CA1081031A - Dust-free, free-flowing hydrolyzed proteins - Google Patents

Abstract

DUST-FREE, FREE-FLOWING HYDROLYZED PROTEINS

Abstract of the Disclosure Hydrolyzed proteins are made dust-free and free-flowing by addition thereto of a mixture of an edible oil and an anti-caking.
additive, preferably micronized silica.

Description

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; This invention relates to an improved hydrolyzed protein and to a method of preparing the same. Specifically, it relates to a method of preparing a substantially dust-free, free-flowing hydrolyzed protein.
The term "hydrolyzed protein" is used herein in its usual and well understood sense to mean the purified hydrolysis product ` of an animal or vegetable proteinaceous material.
- In conventional manufacture of powdered hydrolyzed protein, a suitable proteinaceous raw material such as, e.g., soy flour, 10 wheat gluten, corn gluten, cottonseed meal, peanut meal, unex-tracted yeast, meat meal, hoof and horn meal, hides, fish meal or dried blood, is hydrolyzed with a mineral acid to liberate the ~; water-soluble amino acids present therein. The pH is adjusted to the desired level (about 3.8 to 5.8), the hydrolysis product is filtered to remove the insoluble humin cake, and the solution is spray dried to yield the water-soluble hydrolyzed protein in the . 1 .
form of a powder having a moisture content of about 4% or less.
Manufacturers of hydrolyzed proteins have experienced sev-;'eral troublesome problems with their products in the past. One ~-120 of these has been that the products contain fairly considerable amounts of dust which makes handling difficult in blending, screening, and in use. The dust creates very annoying housekeep-ing problems as well as contributing to loss of product. Another problem area is the highly hygroscopic nature of the hydrolyzed proteins, which tend to agglomerate severely in the presence of humidity, making its handling still more difficult. The prior art has attempted to solve the dust and hygroscopicity problems by coating the products with an edible oil such as cottonseed oil or ,other vegetable oil or with a polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoester.
- 30 The product treated as set forth in the preceding paragraph is satisfactory so ~ar as dustiness is concerned. ~owever, the presence of the anti-dusting additive causes the hydrolyzed pro - tein to lose its free-flowing characteristic even without the presence of humidity, and does not provide a fully satisfactory

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solution to alleviating the problem of hygroscopicity.
In accordance with this invention, it has been found that the presence of a small amount of silica in a hydrolyzed protein containing an oil causes the product to be not only dust-free, but free-flowing, and more resistant to effects of moisture or`huTnidity than does oil alone. Stated more precisely, the inventioll is a dry hydrolyzed protein containing about 0.5 to 20% by weight of anti-dusting oil and as an anti-caking agent about 2 to 5% by weight of a finely divided silica or silicate based on the weight of the hydrolyzed protein.
The preferred anti-caking agent is micronized silicon dioxide (SiO2). Other silicates which have anti-caking characteristics can also be employed such, e.g., sodium or potassium silicate or sodium silico aluminate-treated silica ~hydrophobized). The fact that the silicate has desiccant characteristics, while no doubt related to the useful effect observed herein, -is not the entire explanation. As will be shown hereinafter, the hydroscop-icity of the silica-treated "oiled" hydrolyzed protein need not be significant-ly altered in order for the improved flow properties to be observed.
Other anti-caking (free-flow) agents or combination of such agents generally known to the art, such as magnesium carbonate, sodium and calcium phosphates, and aluminum stearate, are also useful in imparting the above properties to hydrolyzed protein.
The use of silica can improve the flowability of any hydrolyzed protein. However, it has been noted that when there is no anti-dusting oil present the silica tends to separate from the protein, rising to the surface of a container under the influence of even relatively slight vibration. Thus, for example, separation would take place during shipment of the treated ma-terial. In fact, even in sitting in a laboratory or factory, the vibration ~, e.xperienced from processing or laboratory equipment being operated nearby ; can cause separation to take place. The presence of as little as about 0.5% ;

of the anti-dusting oil prevents this separation from taking place.
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Generally, a commercial powdered hydrolyzed protein will contain up to about 20%, and preferably up to about 2~, by weigh~ -of the anti-dusting agent. Thè anti-dusting agent can be any of those known to the prior art. A preferred anti-dusting ~il is a polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoester of a 12 to 18 carbon atom fatty acid, e.g., polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monolaurate, polyoxy-ethylene (20) sorbitan monopalmitate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan (20) monostearate or polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate as taught in U.S. patent 3,656,963. Vegetable oils such as coconut oil and . .:
10 corn oil are also widely used.

The invention is exemplified by the following examples.

Example 1 A solution containing about 35% by weight of a hydrolyzed ; vegetable protein (HVP) and 15% NaCl (Luxor EB-2 by Hercules In-": ~
corporated) was spray dried to yield a dry, brown, free-flowing product. This product was sieved through a 60-mesh screen and :.. ~ ., .
the material passing through the screen was stored in dry bottles in the presence of gilica gel air dryers.
l Specimens of the dried ~P were treated with about 2% of - 20 their weight of sodium silicoaluminate and with SiO2, respec-tively. A 25-gram sample of each was stored on a laboratory shelf in a 4-ounce wide mouth plastic jar covered with lens paper. After one week of agingj the silica-treated specimens showed evidence of separation of the silica, but they were substantially more free flowing than the untreated specimen. The silica-treated specimen was more free flowing than that treated with sodium silicoalumi-nate. Product is still dusty.
Example 2 :: ' ; Specimens of the spray-dried HVP from Example 1 were treated . 30 with 1 and 2% coconut oil stabilized with 0.1% butylated hydroxy-.~................... .
anisole. These materials, almost immediately, became sticky and ~` lumpy, and lost a large part of their free-flowing character.
-l To each of these specimens was added 2% SiO2 and the prod--- uct was mixed to distribute the SiO2 throughout the HVP. The re-m~r~ _ 4 _ ,: ,.
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sulting mixture was extremely free-flowing, non-sticky and prac-; tically dust-free. The product with 2% oil was more dust-free than with the 1~ Oilr and may be said to have been dust-free.
Example 3 Parallel experiments were conducted wherein 0, 2, 5, 7 and ~; 10% of water was added to untreated ~P containing only 2~ coconut oil and treated HVP containing 2% coconut oil as well as 2% SiO2.
The untreated ~P became quite lumpy and its free-flowing charac-.. . .
~`~ teristic was substantially impaired at the 2% water level, very 10 sticky and scarcely flowable at 5%, and at 10% it was a non-flowing mud. By contrast, the treated HVP remained free-flowing through-.
out the entire range of water addition, although it was beginning to exhibit stickiness and lumping at about 7~ water.
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Example 4 To the HVP specimen containing 2% coconut oil was added 0, 2, 5 and 10% of SiO2. These were subjected to open-cup testing ~ as described in Example 1. No evidence of separation of S~ica from i ~P was noticeable after several weeks. Moisture content of the , specimens was determined at one-week intervals and is re~orded in . j .
~;- 20 the following table: -i. ' .
% Sio2 0 Week 1 Week2 Weeks 3 Weeks 0 1.3 ~.4 4.% 4.4 2 1.3 ~.35 4.2 4.2 1.3 4.35 4.6 3.4 1.3 4.1 4~7 3.6 ,, - . .
The fLow characteristics are summarized as follows:
1. In all cases the free-flowing properties, as observed by increased degree of lumpiness, diminished with time of expo-. ~ . .
30 sure, i.e., 0-week > l-week > 2-weeks> 3-weeks.

2. At 0-week the free-flow properties of the product as a function of % SiO2 were 10~ 5> 2 0% sio2.

~ 3. At 1 to 3 weeks the free-flow properties were .,,., . : .
` 5, 10> 2~,0% SiO2.
4. Moisture content does not appear to be affected by the presence of the silica, i.e., the untreated HVP appears to have about the same moisture content as that treated with silica.
5 _ ,., The presence of thé an-t~ us~ing agent and the silica gel does not harm the organoleptic quality of the HVP. In fact, at the levels specified herein, the presence of the additives was not . . .
--~ detectable by a panel of experienced professional flavorists.;, . .

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Claims (4)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A dry hydrolyzed protein containing about 0.5 to 20% by weight of anti-dusting oil and as an anti-caking agent about 2 to 5% by weight of a finely divided silica or silicate based on the weight of the hydro-lyzed protein.

2. A composition according to claim 1 wherein the anti-caking agent is silica gel.

3. A composition according to claim 2 wherein the hydrolyzed protein is hydrolyzed vegetable protein.

4. A dry hydrolyzed vegetable protein containing about 0.5 to 2%
by weight of coconut oil and about 2 to 5% of finely divided silica gel based on the weight of the hydrolyzed vegetable protein.