Processing Aid for Extrudable Food Composition

Abstract

A processing aid for an extrudable food composition includes from about 60% to about 99% by weight of at least one edible emulsifier and from about 1% to about 40% by weight of a short chain carboxylic acid. The extrudable food composition may include from about 80% to about 90% by weight of a raw material; from about 1% to about 18% by weight added moisture; from about 0.1% to about 3% of a processing aid, wherein the processing aid includes at least one edible emulsifier and at least one short chain carboxylic acid. The raw material is selected from one or more of corn meal, whole grain corn meal, rice, whole grain flour, rice pea, brown rice, wheat flour, whole wheat flour, pea flour, black bean, pinto bean flour, potato flour, and mixtures thereof.

Claims

1. An extrudable food composition processing aid comprising from about 60% to about 99% by weight of at least one edible emulsifier and from about 1% to about 40% by weight of a short chain carboxylic acid.

2. The extrudable food composition processing aid of claim 1 wherein the ratio of emulsifier to short chain carboxylic acid may range from about 2:1 to about 40:1.

3. The extrudable food composition processing aid of claim 1 wherein the edible emulsifier is selected from rice extract, rice bran extract, lecithin, glycerol monostearate, monoglycerides, diglycerides, and mixtures thereof.

4. The extrudable food composition processing aid of claim 1 wherein the short chain carboxylic acid is selected from acetic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, citric acid, and mixtures thereof.

5. The extrudable food composition processing aid of claim 1 wherein the acetic acid is provided by vinegar.

6. The extrudable food composition processing aid of claim 5 wherein the processing aid includes 50% by weight of the vinegar and 50% by weight edible emulsifier.

7. The extrudable food composition processing aid of claim 6 wherein the edible emulsifier is rice bran or rice bran extract.

8. An extrudable food composition comprising: from about 80% to about 90% by weight of a raw material; from about 1% to about 18% by weight added moisture; from about 0.1% to about 3% of a processing aid, wherein the processing aid includes at least one edible emulsifier and at least one short chain carboxylic acid.

9. The extrudable food composition of claim 8 wherein raw material is selected from one or more of corn meal, whole grain corn meal, rice, whole grain flour, rice pea, brown rice, wheat flour, whole wheat flour, pea flour, black bean, pinto bean flour, potato flour, and mixtures thereof.

10. The extrudable food composition of claim 8, wherein the processing aid comprises from about 60% to about 99% by weight of at least one edible emulsifier and from about 1% to about 40% by weight of a short chain carboxylic acid.

11. The extrudable food composition of claim 10 wherein the edible emulsifier is selected from rice extract, rice bran extract, lecithin, glycerol monostearate, monoglycerides, diglycerides, and mixtures thereof.

12. The extrudable food composition of claim 10 wherein the short chain carboxylic acid is selected from acetic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, citric acid, and mixtures thereof.

13. The extrudable food composition of claim 10 wherein the acetic acid is provided by vinegar.

14. The extrudable food composition of claim 13 wherein the processing aid includes 50% by weight of the vinegar and 50% by weight edible emulsifier.

15. The extrudable food composition of claim 14 wherein the edible emulsifier is rice bran or rice bran extract.

Description

EXAMPLE 1

[0033] An extrudable composition prepared from about 97% raw cornmeal (the cornmeal contained between about 11-14% intrinsic moisture) and about 3% added moisture was used as a control product. An exemplary extrudable composition was prepared from about 96.5% raw cornmeal, 2.5% added moisture, 0.5% vinegar (containing about 12% acetic acid), and 0.5% Nu-Rice® rice bran extract. Each composition was processed in a rotary head extruder of the type described above and a performance index was calculated.

[0034] The performance index is defined by the following equation:

[00001]$\mathrm{Performance}\mathrm{Index}\left(\mathrm{PI}\right)=\frac{\mathrm{Number}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{Extruders}\times \mathrm{Hours}\mathrm{Running}}{\mathrm{Number}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{Popcorn}\mathrm{Events}\mathrm{Detected}}$

where a popcorn event is defined as the sound that is emitted when the extruder needs to be taken off line for inspection and/or cleaning. In some instances, build-up of the raw material at the rotor and stator and/or glazing of the material at the rotor and stator causes a “popcorn” sound which provides an audible indication that the process should be stopped so the rotor and stator can be cleaned.

[0035] It was found that the control sample exhibited a performance index of 16.5; whereas the exemplary composition containing the processing aid as described in this application exhibited a performance index of 36.0. This more than doubling of the performance index demonstrates that an extruder processing an extrudable composition containing the described processing aid may be operated for a substantially longer period of time before requiring any cleaning than an extruder processing an extrudable composition without the described processing aid.

[0036] While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific exemplary embodiments of the disclosure have been shown by way of example in the drawings. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular disclosed forms; the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims.