JP7679166B2 - Milk-derived composition and method for producing same - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a milk-derived composition that has a reduced whey odor, which is perceived as an unpleasant odor, and a method for producing the same.

Milk-derived compositions such as whey powder are produced mainly from whey produced as a by-product during the production of natural cheese, and are widely used as raw materials for beverages, confectionery, bread, protein-enriched foods, etc. The flavor of milk-derived compositions such as whey powder is derived from the flavor of whey, which is affected by the type of cheese produced, and some whey has an undesirable flavor. Undesirable flavors include unpleasant odors such as the odor of spoiled fat, and such undesirable whey odors have been an obstacle to the widespread use of milk-derived compositions such as whey powder as dairy products.
In response to this, several inventions have been disclosed so far regarding methods for producing whey having a good flavor.
For example, Patent Document 1 aims to obtain flavorful drinking milk while avoiding microbial contamination caused by using an adsorption resin after heat sterilization, and discloses a method for solving this problem in which raw milk containing whey is brought into contact with an adsorption resin and the resulting milk, including deodorized milk, is heat sterilized by a direct heating method.
Patent Document 2 discloses a method for reducing the dissolved oxygen concentration in a liquid food containing whey by vacuum deaeration while simultaneously controlling the amount of aroma components dissipated.

Patent No. 4789977 Patent No. 5327919

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a novel milk-derived composition such as whey powder with reduced whey odor, and to provide a milk-derived composition such as whey powder with an unprecedentedly good flavor obtained by the method.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes the following configurations.
(1) Whey powder characterized by having butanoic acid of 240 ppb or less, hexanoic acid of 3000 ppb or less, octanoic acid of 3000 ppb or less, and 2-nonanone of 200 ppb or less.
(2) A method for producing whey powder, which comprises subjecting a whey solution to diafiltration and then removing water to obtain whey powder.
(3) The method for producing whey powder according to (2), characterized in that the diafiltration step uses a nanofiltration membrane.
(4) The method for producing whey powder according to (2) or (3), wherein the diafiltration is repeated until the whey powder contains butanoic acid at or below 240 ppb, hexanoic acid at or below 3000 ppb, octanoic acid at or below 3000 ppb, and 2-nonanone at or below 200 ppb.
(5) A method for producing whey powder according to any one of (2) to (4), which comprises repeating diafiltration three times.

The manufacturing method of the present invention can reduce the whey odor of the whey solution, making it possible to produce milk-derived compositions such as whey powder that have a reduced whey odor and a good flavor.

FIG. 1 shows the effect of the number of DF cycles on the aroma components of whey.

The whey powder of the present invention will be described in detail below.
(Whey powder)
The whey powder of the present invention means "whey powder" as defined in the Ministerial Ordinance on Milk, etc., that is, whey obtained by fermenting milk with lactic acid bacteria or adding enzymes or acids to milk, and then removing almost all of the water from the whey, which is then powdered. The whey powder of the present invention has the same components as general whey powder, with protein of about 5.0-20.0%, lipid of about 0.01-5.0%, carbohydrate of about 60-80%, and minerals of about 0.01-10.0%.

The whey powder of the present invention is particularly characterized by having reduced fatty acids and ketones.
That is, the present inventors have conducted extensive research to obtain whey powder with reduced whey odor and good flavor, and have found that the desired whey powder with excellent flavor can be obtained by producing whey powder after removing the odor of fatty acids and ketones from a whey solution. This is the first new finding made by the present inventors, and the whey powder of the present invention is based on this finding.

Specifically, the substances that cause the unpleasant whey odor are fatty acids and ketones. Fatty acids include butanoic acid (carbon number 4), which is also described as having an unpleasant sour odor similar to spoiled butter, hexanoic acid (carbon number 6), which is also described as having a spoiled fatty odor, and octanoic acid (carbon number 8), which is also described as having a sour fatty odor. Ketones include 2-nonanone, which is described as having a moldy or cooked odor. The whey powder of the present invention has reduced amounts of each of these substances that cause the unpleasant whey odor.

The whey powder of the present invention has its butanoic acid content adjusted to 240 ppb or less, its hexanoic acid content adjusted to 3000 ppb or less, its octanoic acid content adjusted to 3000 ppb or less, and its 2-nonanone content adjusted to 200 ppb or less.
This makes it possible to provide whey powder with a reduced whey odor and good flavor.

(Method of producing whey powder)
(raw whey solution)
The raw whey solution used in the production of the whey powder of the present invention can be any whey solution produced during the production of natural cheese. In particular, whey solutions produced during the production of Camembert cheese, blue cheese, etc., which are produced using mold, tend to contain a large amount of aroma components such as fatty acids and ketones, and therefore the effects of the present invention can be easily obtained.

The method for producing whey powder of the present invention is characterized in that the whey solution used as the raw material is subjected to diafiltration treatment.
The present inventors have discovered that the fatty acids and ketones that cause the unpleasant whey odor can be reduced by subjecting a whey solution to diafiltration. This is the second new discovery made by the present inventors, and the method for producing whey powder of the present invention is based on this new discovery.

In the method for producing whey powder of the present invention, the apparatus, membrane and treatment conditions used for reducing whey odor are as follows.
(Apparatus and Processing Conditions)
The equipment used may be any membrane processing equipment capable of general concentration and diafiltration. Diafiltration (DF) as used herein refers to an operation in which, when the raw whey solution is passed through a membrane device to perform a concentration operation, a solvent is supplied in an amount equal to the amount of the permeate discharged or in an amount determined by the concentration rate of the concentrate to a tank that stores the raw whey solution, or in any other process in the membrane processing equipment. The solvent as used herein is not limited, but refers to a liquid that does not contain the components to be removed from the raw whey solution, and generally includes tap water, distilled water, ion-exchanged water, ultrapure water, etc.
There are no limitations on the treatment conditions of diafiltration. That is, the flow rate of the solvent is not fixed, and it may be a method of continuously supplying the solvent at the same flow rate as or different from the discharge flow rate of the permeate simultaneously with the discharge of the permeate, or a method of previously supplying a predetermined amount of the solvent to a tank or the like for storing the raw whey solution. In addition, the amount of the permeate or the amount of the solvent added is not fixed, and may be controlled according to the required concentration of aroma components.
(film)
The membrane to be used may be any membrane required for the general concentration of whey powder production, i.e., microfiltration membrane (MF membrane), ultrafiltration membrane (UF membrane), nanofiltration membrane (NF membrane), etc. are used. The aroma components can be controlled by using a membrane with a pore size or molecular weight cutoff that does not block various aroma components. However, if the pore size or molecular weight cutoff is large, useful components contained in whey (protein, lactose, etc.) are removed, so it is preferable to use a membrane with a molecular weight cutoff of 150 to 1000 Da, more preferably 150 to 300 Da. There are also no limitations on the form (module) of the membrane, and for example, a spiral membrane, flat membrane, hollow fiber membrane, etc. can be used.

(Others, drying, storage, etc.)
For other processes, such as the heat sterilization process, the concentration process using equipment other than a membrane device, and the spray drying process, production equipment generally used for whey powder production may be used.

(Method of measuring aroma components)
The aroma components of the samples were measured using the following method. The aroma components were extracted from various samples using the Stir-Bar-Solid-Extraction (SBSE) method. This method uses an aroma collection device (Twister: Agilent Technologies) with a stir bar installed inside the resin that adsorbs the aroma components. By adding the Twister to the sample solution and stirring it with the stirrer, the aroma in the sample can be efficiently adsorbed into the resin.

4.0 g of sample was weighed into a vial, and a standard substance (5 ppm 5-methyl, 2-hexanone solution) was added to adjust the concentration of the standard substance in the sample to 25 ppb. A Twister was immersed in the sample, and the sample temperature was adjusted to 40°C using a heat stirrer and stirred for 1 hour. After aroma capture, the Twister was rinsed with ultrapure water, wiped off with a Kimwipe, and subjected to gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The measurement conditions are as follows:
・Equipment used: 7890B GC/5977B MSD system (Agilent Technoligies)
MPS2XL Autosampler (Gerstel)
Column information: DB-WAX 30m x 0.25mm id x 0.25μm (J&W)
Analysis time: 60.5 min.
・Oven temperature rise conditions: 40℃(3min)-4℃/min-250℃(5min)
Column flow rate: 1.86 ml/min
Pressure: 137.4kPa
・Average linear velocity: 35.97 cm/sec
Mode: Constant pressure TDU temperature rise conditions: 40℃(0.5min)-60℃/min-250℃(20min)
・CIS heating conditions: 10℃(0.5min)-12℃/sec-250℃(10min)
・Mass spectrum acquisition range (29-300 m/z)
From the chromatograms obtained under the above conditions, the various aroma components were identified and their peak areas were calculated using analytical software MSD Chemistry and Aroma Office (Agilent Technologies).

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Cheese whey (hereinafter, whey) discharged during Camembert cheese production was filtered through filter paper (Millpap: Asaka Filter Paper Co., Ltd.) and cooled to below 20° C. The cooled whey was subjected to batch concentration and diafiltration under the following conditions.
NF membrane: DK1812TBF (SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions), molecular weight cutoff 300 or less,
Membrane area ^0.74m2
Module: Spiral Flow rate: Approx. 140 L/min
Inlet pressure: 1.2MPa
Outlet pressure: 1.0MPa
Sample temperature: 15℃ or less Supply liquid amount: 10kg
The transmembrane pressure was adjusted by a flow control valve installed at the membrane outlet. Concentration was performed under the above conditions, and the concentration using the NF membrane was terminated when the amount of the permeate obtained was half the amount of the feed sample. The obtained 2x concentrated whey was a batch concentrate and was not subjected to diafiltration, so it was used as the sample before DF treatment (hereinafter, DF0 whey).
Next, the same amount of ion-exchanged water was added to the DF0 whey, and diafiltration was continued. When the amount of the permeate discharged became the same as the amount of the added ion-exchanged water, diafiltration was terminated, and a concentrate was collected (hereinafter, DF1 whey). Similarly, the same amount of ion-exchanged water was added to the obtained DF1 whey, and diafiltration was terminated when the amount of the permeate discharged became the same as the amount of the added ion-exchanged water, and a concentrate was collected (DF2 whey). These operations were repeated to prepare each of the DF5 wheys.

The DF0 to DF5 wheys obtained in the examples were subjected to aroma component analysis. Table 1 and Figure 1 show the peak area results of various aroma components according to the number of diafiltrations (hereinafter referred to as DF number). Table 1 shows the values obtained by dividing the peak area of various aroma components by the peak area of a standard substance (25 ppb of 5-methyl, 2-hexanone). Figure 1 also shows the ratio of the peak area of various aroma components in DF1 whey to DF5 whey when the peak area of various aroma components in DF0 whey is set to 1.
As the number of DF cycles increased, butanoic acid, hexanoic acid, octanoic acid, and 2-nonanone were each reduced. Although the reduction rate of each aroma component varied with the number of DF cycles, all aroma components were reduced to 20% or less when filtrated up to DF3. Therefore, it was found that repeating diafiltration three or more times is one indicator for reducing the unpleasant whey odor.

A sensory evaluation of flavor was conducted on the DF0 to DF5 whey obtained in the examples. A sensory panel of five people was asked to drink each of the DF0 to DF5 whey obtained in the examples, and the whey-specific odor and flavor (hereafter referred to as whey odor) was evaluated on a four-point scale from 0 to 3. When compared to DF0 whey, 0 was assigned to cases where the whey odor was "unchanged," 1 was assigned to cases where it was "slightly undetectable," 2 was assigned to cases where it was "hardly detectable," and 3 was assigned to cases where it was "not detected at all."

Table 2 shows the evaluation score (average value) of whey odor according to the number of DF runs. There was a tendency for whey odor to decrease with increasing number of DF runs. This result suggests that diafiltration reduces the aroma components that cause whey odor, and that the amount of reduction increases with increasing permeation flow rate. At DF3 or higher, the whey odor was perceived as "slightly undetectable" or "almost undetectable," so after three diafiltration runs, the concentration of aroma components perceived as whey odor fell below the threshold.

Considering the results shown in Tables 1 and 2 together, it can be said that by performing diafiltration three times on the whey solution, the concentrations of butanoic acid, hexanoic acid, octanoic acid, and 2-nonanone, which are the substances that cause whey odor, were reduced to below the threshold for aroma components.
In general, the threshold concentrations of these aroma components are said to be 240 ppb for butanoic acid, 3000 ppb for hexanoic acid, 3000 ppb for octanoic acid, and 200 ppb for 2-nonanone.
Therefore, the whey solution that has been diafiltered three or more times and the whey powder produced from that whey solution have a butanoic acid content of 240 ppb or less, a hexanoic acid content of 3000 ppb or less, an octanoic acid content of 3000 ppb or less, and a 2-nonanone content of 200 ppb or less.

The whey powder produced by the manufacturing method of the present invention has a reduced whey odor, which is perceived as an unpleasant odor, and is therefore expected to be widely used as a raw material for beverages, confectioneries, bread, protein-enriched foods, etc.

Claims (5)

1. A whey powder derived from whey produced during the production of natural cheese, the whey powder having a butanoic acid content of 240 ppb or less, a hexanoic acid content of 3000 ppb or less, an octanoic acid content of 3000 ppb or less, and a 2-nonanone content of 200 ppb or less. A method for producing whey powder by removing water from a whey solution after diafiltration to produce whey powder, comprising the steps of:
The whey solution is a whey solution generated during the production of natural cheese,
The above-mentioned production method is characterized in that the diafiltration treatment is repeated until the whey powder contains butanoic acid at 240 ppb or less, hexanoic acid at 3000 ppb or less, octanoic acid at 3000 ppb or less, and 2-nonanone at 200 ppb or less. The method for producing whey powder according to claim 2, characterized in that the diafiltration process uses a nanofiltration membrane. The method for producing whey powder according to claim 2 or 3, which comprises repeating diafiltration three times. A method for reducing whey odor in whey powder, comprising the steps of: subjecting a whey solution to diafiltration treatment, removing water therefrom to produce whey powder;
The method for reducing whey odor comprises repeating the diafiltration process until the whey powder contains butanoic acid at 240 ppb or less, hexanoic acid at 3000 ppb or less, octanoic acid at 3000 ppb or less, and 2-nonanone at 200 ppb or less.