University Research & Marketing Inc., of Baton Rouge, LA was granted US patent 6172246 for its “Process for extracting fatty components from cooked foods.”
The process is an improvement over their patents 5281732, 5525746 and 5739364 of 1994, 1996 and 1998, respectively.
Abstract:
A multi-stage extraction process for extracting fats and oils from cooked food products. The cooked food products can be plant-derived or animal-derived food products, particularly fried snack food products, such as potato chips. The method comprises treating the cooked food product in a two or more extraction stage with a suitable solvent at effective temperatures and pressures, wherein the food product is subjected to a vacuum between each extraction stage.
First of 16 Claims:
A multi-stage process for reducing the amount of oil from an oil-containing cooked food product selected from agricultural and animal-derived food products, which process comprises:
(a) introducing the oil-containing food product into an extraction zone;
(b) introducing an effective solvent into said extraction zone;
(c) maintaining said solvent in contact with said food product at an effective temperature and pressure so that the solvent is in liquid form, and for an effective amount of time to remove a fraction of the oil, thereby resulting in a partially extracted food product;
(d) passing the resulting oil-laden solvent, in liquid form, from said extraction zone to a separation zone, wherein solvent is separated from the oil for recycle to the extraction zone;
(e) collecting the oil from the separation zone;
(f) reducing the pressure of said extraction zone to a point where at least a fraction of any remaining solvent will vaporize;
(g) introducing an effective solvent into said extraction zone;
(h) maintaining said solvent in contact with said partially extracted food product at an effective temperature and pressure so that the solvent is in liquid form, and for an effective amount of time to remove a predetermined amount of oil;
(i) passing the resulting oil-laden solvent, in a liquid form, from said extraction zone to a separation zone, wherein solvent is separated from the oil for recycle to the extraction zone;
(j) collecting the oil from the separation zone;
(k) reducing the pressure of said extraction zone to a point where at least a fraction of any remaining solvent is vaporized;
(l) repeating steps (g) through (k) until the desired level of oil extraction of said food product is reached; and
(m) removing the extracted food product from the extraction zone.
By Navroz Havewala, just-food.com correspondent
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