (a2) subjecting the aqueous mixture to a heat treatment step, (a3) subjecting the heat-treated, aqueous mixture to a fermentation step using a bacterial fermentation culture; (b) mixing the fermented, aqueous mixture with a lipid component; (c) subjecting the fermented, aqueous mixture comprising the lipid component, the carbohydrate component and the heat-treated protein component to a homogenization and emulsification step to obtain a homogenized oil-in-water emulsion having a total solids content in the range of 45-73 wt %; (d) conveying the homogenized emulsion into an extruder, independently adding digestible carbohydrates and optionally dietary fibres to the extruder and extruding the contents of the extruder to obtain an extruded material; (e) preparing an infant formula product from the extruded material. The invention further concerns Infant formula product obtainable by the process according to the invention and to a modular system suitable for performing the process according to the invention.

Claims

1. Process for manufacturing an infant formula product comprising the following steps: (a1) providing an aqueous mixture having a protein component and a carbohydrate component, (a2) subjecting the aqueous mixture to a heat treatment step, optionally followed by a concentration step, (a3) subjecting the heat-treated, aqueous mixture to a fermentation step using a bacterial fermentation culture, (b) mixing the fermented, aqueous mixture with a lipid component, (c) subjecting the fermented, aqueous mixture comprising the lipid component, the carbohydrate component and the heat-treated protein component to a homogenization and emulsification step to obtain a homogenized oil-in-water emulsion having a total solids content in the range of 45-73 wt %; (d) conveying the homogenized emulsion into an extruder, independently adding digestible carbohydrates and optionally dietary fibres to the extruder and extruding the contents of the extruder to obtain an extruded material; (e) preparing an infant formula product from the extruded material.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the aqueous mixture of step (a1) has a total solids content of 10-25 wt % and wherein step (a2) takes place at a temperature between 50 and 80° C.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the bacterial fermentation culture comprises one or more lactic acid bacteria selected from bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein step (a3) is performed by inoculating the bacterial fermentation culture in the heat-treated, aqueous mixture in amount in the range of 1×102 to 1×1011 cfu bacteria/ml.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein step (e) involves drying and milling of the extruded material.

6. The process according to claim 1, wherein the protein component of the infant formula has a weight ratio of whey protein to casein in the range of 9/1 to 1/9.

7. The process according to a claim 1, wherein the total solids content of the homogenized oil-in-water emulsion of step (c) is in the range of 53-68 wt %.

8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the digestible carbohydrates, such as lactose and/or maltodextrin, are added in step (d) as a dry powder and the dietary fibres are added as a dry powder or as a concentrated liquid.

9. The process according to claim 1, wherein the extrusion of step (d) is performed at a temperature below 85° C.

10. The process according to a claim 1, wherein the heat treatment of step (a2) is designed to obtain a microbial safe protein component.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein the aqueous mixture of step (a1) has a total solids content in the range of 15-40 wt %.

12. The process according to claim 1, wherein the fermented, aqueous mixture subjected to step (b) has a total solids content in the range of 30-65 wt %, prior to the mixing with the lipid component.

13. The process according to claim 1, wherein the total solids content of the fermented, aqueous mixture obtained in step (a3) is increased, prior to mixing with the lipid component.

14. The process according to a claim 1, wherein skim milk and/or whey protein concentrate (WPC) are used as source of the protein component and carbohydrate component of the aqueous mixture provided in step (a1).

15. The process according to a claim 1, wherein the carbohydrate component in step (a1) comprises lactose, which lactose constitutes between 15 and 75 wt % of the total lactose contents of the infant formula product prepared in step (e).

16. The process according to a claim 1, wherein the digestible carbohydrate that is added during step (d) comprises lactose and the amount of lactose added during step (d) lies between 0 and 80 wt % (on dry weight basis) of the total amount of lactose contained in the infant formula product obtained in step (e).

17. The process according to claim 1, wherein the digestible carbohydrate that is added during step (d) comprises lactose and the amount of lactose that is added during step (d) lies between 0 and 40 wt % of the total dry weight of the infant formula product obtained in step (e).

18. Infant formula product obtainable by the process according to claim 1.

19. The infant formula product according to claim 18, which is an infant formula, a follow-on formula, a toddler milk or a growing-up milk.

20. A modular system for carrying out the method steps according to claim 1 for manufacturing an infant formula.

21. (canceled)

Description

FIGURES

[0126] The invention is illustrated by FIGS. 1 and 2, depicting preferred embodiments of the process according to the invention, and by FIG. 3, showing process parameters as generated using the gPROMS gFormulatedProducts 1.2.2 simulation model from Process Systems Enterprise (PSE).

[0127] FIG. 1 depicts a preferred embodiment of the process according to the invention, wherein (a2), (a3), (b), (c), (d) and (e) represent steps (a2), (a3), (b), (c), (d) and (e) as defined herein. (1)=introduction of a source of protein and digestible carbohydrate; (2)=optional introduction of a second source of protein and digestible carbohydrate; (3)=introduction of a lipid component (4) introduction of a digestible carbohydrate component; (5)=optional introduction of a dietary fiber component; (6)=discharge of the infant formula product.

EXAMPLES

[0128] The following examples illustrate the invention.

Example 1

[0129] A process flow was generated for production of an infant formula intended for infants.

[0130] In a first step, demineralized whey (DW, flowrate 1364 kg/h), liquid whey protein concentrate (WPC_35, flowrate 144 kg/h), water (flowrate 5851 kg/h), lactose (flowrate 124 kg/h), skim milk powder (flowrate 1126 kg/h) and the required amounts of micronutrients (i.e. vitamins and minerals) (flowrate 47 kg/h) were compounded into an aqueous liquid with a total solids content (% TS) of 25 wt % at a temperature of 35° C., and processed at a flowrate of 8656 kg/h.

[0131] The aqueous liquid was subsequently heat treated at 121° C. with a residence time of 2.89 seconds to achieve an F.sub.0 of 2.4. After cooling (FC), the heated solution is subsequently fed into an evaporator for concentration purposes during which water was removed at a flowrate of 2792 kg/h.

[0132] After evaporation, the aqueous solution has a TS of 37 wt % and is conveyed with a flowrate of 5837 kg/h at a temperature of 60° C. to the fermenter. A pre-fermented mixture was introduced into the fermenter (flowrate 668 kg/h, TS 12 wt %) together with the aqueous liquid.

[0133] Fermentation is carried out at a flowrate of 6504 kg/h (TS 35 wt %) and at a temperature of 57° C. The resulting aqueous solution is subsequently fed into an evaporator for concentration purposes during which water was removed at a flowrate of 2424 kg/h. After evaporation, the aqueous solution has a TS of 55 wt % and is conveyed with a flowrate of 4080 kg/h at a temperature of 55° C. to the oil injector.

[0134] Oils necessary to produce the infant formula are injected into the aqueous stream at a flowrate of 1226 kg/h (TS 100 wt %) to reach a TS of 65 wt %. The aqueous solution is subsequently fed into a homogenizer for homogenization and emulsification at 56° C. using a flowrate of 5306 kg/h. The homogenized oil-in-water emulsion is conveyed to the extruder.

[0135] During extrusion, lactose (flowrate 4558 kg/h, TS 95 wt %) was added. Extrusion is performed at 67° C. at a flowrate of 9864 kg/h. The extrudate as obtained contained 79 wt % TS and was ready for drying using known technologies, such as flash or vacuum belt drying, to end up with a nutritional composition, with a TS of 97.5 wt % which was produced at a flowrate of 8000 kg/h. No dry blending of further ingredients is required. A nutritional composition in the form of a powder was obtained that was ready for packaging.

Example 2

[0136] Data mentioned in example 1 were generated using the gPROMS gFormulatedProducts 1.2.2 simulation model from Process Systems Enterprise (PSE). Mass balance models used were steady state, meaning no accumulation in time is applied. Models were applied on a macro level without applying any discretization method.

[0137] For evaporation/concentration the mass balance of equation (1) was applied.

0=φ.sub.m.sup.in−φ.sub.m.sup.out−φ.sub.m.sup.evap  (1)

[0138] It states that the amount of evaporated water or water otherwise removed

[00001]$\left(\frac{\mathrm{kg}}{s}\right)$

from a stream, plus the outlet from a stream should be equal to an inlet stream. From this perspective the outlet total solids

[00002]$\left(\frac{kg}{kg}\right)$

were calculated via equation (2):

[00003]$\begin{array}{cc}{x}_{\mathrm{solids}}^{out}=\frac{x_{\mathrm{solids}}^{in}{\phi }_m^{in}}{{\phi }_m^{out}}& \left(2\right)\end{array}$

This was applied under the assumption that extracted water, extracted via evaporation or any other technology, is pure water.

[0139] The same approach was used for mixing of different streams either within compounding (i.e. preparation of an aqueous mixture prior to heat treatment step (a2)), fat injection (i.e. step b) or extrusion (step d). Equation (3) applies for the total mass balance:

[00004]$\begin{array}{cc}{\phi }_m^{out}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N_{\mathrm{streams}}}{.Math.}}{\phi }_{m_i}^{in}& \left(3\right)\end{array}$

The solids outlet of any mixer and/or extruder was calculated by adapting equation (3) in case multiple inlet streams were applied:

[00005]$\begin{array}{cc}{x}_{\mathrm{solids}}^{out}=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{N_{\mathrm{streams}}}{.Math.}}{x}_{\mathrm{solids},i}^{in}{\phi }_{m_i}^{in}}{{\phi }_m^{out}}& \left(4\right)\end{array}$

For the drying step, independent of the drying technology, equations 1 and 2 were applied to calculate the water evaporation capacity.

[0140] These equations were applied in a flowsheet construction. The information passed between models in a product flow are the mass flowrate and the composition (kg/kg).