THEREOF"

Field of the Invention

The subjected matter disclosed herein relates to a novel process of restructuring food on its outer surface portion and the restructured food obtained from the process thereof.

The restructured food is obtained from natural food, processed or unprocessed, which is later coated and, optionally, decorated.

Background of the Invention

The state of art comprises several manufacturing processes, handling and industrialization of vegetable generally for nutritional purposes.

Among the mentioned processes, food dehydration process is highlighted. Food dehydration means, summarized, removing water from general foods.

Foods dehydration processes may occur through different methods. As from an industrial point-of-view, a well known vegetal dehydration process is freeze-dried process.

The food freeze-dried process is basically to freeze and expose (vacuum) food to a gradient temperature increase. In this way, food water changes directly from a solid to a gaseous state (sublimation).

In this case, sublimation process does not destroy the food nutrient properties as the cell walls are kept intact.

The freeze-dried process results in the inhibition of microorganisms and enzymes action which might degrade food over time. Such process is extreme valuable for food industry, since after the application of freeze-dried, food will have a better shelf life and consequently, longer time for consumption. As from the development of industrial dehydrate processes, mainly freeze-dried, food industry were benefited to the increase of shelf life when compared to agricultural products companies.

The food submitted to freeze-dried process can be easily rebuilt, whereas freeze-dried food present microscopic pores.

This process is normally applied to the dehydration of fruits in general, that results as a final product, fruits or pieces of freeze-dried fruits. The freeze- dried fruits might be used to the production of industrial food such as juices, candies and jam, or directly consumed. The freeze-dried fruits for direct consumption, with no other processing or modification, are contained in existing packaged, generally manufactured in flexible substrates.

Freeze-dried fruits for direct consumption have an unpleasant, pejorative aesthetic form, although they contain high nutritive features.

These features are easily seen on freeze-dried bananas which show its final coloring blackened and shaping warped. In other terms, freeze-dried fruits do not allude visually from original fruits in its natural state. This feature is undesirable, once food businesses volume is directly related to the appearance of the product.

In order to solve these problems, or a part of it, the actual state of art shows solutions, some simply concepts and others commonly applicable. These solutions result in products generally known as restructured food.

As described on the US Patent 6,027,758, restructuring studies started in the middle of 1940. In that time there were revealed restructured process of fruits purees. These processes combined fruits purees with alginate bases, although the fruits nutrients features, if not lost, were completely diluted since the percentage of puree was lower when compared with the percentage of alginate. Although these processes encompass the concept of restructured foods, it is seen that foods are processed like puree.

Only in the middle of 1990, there were developed more complex processes, where it could increase the percentage of vegetables, resulting in the improvement of texture and better food quality to the final restructured vegetables.

Following this trend (increasing the food quality of restructured vegetables), the US Patent 6,027,758 registered on August 1997, reveals a process that aim to promote nutrient value to the restructured fruits, which might be consumed directly or even added to the items of confectionery. The process revealed on the US Patent 6,027,758 is responsible for the production of a restructured fruit composed by approximately 70% to 100% of natural processed fruit, dehydrated, or pieces of dehydrated fruits, and around 1 % to 30% of gelatining agent. The final product, that is, the restructured fruit is processed in an extruder machine specially developed for this purpose.

The US Patent 6,817,850 describes a machinery that produces, by extrusion, restructured food coated by continuous layers where mentioned continuous layer might, externally, produce a variable texture as desired. The US Patent 7,264,485 reveals a mixture of fruit pulp and a restructuring pulp composed by cereals flour, granting an external film crunchy to the final product. In the mixture, fruit pulp is completely wrapped by the restructuring pulp.

The US patents above mentioned reveal examples of restructured vegetables production processes, but it is relevant to mention that the actual state of art involves many other detailed patents under that issue.

However, most of these patents show only one way to restructure food (mostly fruits) in order to make it durable and nutritionally attractive. However none of these patents concern about the final form of restructured vegetables.

As cited above, it is noted as from commercial point-of-view, besides the nutrients values, the external look of products, that is restructured vegetables, is also a very important attractive differential issue. It is known that most part of state of art processes occurs in extruder machines, therefore the final shape of restructured vegetables are defined by the exiting molding of extruder machineries, the mold comprising, conventionally, a conventional standard geometric shape (squares, circles, stars, among others).

Standard geometric shapes do not show any visual parity with the original vegetables.

Based on this situation the present patent application is aimed.

Summary of the Invention

Aiming to solve the problem explained above, besides optimizing the restructured food nutrients features, the present Invention was developed. It reveals a novel process of restructuring food on its outer surface portion and the food obtained from the process thereof.

The food restructured process first matter of the Invention, is basically composed by two key steps. The first step refers to the food restructured process (or part of it); the second step refers to molding process and/or food restructured molding process. Optionally, it is foreseen a third step that refers to the food restructured and molded finishing process.

As a result of the process herein mentioned, it is obtained restructured food with features (shape, coloring, smell and texture) similar to original food.

For example, in case it is used an appeal as a raw material, the restructured food will have the same shape, coloring, stenching and texture as an apple and/or apple peel. Therefore the main goal of the process herein mentioned is the production of natural and nutrient food with a playful format (miniaturized) of a real food, specially, a fruit.

The process of restructuring food revealed on the second issue of the present Invention is preferably obtained and/or manufactured through the above mentioned steps. The food is composed by a portion of freeze-dried natural food involved by any acceptable (edible) restructured compound liable of casting and/or modeling and finishing process.

The main advantage obtained through the goals of the present Invention is straightly related to the presentation of foods (fruits) which are introduced, as per the content of the present Invention, in a playful alluded way to the natural shape of the food used as a raw material.

Brief Description of Drawings

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the Invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

The Figure 1 shows a workflow of the process of restructuring food on its outer surface portion;

The Figure 2 shows an example of a food obtained from the food restructuring process; and

The Figure 3 shows a schematic cutting from the food obtained of Figure 2.

Detailed Description of Invention

Food restructuring process

Referring to the Figure 1 , there is shown that the food restructuring process is fundamentally constituted by two main steps, each composed by multiplies sub-steps. It is remarkable to notice that the used raw material comprises natural food articles of vegetal or animal origin. Preferably, the used raw material refers to fruits in general.

The step (A) refers to restructuration of raw material and it is comprised by following sub-steps:

(A.1 ) - Definition and pre-processing of at least one raw material;

(A.2) - Adaptation of dimensions of at least one raw pre- processed material; (A.3) - Preparation of at least one raw material obtained from sub-step (A.2);

(A.4) - Preparation of at least one acceptable restructured compound;

(A.5) - Merger of at least one raw material with at least one acceptable restructured compound;

The step (B) refers to molding the food restructured (A), and it is comprised by following sub-steps:

(B.1) - Preparation and dimensioning of restructured food; (B.2) - Physical conformation of the outer surface of the restructured food;

(B.3) - Finishing process of the restructured food.

The final result of step (A) comprises the restructured food and under this step it is important to comment some details below.

Pre-processing of sub-step (A.1) involves at least one of the following practical procedures: sanitation, removal of barks, removal of seeds or undesirable portions. The pre-processing of step (A.1) aims to leave the raw material ready to dimensional adequacy.

The adequacy of raw pre-processed material, that is, the sub-step (A.2) involves at least one of the followings procedures: cutting, extraction or fractionation.

The preparation of raw material of sub-step (A.3) involves one of the following procedures: thermal dehydration, freeze-fried dehydration or liquefaction.

The acceptable restructured compound provided on sub- step (A.4) refers to an edible compound, agglutinative and liable to stiffening. Optionally, cited acceptable restructured compound is liable to molding, texturing, coloring, stenching and aromatization (flavor).

The merger of at least one raw material with at least one acceptable restructured compound of sub-step (A.5) consists to combine such elements, in order to make them physically unified, without changing its individual features.

Optionally, two or more different raw materials might be mergered into a single acceptable restructured compound.

Regarding the step (B), it is relevant to highlight the following aspects described below. The sub-step (B.1) aims to prepare the restructured food with dimensional features very close to the final features desired.

The physical conformation of the restructured food, that is, sub-step (B.2) involves at least one of the following procedures: molding pressure, molding injection, reaction molding expansion or modeling material removal.

The result of sub-step (B.2) comprises a restructured food in a defined prismatic form (three-dimension). The prismatic form of an restructured food refers to the prismatic form of an used raw material (for example, when an apple is used as a raw material the prismatic form of the restructured food is similar to the original prismatic form of an apple). It is important to highlight that restructured food obtained from sub-step (B.2) may produced in different dimensions from the dimensions of a raw material.

Sub-step (B.3) involves, at least one of the following procedures: coloring, texturing, stenching or aromatization.

Coloring or painting are made under the surface of a restructured food. The procedure of coloring, as from a technical point-of-view, can be made through conventional technologies of coloring, besides it also may be produced by specific Nanotechnology for coloring of food items.

Texturing involves the application of texture layers under the surface of a restructured food.

Stenching and aromatization consists on the application of substances (normally artificial) in a restructured food, with the goal to change or reinforce smells and flavors of the final product.

The proposal of finishing process of sub-step (B.3) is to make a restructured food playful, that is, decorated. Based on this proposal, the coloring, texturing, stenching and the aromatization shall be applied based on these originals raw material features.

Obviously, the proposal is not to limit, that is, the coloring, texturing, stenching and the aromatization may also be different than the originals raw material features.

Restructured food

The restructured food (1) obtained through the process above mentioned is comprised by at least one portion of natural food (2) and at least one portion of edible restructured compound (3). The natural food portion (2) is physically wrapped by the edible restructured compound (3). The natural food (2) comprises a fraction of a dehydrated food. However, cited natural food (2) may also comprise a fraction of a food in natural conditions, or even processed.

The edible restructured compound (3) refers to a layer liable of molding, where the surfaces (4) are liable of printing, texturing and stenching.

The restructured food (1 ) is comprised by only one portion of natural food (2), in this case the edible restructured compound (3) shows a prismatic, coloring, texturing, stenching and aromatization form similar to the color, texture, smell and flavor (taste) of natural food (2).

The restructured food (1 ) is comprised by two or more natural food portions (2), in this case the edible restructured compound (3) shows a prismatic, coloring, texturing, stenching and aromatization varied form.

Advantages of present Invention

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed description mentioned above.

Among these advantages, it is highlighted a playful food obtaining compound through a fraction of a natural food (preferably, a fruit) and, consequently, with the nutrients features of this natural element.

Therefore, it is possible to realize that process of restructuring food on its outer surface portion and the food obtained from the process thereof, subjected matter of this Invention Patent, is comprised of innovation, industrial application and inventive steps, worthy to all merits and privileges provided and assured by the Industrial Property Law.