Mars Incorporated, holder of newly awarded US patent 6194020 proposes a method of conserving the natural polyphenol content of cocoa. This is a continuation of Mars’ 2000 patent 6015913 and International Patent Application # PCTUS97/15893 which is still in process.


Predictably, this field is crowded. Some of those involved are Nestec, Kraft General Foods, Consolidated Flavor Corp., Camas International, SKW Trostberg, Hershey, and Derry.


Abstract:



    The invention provides food products, including confectioneries and chocolates, having conserved concentrations of polyphenols, and in particular cocoa polyphenols. The method of this invention avoids the significant and detrimental losses of polyphenols that occur during conventional manufacture by controlling the handling of ingredients in batching processing to provide a product having a significant amount of the cocoa polyphenol concentration present in the raw materials conserved in the finished product. Additionally, the production steps of milling/refining and conching may also be controlled and modified to provide the confectioneries of the present invention having conserved concentrations of cocoa polyphenols relative to the concentration of the polyphenols present in the starting ingredients. The cocoa polyphenol ingredient may be a cocoa ingredient, an extract of a cocoa ingredient (beans, liquor, or powder, etc.) or may be a synthesized derivative thereof, or may be a synthesized polyphenol compound or mixture of polyphenol compounds or derivative thereof.


First of 31 Claims:

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

A process for conserving cocoa polyphenols during the processing of one or more cocoa ingredient(s) containing cocoa polyphenols including cocoa procyanidins into a product comprising (i) carbohydrate ingredient(s) (ii) milk ingredient(s), (iii) carbohydrate ingredient(s) and milk ingredient(s) ad (iv) the polyphenol-containing cocoa ingredient(s) which are selected from the group consisting of chocolate liquor, partially defatted cocoa solids, fully defatted cocoa solids, cocoa extract, synthetic cocoa procyanidins, and mixtures thereof, which process comprises the steps of:



    (a) pretreating the carbohydrate ingredient(s), the milk ingredient(s), or the carbohydrate ingedient(s) and milk ingredient(s) with one or more pretreatment ingredients selected from the group consisting of an antioxidant, an emulsifier, a fat, a flavorant, and mixtures thereof to form a first mixture;
    (b) adding the cocoa polyphenol-containing cocoa ingredient(s) to the first mixture to form a second mixture; and
    (c) processing the second mixture into the cocoa-containing product.


By Navroz Havewala, just-food.com correspondent