| 1. | Processing of olive marc into meal intended for foodstuffs, w h e re in it comprises the marc drying stage, the dry marc milling stage, and the marc meal packing stage; the olive marc meal to be used as an additive to foodstuffs aimed to improving their nutritive and medical qualities. |
| 2. | Processing of olive marc as claimed in Claim *\, wh e re in the produced olive marc meal is used as an additive to cereal flour used in bakery industry in production of human bakery products. |
| 3. | Processing of olive marc as claimed in Claims 1 and 2, wh e re in the produced olive marc meal is used for human nutrition in quantities to the users' liking and wishes, as an additive to cereal flour or as a flavouring agent. |
| 4. | Processing of olive marc as claimed in Claim λ, wh e re in the produced olive marc meal is used as an additive to animal feeds. |
| 5. | Processing of olive marc as claimed in Claim 1 , wh e re in its drying, milling and packing stages are performed by machines known in the market, regardless of the energy source used, semi or fully automatic. |
INVENTION DESCRIPTION
1. FIELD OF APPLICATION
The invention relates to processing of olive marc (olive fruit residues following oil extraction) to produce meal that is to be used as an additive to human and animal feeds.
In the International Patent Classification it is classified as B - Performing operations, B 02 C - Pulverising devices; F - Drying, F 26 B - Drying solid materials or objects by removing liquid therefrom; B 65 F - Machines, apparatus or devices for packing.
2. TECHNICAL PROBLEM
Olive is an evergreen, Mediterranean tree of branchy crown and leather-like, dark green, spear-like leaves. The fruit is drupe and pale green. Unripe fruits contain 15-35% of oil and are best for consumption, whereas oil is obtained from fully ripe, dark violet fruits. Fruits with stones are ground in mills, the best method being the so called "cold milling", that is, mechanical milling method, free of added solvents or heating, since this preserves all natural qualities of the oil unchanged. After separation of oil from the milled olive fruits, there is left marc. The marc is made of the pulpy fruit tissue containing a significant quantity of nutritive components (proteins, fats, minerals, fibres, etc.) and hard parts of the stones, consisting mostly of raw fibres. The marc is treated as a waste, a small part thereof being used as animal feed, and most of it in production of biological fertilisers. The technical problem that is solved by this invention relates to processing of olive marc into meal to be added to various bakery products intended for human nutrition or to various animal feeds.
3. STATE OF THE ART
Presently, most olive marc is being dumped and left to decay as a waste, polluting the environment and underground waters. Only a lesser quantity of olive marc is being used directly as animal feeds. A part of the marc is being processed into quality fertilisers for fields and gardens. This regenerates the soil with organic fertilisers to grow more quality food.
4. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The processing of olive marc into meal intended for human and animal nutrition, according to this invention, comprises three stages: removal of moisture from marc, milling of dry marc, and packing of meal in adequate packages. Humidity is removed from marc by thermal procedure in known drying plants. Milling of dry marc to fine powder is performed in known mills. The meal obtained from olive marc is added to foodstuffs, e.g., as additive to flour in production of various bakery products intended for human nutrition, or as additive to animal feeds. Olive marc is a healthy foodstuff that improves food nutritiousness and taste. Good medical properties of olive fruit have been known since ancient times, and further pharmacological researches will show its true medical value.
5. ILLUSTRATION DESCRIPTIONS
Figure 1 shows block diagram of the technological process of processing of olive marc into meal.
Marks used in Figure 1 have the following meanings: A - moist marc, B - drying plant, C - dry marc, D - milling plant, E - marc meal, F - packing plant, G - meal bag.
6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION EMBODIMENT
Since ancient times, olive fruit has been known to be medically beneficial and very useful in human nutrition, either as fruit or oil obtained from the fruit.
Processing of olives into oil produces olive marc containing solid and liquid parts.
The solid part is made of milled stones and pulpy part of the fruit, the liquid one of the processing waste water. The pulpy part of the fruit contains significant quantity of nutritive components (proteins, fats, minerals, fibres, etc.), stones mostly raw fibres. Part of the liquid contained in the pulpy part and the technological process waste water are to be removed by thermal processing in order to obtain a perfectly dry marc that can be milled into fine powder. The olive marc, as raw material, will be obtained from various oil works. Processing of olive marc requires building of an adequate plant. Before processing, in line with foodstuff regulations, the marc is to be subjected to microbiological tests in an analytical laboratory.
Processing of olive marc comprises the following stages: drying, milling and packing.
Drying:
Plant for drying of moist olive marc A consists of: olive marc hot-air dryer B, of any energy source, with marc supply, charging and discharging equipment and other ancillary tools. The marc is dried at 200 0 C and is to be completely dry for further processing.
Milling:
Plant for milling the dry olive marc B consists of: marc mechanical mill D, and other equipment required in the milling process. The marc is milled into fine particles - meal E of a given grain size.
Packing:
Plant for packing F of marc meal E into adequate packages G such as bags of various materials and sizes. Each bag is to be provided with statutorily required commercial declaration.
The above mentioned drying, milling and packing plants, as well as other equipment and tools required in the described processing of marc, are known in the market and are not protected here. The above described processing equipment may be semi- or fully automatic, depending on the marc quantities to be processed. The olive marc meal is a healthy foodstuff that improves nutritiousness and taste of other products used for human or animal nutrition. It is therefore added in certain percentages, to the user's liking, to foodstuffs, e.g., as an additive to cereal flour used in bakery industry, or as an additive to animal feeds.
7. INVENTION APPLICATION
Meal obtained by processing of olive marc is used as additive to various bakery products intended for human nutrition, such as to:
- cereal-flour breads, to improve their taste, nutritiousness and shelf life
- various desert bakery products
- all sorts of cereal-based pastries
- other flour products.
The quantity of the marc that is to be added is determined according to the user's liking and wishes.