Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23B—PRESERVATION OF FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES; CHEMICAL RIPENING OF FRUIT OR VEGETABLES
  • A23B2/00—Preservation of foods or foodstuffs, in general
  • A23B2/80—Freezing; Subsequent thawing; Cooling
  • A23B2/803—Materials being transported through or in the apparatus, with or without shaping, e.g. in the form of powders, granules or flakes
  • A23B2/8033—Materials being transported through or in the apparatus, with or without shaping, e.g. in the form of powders, granules or flakes with packages or with shaping in the form of blocks or portions

Definitions

• This invention pertains to a process for preparing a frozen meal .
• frozen culinary products have two packages, an inner package such as an aluminium tray or a boiling bag containing the food product and a box around the tray or the bag.
• an inner package such as an aluminium tray or a boiling bag containing the food product
• a box around the tray or the bag there is a dead space between inner and outer package so that the end product becomes unnecessarily voluminous and requires much space on the shelves, in the storage room and during transport. It would therefore be desirable to put frozen culinary products on the market which are characterized by a less voluminous package.
• a reduction in packaging material would not only be advantageous from a financial standpoint, but would also be in line with recent environmental requirements.
• the Applicants have surprisingly found that by introducing a food preparation into moulds and freezing or prefreezing it there to rectangular bricks it is possible to directly put the thus obtained frozen bricks into cardboard boxes or flow packs without having to resort to additional packaging material .
• Freezing foodstuff to brick-shaped forms is known in the prior art .
• DE-C-1003021 discloses a process of wrapping poultry into a transparent sheet .
• the package is then placed in a mould and pressed into the shape of a brick.
• the mould with the packages is then frozen. After that the frozen packages are put into an outer package such as a cardboard box.
• an outer package such as a cardboard box.
• GB-A-1041155 relates to a process of packaging fish by placing fish pieces into a cardboard box and then pressing the box into shape. Thereafter, the box is frozen. Again, there is no disclosure of placing the foodstuff directly into moulds and freezing it there.
• the interior surface of the cardboard boxes used in this process is specially structured in that depressions are embossed into the paperboard before the package is formed; normal cardboard boxes are not suitable.
• WO 95/21541 refers to a process for producing pet food consisting of lumplike meat pieces and a liquid sauce, whereby frozen raw meat is cut into pieces and packed with equally frozen sauce granules into a press where the mixture is pressformed to a form corresponding to the lower section of the container into which the thus obtained form is subsequently emptied.
• the container usually a tray or a tin, is then sealed on the upper side with a foil.
• the above objectives can be realized by a process for the preparation of a frozen meal comprising the following steps: a) putting the components of the meal into moulds; b) subjecting the thus filled moulds to a freezing step; c) demoulding the frozen product; and d) packaging the deep frozen product.
• the process of the present invention can be carried out in conventional moulds such as plastic or metallic moulds.
• Plastic moulds have the advantage of being less rigid and less adhesive than metallic moulds so that demoulding is facilitated by simply knocking or twisting the moulds.
• both vertical and horizontal moulding is feasible, horizontal moulding is preferred, however, as a wider variety of products can be obtained with this technique.
• this technique it is possible to process both viscous and liquid products, no matter whether large pieces are contained in the meal or not. It is equally possible to produce meals having a topping or even multi-layered meals.
• the frozen meal of this invention is preferably formed to a rectangular shape such as a brick. With such a shape, the volume of the package as well as the dead space can be kept at a minimum, in addition, multi-packs can be easily formed.
• This form of packaging would meet the needs of catering services and would also be in line with the eating habits of families where the different members do not have the same eating hours.
• the product can also be offered as a single portion.
• the size of the individual portion is not particularly limited and can be adjusted to the individual needs.
• the weight of a frozen brick is in the range of from about 50 g to 1 kg.
• the bricks are most preferably portioned to 150 g each. Such an amount of food roughly corresponds to a complete meal for a child and for an elderly person, while adults would be expected to consume 2 portions per meal.
• the portions are most preferably sized to bricks of about 110 x 75 x 20 mm each.
• the process as claimed in this application is not limited to particular food, basically any meal can be prepared.
• the frozen bricks may contain all the constituents of a complete meal such as meat, pasta, vegetables, rice, sauce etc. Neither is the process limited to a particular consistency of the food: meals comprising lump-like pieces of meat can equally well be processed as more liquid or saucy meals. "Chili con came” , "riz cantonais” , “moussaka” or multi-layered meals such as “lasagna” are most preferably prepared with the claimed process.
• the freezing step may be performed by any suitable technology and may include e.g. cryogenic freezing or crusting, i.e. passing the meal through a liquid nitrogen tunnel, air blast freezing or contact freezing in a mechanically refrigerated tunnel.
• the meal may be deep frozen in one step or frozen at the surface, demoulded and deep frozen with cold air.
• the meal can be frozen by liquid freezing, i.e. by dipping the moulded meal into a brine bath at low temperature.
• the moulds are filled with the meal and dipped into a cold brine.
• Maximum heat transfer efficiency is achieved when all the brine is recirculated with high speed through the brine distribution piping.
• cold air is blown over the moulds.
• the frozen bricks are demoulded and transferred to the packaging units.
• the empty moulds are washed and conveyed back to the filling station.
• Demoulding can be facilitated by blowing warm air on the moulds, or, in case of the brine process, by defrosting with warm brine.
• the process of this invention is not limited to a particular packaging material.
• plastic films, paperboard, or coated paperboard are used.
• the paperboard and coated paperboard materials are the most preferred packaging materials .
• Both individual portions and multi -packs are packaged in flow packs or reclosable paperboards with multipacks contained in reclosable paperboards being the most preferred product .
• the present invention also pertains to the frozen meals obtained by the process as described above.
• the concept of freezing a complete meal to a bricklike structure and packaging said brick directly into a simple flow pack or cardboard box, realized by freezing or crusting said meal while being contained in moulds, is unknown in the prior art. Therefore, the meals of this invention can be distinguished from those of the prior art by a much simpler packaging.
• the frozen meals of this invention are characterized by a very smooth surface, in particular as far as the lateral and the bottom sides of the brick are concerned which are in direct contact with the inner surfaces of the moulds. Smooth surfaces are appealing to the customer on the one hand. On the other hand, they are mandatory for reducing the aforementioned dead space and, as a consequence, the volume of the packaging to a minimum. Again, such smooth surfaces are only feasible with the process as described above, they cannot be obtained with the method as disclosed in WO 95/21541 wherein already frozen particles are pressformed to a particular shape.
• the surface of the product is irregular.
• This product conception consists in the piling up of sauces (several dosing may be performed) , garnish (vegetables, noodles or rice, for example) and finally at the top a piece of fish or meat.
• the main advantage of this concept is to gain an appealing product when looked at from above, either in or out of the package.
• the latter should keep the visual aspect intact and could be a flow-pack or thebalesh system for refrigerated products (plastic film wrapped around the portion to make a skin), for example.
• the moulds used for this embodiment may still be of rectangular or brick shape, but any shape that can be made in thermoformable material (high density polyethylene, for example) can be provided for.
• the mould set up offers flexibility for having new shapes faster and at a lower cost, or for changing quickly the whole set of moulds.
• the demoulding step can be carried out by spraying warm water (10 to 20°C, especially 13 to 15°C, for example) on the outside of the mould in order to unstick the product from the mould, and then by pushing the bottom of the mould so as to lead the product out of the mould, for example.
• warm water 10 to 20°C, especially 13 to 15°C, for example
• the moulds may then travel back to the start of the line. They may be washed both on the inside and the outside and dried.
• a dosing equipment may be provided for to put both a sauce and a solid garnish into the mould automatically, for example .
• the freezing equipment may comprise a brine bath at a temperature of from -40 to -30°C approximately below a conveyor of moulds, and a freezing tunnel on top of the products, for example.
• a cold source for the freezing tunnel may be blasted air cooled with ammonia or freon or liquid nitrogen, or liquid nitrogen sprayed directly at the surface of the product .
• the moulds are subsequently emptied. Demoulding can optionally be facilitated, particularly in case of the rigid metal moulds, by blowing warm air before the moulds are emptied.
• the prefrozen bricks are then subjected to deep freezing and directly packaged into cardboard boxes .

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Meat, Egg Or Seafood Products (AREA)
• Confectionery (AREA)
• Seeds, Soups, And Other Foods (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8225704

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Families Citing this family (1)

Family Cites Families (7)

• 1997
  • 1997-09-04 WO PCT/EP1997/004879 patent/WO1998012937A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1997-09-04 AU AU47011/97A patent/AU4701197A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-09-04 IL IL12824897A patent/IL128248A0/xx unknown
  • 1997-09-04 EP EP97909230A patent/EP0929239A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1997-09-04 CA CA002262512A patent/CA2262512A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 1999
  • 1999-03-24 NO NO991417A patent/NO991417L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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