EP-4245152-B1 - PROCESS FOR TREATING SWEET WHEY SUCH AS TO OBTAIN A PROTEIN MATERIAL SUITABLE FOR HYPOALLERGENIC INFANT FORMULAE

Inventors

• ERDMANN, PETER
• ROCHA, Gustavo
• TERPSTRA, Gerard

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20160202

Claims (5)

1. Process for the treatment of a sweet whey material containing cGMP (caseinoGlycoMacroPeptide), said process comprising the following steps: - Decationising the sweet whey material so as to obtain sweet whey having a pH value of 1 to 4.5; - Treating said sweet whey in a fluidized bed reactor comprising a specific volume of an anionic resin, at a temperature between 10 and 18°C, wherein said sweet whey contacts said resin for a sufficient amount of time so that the resin absorbs between 52% and 58% of the cGMP present in the sweet whey; and - Recovering a protein material suitable for hypoallergenic infant formulae, wherein the treatment of the sweet whey in the fluidized bed reactor is implemented at a ratio of protein over resin of 0.20 to 0.35 kg/L, and wherein the chlorine content of the protein material is between 1 and 80 mg/100g and/or the phosphorous content of the protein material is between 50 and 150 mg/100g.
2. Process according to claim 1, wherein the resin absorbs around 55% of the cGMP.
3. Process according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the resin absorbs at least 90 % of the anions present in the sweet whey.
4. Process according to claim 3, wherein the anions are selected from the group consisting of chlorine, phosphorous, citrate, sulphate and lactate.
5. Process according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the resin absorbs at least 90 % of the chlorine and of the phosphorous present in the sweet whey.

Description

Technical Field The invention is directed to a process for the treatment of a sweet whey material containing cGMP (caseinoGlycoMacroPeptide), so that to obtain a protein material suitable for hypoallergenic infant formulae. Background of the Invention Human Breast Milk and breast feeding represent the uncontested gold standard in terms of infant nutrition. Infant formulae that serve as a substitute for or complement to human breast milk should satisfy the nutritional requirements of infants, have an acceptable taste and be hypoallergenic when targeted to infants at risk of allergy. Infant formulae must comply with regulatory nutritional requirements, such as European Commission Directive 91/321/EEC of May 14, 1991 on infant formulae in Europe, and a similar corresponding regulatory document of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA. It is known that allergies to cows' milk and to infant formulae containing cow's milk protein are due to the fact that the proteins of cows' milk differ from the proteins of mother's milk and can constitute allergens for humans. Bovine whey protein and/or casein are often used as the milk protein source in infant formulae. To reduce allergenicity, cow's milk proteins are hydrolysed by enzymes and thus reduced to peptides. Current hypoallergenic formulae composed of such cow's milk proteins hydrolysates aimed at allergy prevention also comprise other nutrients such as animal oils, vegetable oils, starch, maltodextrin, lactose and sucrose. These protein hydrolysates may also be incorporated into an adult milk drink or food supplements. The hydrolysis process used to produce these hydrolysates must be carefully monitored so that the final product hydrolysate retains its nutritional value and desired physical properties but is hypoallergenic. Hydrolysates may be characterized as "partial" or "extensive" depending on the degree to which the hydrolysis reaction is carried out. In the current invention, a partial hydrolysate is one in which 60% of the protein/peptide population has a molecular weight of less than 1000 Daltons. Partial hydrolysates are considered as hypoallergenic (HA). An essential amino acid or indispensable amino acid is an amino acid that cannot be synthesised de novo (from scratch) by the organism being considered, and therefore must be supplied in its diet. There are nine amino acids humans cannot synthesize including threonine and tryptophan. The requirements of infant formulae regulations also encompass the contents in amino acids, particularly threonine and tryptophan. Patent US 687158 is directed to a process for the separation of glycomacropeptide or caseinoglycomacropeptide ("cGMP") from lactic raw material. cGMP is a phosphorylated and partially sialylated macropeptide which is formed by the action of a protease, for example rennet, on mammalian milk kappa-casein. cGMP represents about 20% by weight of the proteins in sweet whey obtained after separation of casein during cheese manufacture. Patent US 6787158 relates to a process for the extraction of cGMP from a lactic raw material comprising the steps of removing cations from a lactic raw material for a sufficient amount of time to obtain a substantially deionised lactic raw material having a pH of about 1 to 4.5; contacting the substantially deionised lactic raw material with an anionic resin having a hydrophobic matrix for a sufficient amount of time and at a sufficient temperature to remove cGMP from the substantially deionised lactic raw material and to obtain a treated liquid material; separating the resin from the treated liquid material; and rinsing the resin to obtain the cGMP therefrom. When using a fluidized bed reactor, the cGMP is removed in a range from 85 to 91 % of the starting cGMP. The treated liquid material that is obtained from sweet whey has an amino acid profile reduced in threonine and enriched in aromatic amino acids such as tryptophan. It is useful in an infant or dietetic product as a protein source or raw material. From up to now, this treated liquid was used in standard infant formulae in which the proteins were intact. These infant formulae are such that the casein/whey ratio is about 30/70. This treated liquid was also used in hypoallergenic infant formulae, in admixture with other protein raw material, so that to fulfill the regulatory requirements. However, there is a growing need of hypoallergenic formulae in which the proteins are partially hydrolyzed. These formulae are based on a protein raw material made of 100% whey. Thus, the existing process described in US 6787158 fails to provide a protein material meeting the protein requirements of these hypoallergenic formulae. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a process for removing cGMP from a sweet whey material, in order to obtain a protein raw material suitable for hypoallergenic infant formulae, or to at least provide a useful alternative. Summary of the Invention In an aspect of the inventio