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US-12616225-B2 - Petfood composition and process for preparation thereof

US12616225B2US 12616225 B2US12616225 B2US 12616225B2US-12616225-B2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for making a pet food composition comprising a red seaweed as a natural gelling agent with enhanced palatability. The compositions of the invention can be devoid of commonly used, chemically treated gelling agents such as carrageenan, alginate, agar, gellan gum.

Inventors

  • ISABEL FERNANDEZ FARRES
  • Paulo Alexandre Braga FERNANDES

Assignees

  • Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20200219
Priority Date
20190220

Claims (11)

  1. 1 . A cat food composition comprising chunks in a gravy, the gravy having a pH from 8.1 to 9.0 and comprising a hydrocolloid system comprising mechanically disrupted red seaweed, the hydrocolloid system in the gravy further comprising at least one hydrocolloid thickener.
  2. 2 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the mechanically disrupted red seaweed is selected from Euchema cottonii, Euchema spinosum and Chondrus crispus.
  3. 3 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hydrocolloid thickener in the hydrocolloid system in the gravy is selected from the group consisting of xanthan gum, guar gum, arabic gum, locust bean gum, cassia gum, microcrystalline cellulose, and mixtures thereof.
  4. 4 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the gravy is free from gellan gum.
  5. 5 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the mechanically disrupted red seaweed is 0.3-0.6 wt. % of the gravy.
  6. 6 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the mechanically disrupted red seaweed is 0.15-0.3% wt. of the cat food composition.
  7. 7 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hydrocolloid thickener is 0.05-1 wt. % of the gravy.
  8. 8 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hydrocolloid thickener is less than 0.05 wt. % of the gravy.
  9. 9 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hydrocolloid thickener is 0.025-0.5 wt. % of the cat food composition.
  10. 10 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hydrocolloid thickener is less than 0.25 wt. % of the cat food composition.
  11. 11 . The cat food composition of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the gravy is from 8.5 to 9.0.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a national stage application under 35 USC § 371 of PCT/IS2020/051403 filed on Feb. 19, 2020 and claims priority to EP Application Serial No. 19158370.7 filed Feb. 20, 2019, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by this reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many commercially available pet food compositions using hydrocolloid systems, e.g. chunk in jelly cat food compositions, use gelling hydrocolloids such as kappa-carrageenan, alginate, agar or gellan gum alone or in combination for achieving the desired jelly texture for both processing and palatability. However, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the use of undesirable additives. Hence, there is a need to develop natural ingredient alternatives to those hydrocolloid systems that would impart similar or enhanced qualities in terms of product appearance, texture and palatability. There are currently no solutions for reducing the amount of hydrocolloids without detrimental effects on product quality. These defects include sedimentation of chunks in the can, as well as inconsistencies in the amounts of gravy and chunks when the can is filled. Nowadays, it is very common that pets consume the same product their entire lives. Such foods therefore need to be nutritionally complete and not create any digestion issues. It is known that a significant amount of hydrocolloids in pet food leads to detrimental effects on digestibility (for example, low fecal scores). Additionally, existing pet food processing generally use 2 step filling of the can wherein the viscosity of the gravy does not need to be above a specific value for filling. The disadvantage of using the 2 step filling process industrially is that it may lead to inconsistencies in the amounts of gravy and food chunks in each can. There is a clear need for developing technological solutions which would enable formulation of pet food products with lower amounts of hydrocolloids. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES FIG. 1 shows various chunk-in-jelly cat food compositions with red seaweed in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure with Kappa carrageenan jelly recipe used as a reference. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions As used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a hydrocolloid thickener” or “the hydrocolloid thickener” includes two or more such thickeners. The term “and/or” used in the context of “X and/or Y” should be interpreted as “X,” or “Y,” or “X and Y.” Where used herein, the terms “example” and “such as,” particularly when followed by a listing of terms, are merely exemplary and illustrative, and are not exclusive or comprehensive. As used herein, “about” is understood to refer to numbers in a range of numerals, for example the range of −10% to +10% of the referenced number, within −5% to +5% of the referenced number, or in one aspect, within −1% to +1% of the referenced number, and in a specific aspect, within −0.1% to +0.1% of the referenced number. Furthermore, all numerical ranges herein should be understood to include all integers, whole or fractions, within the range. Moreover, these numerical ranges should be construed as providing support for a claim directed to any number or subset of numbers in that range. For example, a disclosure of from 1 to 10 should be construed as supporting a range of from 1 to 8, from 3 to 7, from 1 to 9, from 3.6 to 4.6, from 3.5 to 9.9, and so forth. All percentages expressed herein refers to total weight % in the gravy, sheared gel gravy, pet food composition, or chunk-in-jelly cat food composition, as specified in the description. The final composition includes water unless specified otherwise. The recipes in the examples illustrate how % wt. is to be understood by the skilled person in the art. When reference is made to the pH, values correspond to pH measured at 25° C. with standard equipment. An “amount” can be the total amount of the referenced component per serving of the composition or per distinct unit of the composition and/or can be the weight percentage of the referenced component by dry weight. Moreover, an “amount” includes zero; for example, the recitation of an amount of a compound does not necessarily mean that the compound is present, unless followed by a range that excludes zero. The terms “food,” “food product” and “food composition” mean a product or composition that is intended for ingestion by an animal and provides at least one nutrient to the animal. Further in this regard, these terms mean that the product or composition is in a form ready for consumption and is not merely an intermediate from which a consumable product or composition is made, although other food compositions can be added in some embodiments. The term “pet food” or “pet food composition” means any food composition intende