JP4972048B2 - Food shelf life improving agent and shelf life improving method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a food shelf life improving agent and a shelf life improving method.

  Conventionally, in the food field, various measures have been taken for the purpose of improving the preservability of food. Among them, frozen storage and storage by adding a pH adjuster are known as typical methods and are used in various foods. However, in frozen storage, so-called freezing and denaturation, in which the physical properties of food change after thawing, cannot be avoided. Moreover, in the preservation | save by addition of a pH adjuster, there existed a problem that food will exhibit an unnatural acidity when pH was lowered | hung to such an extent that sufficient preservability was ensured. Furthermore, when used for vegetables such as raw vegetables, warm vegetables, and salads, there is a problem that the color tone changes.

  Therefore, recently, there is a demand for a preparation and a method having both quality preservation effects such as freezing denaturation inhibiting effect, sourness inhibiting effect, and discoloration inhibiting effect in addition to the storage stability improving effect. Against this background, preparations and methods having both a preservability improving effect and a quality retention effect have been proposed.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a low acidity freshness maintaining agent in which the pH of an aqueous solution containing an organic acid, an organic acid salt, and a food additive capable of generating carbonate ions in the aqueous solution is adjusted to 5.0 to 5.7. Has been proposed. Although such a freshness-preserving agent is suppressed in sourness, bubbles are likely to be generated due to the generation of carbon dioxide in an aqueous solution, and when bubbles adhere to the target food surface, the contact between the bubbles and the drug is insufficient Therefore, the desired freshness maintaining effect may not be obtained.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-14365

  An object of the present invention is to provide a shelf life improving agent for foods and a shelf life improving method that does not impart unnecessary acidity to foods and further has an effect of suppressing discoloration of vegetables.

  The present inventors use trehalose, adipic acid, a pH adjuster (excluding carbonates) and calcium salts in combination with foods to suppress freezing and denaturation and to prevent acidity. The inventors discovered that discoloration was suppressed and completed the present invention.

  That is, the present invention relates to a food shelf life improving agent comprising trehalose, adipic acid, a pH adjuster (excluding carbonate) and a calcium salt. The present invention also provides a method for improving the shelf life of foods, which comprises adding trehalose, adipic acid, a pH adjuster (excluding carbonates) and calcium salts to foods.

  The food shelf life improving agent of the present invention exhibits a sufficient shelf life improving action, and has an effect of suppressing discoloration of vegetables without imparting an unnecessary sour taste to the food. Furthermore, the food shelf life enhancer of the present invention has the effect of being difficult to cake and easy to store and handle.

  The trehalose used in the shelf life improving agent of the present invention may be a commercially available trehalose, and any of α, α-trehalose, α, β-trehalose and β, β-trehalose can be used. Also good. Examples of commercially available trehalose include Treha (registered trademark) (Hayashibara Bioscience Institute).

  What is necessary is just to use what is marketed as a food additive for the adipic acid used for the shelf life improving agent of this invention. Moreover, as long as it does not contradict the objective of this invention, you may mix | blend the formulation for food addition, etc. which adipic acid was mix | blended.

  The ratio of adipic acid in the shelf life improving agent of the present invention is preferably 0.1 to 2 parts by weight, more preferably 0.2 to 1.8 parts by weight, with respect to 1 part by weight of trehalose. More preferably, it is 5-1.5 parts by weight.

  The shelf life improver of the present invention contains a pH adjuster in addition to the trehalose and adipic acid. As the pH adjuster, it has been confirmed that it can be used as a food additive, and any one may be used as long as it is not a carbonate. Preferred pH adjusters include sodium salts and potassium salts of organic acids such as acetic acid, citric acid, fumaric acid, DL-malic acid and succinic acid. Among these, sodium acetate and trisodium citrate are particularly preferable in terms of improving shelf life and little influence on the taste of food, and the combination of both is more preferable.

  Sodium carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, potassium carbonate and the like are known as carbonates having a pH adjusting action, but these carbonates are not included in the pH adjuster referred to in the present invention.

  The ratio of the pH adjuster in the shelf life improving agent of the present invention is preferably 0.1 to 10 parts by weight, more preferably 1 to 8 parts by weight, and more preferably 2 to 6 parts by weight based on 1 part by weight of trehalose. More preferred is a part.

  A shelf life improver comprising two kinds of sodium acetate and trisodium citrate as a pH adjuster is particularly preferred. In this case, the ratio of sodium acetate is 0.08 to 8 parts by weight, preferably 0. It is 8 to 6.5 parts by weight, more preferably 1.5 to 5 parts by weight, and the ratio of trisodium citrate is 0.02 to 2 parts by weight, preferably 0.2 to 1. 5 parts by weight, more preferably 0.5 to 1 part by weight.

  The shelf life improving agent of the present invention further contains a calcium salt. Any calcium salt may be used as long as it is commercially available for food addition, and examples include calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium lactate, calcined calcium, and uncalcined calcium. Of these, calcium carbonate is preferred because it has little influence on the taste of food and is excellent in anti-caking action. Calcium carbonate does not have a pH adjusting action and is distinguished from carbonates removed from the pH adjusting agent.

  The proportion of the calcium salt in the shelf life improving agent of the present invention is preferably 0.05 to 1 part by weight, more preferably 0.07 to 0.5 part by weight, based on 1 part by weight of trehalose, 0 More preferably, the amount is from 1 to 0.3 parts by weight.

  No special operation is necessary for the preparation of the shelf life improving agent of the present invention, and the above components may be mixed. The shelf-life improving agent of the present invention further contains components such as amino acids, fatty acids, fatty acid esters, basic proteins / peptides, thiamine lauryl sulfate, licorice oily extract and the like as long as they do not affect the taste and flavor of food. May be. Examples of amino acids include glycine and alanine. Examples of the fatty acid include fatty acids having 6 to 18 carbon atoms such as caproic acid, caprylic acid, capric acid, lauric acid, myristic acid and stearic acid. Examples of fatty acid esters include glycerin fatty acid esters, polyglycerin fatty acid esters, sucrose fatty acid esters, and sorbitan fatty acid esters. Examples of basic proteins and peptides include protamine, lysozyme, ε-polylysine, chitosan, pectin degradation products, nisin and the like. Two or more of these components may be used.

  The shelf life improving agent of the present invention may be mixed with an excipient such as dextrin, or may be formed into granules or tablets together with these excipients. The shelf life improver of the present invention may be used after being dissolved in a suitable solvent or food seasoning liquid at the time of use, or may be directly mixed with food materials. As a preferable solvent when the shelf life improver is used by dissolving it in a solvent, water and a mixed solution of water and ethanol are exemplified. Moreover, you may mix and use with the substance for seasoning the foodstuff made into object as a seasoning. The shelf life improving agent of the present invention includes those provided as a solution obtained by dissolving the above-described components in a suitable solvent or seasoning liquid.

  By containing the shelf life improving agent of the present invention in food, the shelf life of the food is improved while suppressing acidity. In addition, the food containing the shelf life improving agent of the present invention is less prone to protein denaturation during frozen storage and can maintain its original form and taste even after thawing. Furthermore, when the shelf life improving agent of the present invention is used for raw vegetables, boiled vegetables, cut vegetables, salads, etc., it becomes possible to maintain the original color tone of the vegetables.

  The present invention also provides a method for improving the shelf life of a food, which comprises adding the shelf life improving agent of the present invention to the food. As a mode of incorporating the shelf life improver of the present invention into a food, a shelf life improver provided as a solution prepared by dissolving the shelf life improver in a suitable solvent, which is mixed with raw materials and mixed together, is added to the food. Application, spraying, or immersing food in the solution.

  Further, the shelf life improver may be applied together with the seasoning of the food by dissolving the shelf life improver in a seasoning liquid containing a seasoning such as a nucleic acid liquid seasoning or a soy sauce based liquid seasoning. For example, in the case of food manufactured by mixing vegetables and seasoning liquid such as seasonings and salads, the shelf life improver may be dissolved in the seasoning liquid to be used, and then mixed with vegetables.

  When the shelf life improving agent of the present invention is used by dissolving in a seasoning liquid, the liquidity is adjusted to pH 5.8 to 7.5, preferably pH 5.85 to 6.5 in consideration of the influence on the taste quality of food. It is preferable to prepare. The method of seasoning the food with the seasoning liquid is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately selected by the user according to the type and purpose of the food.

  When the shelf life improver of the present invention is dissolved in a solvent and used in an embodiment in which food is immersed therein, trehalose is 0.05 to 3% by weight and adipic acid is 0.005 to 6 in the shelf life enhancer solution at the time of use. It is preferable to add so that the weight%, the pH adjusting agent is 0.005 to 30% by weight, and the calcium salt is 0.005 to 1% by weight, trehalose is 0.1 to 2% by weight, and adipic acid is 0.8%. It is more preferable to add 02 to 3.6% by weight, 0.1 to 16% by weight of pH adjuster, and 0.03 to 0.5% by weight of calcium salt, and trehalose is 0.2 to 1%. It is more preferable to add so that the weight percent is 0.1 to 1.5 weight percent, adipic acid is 0.4 to 6 weight percent, and the calcium salt is 0.01 to 0.3 weight percent. .

  When the amount of trehalose in the shelf life improver at the time of use is less than 0.05% by weight, the effect of inhibiting freezing denaturation tends to be reduced, and adipic acid is less than 0.005% by weight or the ratio of the pH adjuster is 0.00. When the amount is less than 005% by weight, a sufficient shelf life improvement effect tends not to be obtained, and when the proportion of the calcium salt is less than 0.005% by weight, the discoloration suppressing effect of vegetables tends to be lowered. Moreover, when trehalose exceeds 3% by weight, the sweetness of the food tends to be too strong, and when adipic acid exceeds 6% by weight or when the pH adjuster exceeds 30% by weight, the flavor of the food is adversely affected. When the calcium salt exceeds 1% by weight, there is a tendency that undissolved matter occurs depending on the type of the solvent.

The method of the present invention is not limited to the above-described aspect of adding the food prepared previously as the “lifetime improver” to the food. The mode applied to is also included.
In this embodiment, the trehalose ratio is 0.03 to 5 wt%, the adipic acid ratio is 0.003 to 10 wt%, the pH adjuster ratio is 0.003 to 50 wt%, calcium, based on the total amount of food. The salt is preferably added so as to be 0.003 to 2% by weight, the proportion of trehalose is 0.1 to 4% by weight, the proportion of adipic acid is 0.02 to 7.2% by weight, More preferably, the proportion is 0.1 to 32% by weight and the calcium salt is 0.01 to 1.5% by weight, the proportion of trehalose is 0.5 to 3% by weight and the proportion of adipic acid is It is more preferable to add 0.25 to 4.5% by weight, a pH adjuster ratio of 1 to 18% by weight, and a calcium salt of 0.05 to 1% by weight.

  When the amount of trehalose in the food is less than 0.03% by weight, the effect of inhibiting freezing denaturation tends to be reduced, and the proportion of adipic acid is less than 0.003% by weight or the proportion of the pH adjuster is 0.003% by weight. If the ratio is less than 0.003% by weight, the effect of suppressing discoloration of vegetables tends to be reduced. In addition, when the proportion of trehalose exceeds 5% by weight, the sweetness of the food tends to be too strong, and when the proportion of adipic acid exceeds 10% by weight or the proportion of the pH adjuster exceeds 50% by weight. There is a tendency to adversely affect the flavor of food, and when the proportion of calcium salt exceeds 2% by weight, undissolved residue may be produced depending on the type of solvent.

  The food for which the shelf life improving agent of the present invention can be used is not particularly limited, and can be applied to both non-heated foods and foods including a heating process. , Pickles such as pickles, kamaboko, chikuwa, hanpen, fish sausages, salted fish products, croquettes, tonkatsu, fried chicken, fried fish, fried products such as fried chicken, hamburger, meat dumplings, dumplings, shumai, sausages, etc. It can be used for a wide variety of processed meat products such as Japanese beef, castella, sponge cake, Japanese confectionery such as buns, fruit juice and jam.

The shelf-life improving agent of the present invention has high antibacterial activity against general bacteria and coliform bacteria and suppresses freezing and denaturation, so that it is cooked without heating non-heated and frozen foods such as processed fish eggs and salted fish. Suitable for food. Moreover, since the shelf life improving agent of the present invention has an effect of suppressing discoloration of vegetables, it exhibits particularly excellent effects on foods using vegetables, such as raw vegetables, cut vegetables, salads, boiled vegetables, and seasonings.
The present invention will be further described below with reference to examples and comparative examples.

Example 1 and Comparative Example 1
Preservation test of Komatsuna white salad Method: Komatsuna white salad was prepared using about 300 g of Komatsuna, about 420 g of thick fried tofu, about 35 g of thin soy sauce, about 35 g of mirin, and about 0.5 g of salt.
1.92 g of the chemicals shown in Table 1 was added to 192 g of the prepared Komatsuna white mixed (equivalent to 1%), mixed well, and then sealed in 15 g sterilized plastic bags for bacterial testing. Samples were stored in a 10 ° C. incubator, sampled over time, and the number of general bacteria and coliform bacteria was counted.
In addition, a storage test was carried out in the same manner as described above except that Komatsuna white mixed with no drug added was used as a control.
Result: The growth of general bacteria and coliforms was suppressed in Komatsuna Shirae with the shelf life improver of the present invention. The results are shown in Table 2 and Table 3.

General bacteria (use medium: standard agar medium)

Coliform group (Medium used: Dezoxycholate medium)

Example 2 and Comparative Example 2
Preservation test of potato salad Method: Potato salad using about 900g of potato, about 60g of ham, about 360g of cucumber, about 120g of onion, about 0.5g of salt, about 30g of sugar, about 90g of mayonnaise, about 30g of dressing. Manufactured.
8 g of the drug shown in Table 1 was added to 796 g of the potato salad produced (equivalent to about 1%) and mixed well, then 10 g each was placed in a sterilized plastic bag for bacterial testing and sealed to obtain a sample. Samples were stored in a 20 ° C. incubator, sampled over time, and the numbers of general bacteria and coliform bacteria were counted.
Moreover, the preservation | save test was implemented like the above except having used the potato salad which does not add a chemical | medical agent as a control | contrast.

Results: In the potato salad to which the shelf life improving agent of the present invention was added, the growth of general bacteria and coliforms was suppressed. The results are shown in Table 4 and Table 5.

General bacteria (use medium: standard agar medium)

Coliform group (Medium used: Dezoxycholate medium)

Example 3 and Comparative Example 3
Preservation of cut vegetables and discoloration inhibition test Method: An immersion liquid was prepared by dissolving 40 g of the drug shown in Table 1 in 2000 g of deionized water. 200 g of lettuce cut to about 5 cm × about 5 cm was soaked in the obtained soaking solution for 60 minutes, then taken out from the soaking solution and sealed in a sterilized plastic bag for sterilization of 10 g. Moreover, the sample was preserve | saved in a 10 degreeC thermostat, it sampled with time, and the number of bacteria of general bacteria and coliform group was measured. In addition, the change in color tone with time was also visually observed. As a control, the test group using deionized water to which no drug was added was similarly subjected to a discoloration suppression test.

Result: The lettuce treated with the immersion liquid to which the shelf life improving agent of the present invention was added showed no change in color tone, but the lettuce immersed in deionized water had its cut surface changed to brown after 24 hours. . The observation results are shown in Table 6. In addition, lettuce soaked in the shelf life improving agent of the present invention inhibited the growth of general bacteria and coliforms. The results are shown in Table 7 and Table 8.

General bacteria (use medium: standard agar medium)

Coliform group (Medium used: Dezoxycholate medium)

Example 4 and Comparative Example 4
Test for inhibiting discoloration of boiled vegetables Method: 20 g of the drug shown in Table 1 was dissolved in 2000 g of deionized water to prepare a drug aqueous solution. After putting 1500 ml of the resulting aqueous pharmaceutical solution in a pan and boiling and boiling, about 300 g of broccoli was added, boiled for 3 minutes, drained, and color tone by a color difference meter (Color Meter ZE2000: Nippon Denshoku Industries Co., Ltd.). And the change in color tone over time was visually observed. In addition, as a control, the discoloration suppression test was conducted in the same manner for the comparative example.

Result: Although the broccoli processed with the chemical | medical-agent aqueous solution to which the shelf life improving agent of this invention was added maintained the color tone of green, the broccoli processed by the comparative example 4 was discolored yellow. Table 10 shows the measurement results with a color difference meter immediately after boiling, and Table 11 shows the observation results with appearance.

Ｌ値：明度
ａ値：緑味（−の数値が大きいほど緑味が強い）
ｂ値：黄味（＋の数値が大きいほど黄味が強い）
ＹＩ値：黄色度

L value: Lightness a value: Green (The greater the value of-, the stronger the green)
b value: yellowishness (larger value of + means stronger yellowness)
YI value: Yellowness

Examples 5-8 and Comparative Examples 5-6
Caking test Method: The preparations shown in Table 12 were prepared, each sealed in a 200 ml glass bottle with 90 g, and stored in a thermostat at 25 ° C, 30 ° C and 45 ° C for 1 month. During storage, sampling was performed after 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks, and the presence or absence of caking was confirmed based on the following evaluation criteria.

(Evaluation criteria)
−: When the glass bottle is tilted, it collapses (substantially the same as immediately after preparation of the preparation).
+: When a glass bottle is tapped with a finger, it collapses.
++: When a glass bottle is struck with a palm, it collapses.
+++: When a glass bottle is hit with a wooden mallet, it collapses.

Result: The shelf life improver of the present invention did not cause caking after 4 weeks at a storage temperature of 25 ° C., whereas only caking that would collapse when the glass bottle was struck with a finger at any storage temperature was generated. In the preparation of the comparative example, when two weeks passed, strong caking occurred to such an extent that it would not collapse unless the glass bottle was beaten with a wooden mallet. The test results at 25 ° C. are shown in Table 13, the test results at 30 ° C. are shown in Table 14, and the test results at 45 ° C. are shown in Table 15.

(Storage temperature: 25 ° C)

(Storage temperature: 30 ° C)

(Storage temperature: 45 ° C)

Example 9
Sensory test of komatsuna gourd Method: About 100 g of frozen komatsuna was thawed at room temperature, and about 10 g of seasoning liquid and about 2 g of white sesame were added to the dried komatsuna to prepare komatsuna soup. As the seasoning liquid, 0.784 g (equivalent to 0.7%) of the formulation shown in Table 16 was used.

The strength and weakness of the sourness and acid odor of the produced komatsuna seaweed were evaluated by 14 panelists as compared with the case where a control preparation which is a general shelf-life improving agent used conventionally was added. Evaluation was performed according to the following criteria.

result:
The results are shown in Table 17. As for the komatsuna oilseed added with the shelf life improving agent of the present invention, 12 out of 14 people judged that the acidity was weak in acidity, and 11 out of 14 people judged that the acid smell was weak in acid odor. That is, it can be seen that the shelf life improving agent of the present invention has little influence on the taste quality of food.

Claims (5)

Trehalose and 0.1-2 parts by weight of adipic acid, 0.08-8 parts by weight of sodium acetate, 0.02-2 parts by weight of trisodium citrate and 0.05-1 A shelf-life improver for foods containing calcium carbonate in parts by weight . Trehalose and 0.1-2 parts by weight of adipic acid, 0.08-8 parts by weight of sodium acetate, 0.02-2 parts by weight of trisodium citrate and 0.05-1 A method for improving the shelf life of a food, characterized in that the food contains calcium carbonate in a weight part . Trehalose and 0.1-2 parts by weight of adipic acid, 0.08-8 parts by weight of sodium acetate, 0.02-2 parts by weight of trisodium citrate and 0.05-1 The method according to claim 2 , wherein parts by weight of calcium carbonate are dissolved in a liquid seasoning to obtain a liquid composition having a pH of 5.8 to 7.5 and then contained in a food. 0 . 05-3 wt% trehalose, 0 . 005-6% by weight of adipic acid, 0 . 004-24% by weight sodium acetate, 0 . 001-6 wt% of trisodium citrate and 0. 4. A method according to claim 2 or 3 , characterized in that a liquid containing 005 to 1% by weight of calcium carbonate is added to, sprayed on or applied to the food , or immersed in the liquid. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4 , wherein the food is a salad, a salad, a boiled vegetable or a raw vegetable.