US-12624213-B2 - Natural coloring agent composition

Abstract

The present application relates to a natural coloring agent composition including a fermented plant product, wherein the composition includes nitrite in a concentration of 700 ppm or more and includes free sugar in a concentration of 1,000 ppm or less, and the free sugar includes lactose. The natural coloring agent composition may be prepared from natural raw materials to contain nitrite in a high concentration without inoculation of reducing bacteria, and may have an excellent color development effect when applied to meat products in place of synthetic nitrite.

Inventors

• Jin Hee Han
• Sung Hoon Jo
• Hyo Jung Yoon

Assignees

• CJ CHEILJEDANG CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20211203

Priority Date

20201204

Claims (11)

1. 1 . A natural coloring agent composition comprising a fermented product of a plant or a part thereof, wherein the composition comprises glycine, nitrite in a concentration of 700 ppm or more, and free sugar in a concentration of 1,000 ppm or less, wherein the free sugar comprises lactose.
2. 2 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the plant or the part thereof is at least one selected from the group consisting of spinach, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, head lettuce, cabbage, young radish, sesame leaf, chicory, radish leaf, radish, crown daisy, kale, leaf mustard, leek, water parsley, and red beet.
3. 3 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 2 , wherein the plant or the part thereof comprises nitrate in a concentration of 3,000 ppm or more.
4. 4 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the nitrite is produced by nitrate reductase in the plant or the part thereof.
5. 5 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition further comprises at least 7 amino acids selected from the group consisting of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, alanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, and arginine in a concentration of 500 ppm or more.
6. 6 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition further comprises at least one nucleic acid-based compound selected from the group consisting of hypoxanthine, guanosine, xanthine, inosine, xanthosine, and IMR2na 7.5H 2 O.
7. 7 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition further comprises ascetic acid in a concentration of 1,000 ppm or more.
8. 8 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in a concentration of 25 mg/L or more.
9. 9 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition does not comprise reducing bacteria that have nitrate-reducing activity.
10. 10 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the nitrite is included in a concentration of 5,000 ppm or more.
11. 11 . The natural coloring agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the natural coloring agent composition is in a powder form and comprises nitrite in a concentration of 100,000 ppm or more.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention The present application relates to a natural coloring agent composition. Meat products such as ham and sausage processed using meat as a raw material are manufactured to have an inherent bright pinkish red or reddish color, and nitrite is added as a coloring agent to achieve color development of meat products. Nitrites allow meat products to exhibit a bright pinkish red color by reacting with myoglobin included in meat, and increase the shelf life of food products by inhibiting C. botulinum which produces toxin and preventing the growth of microorganisms. However, in the case of synthetic nitrites commonly added as coloring agents, consumers are increasingly avoiding cured-meat products to which synthetic nitrites are added because synthetic nitrites are chemical synthetic additives, and accordingly, attempts have been made to produce and utilize nitrites from natural raw materials. As a method of producing natural nitrites, a method of obtaining nitrites by inoculating nitrate-rich plants or extracts thereof with reducing bacteria that have the ability to reduce nitrates to nitrites has been proposed. KR 2018-0031438 discloses a method of producing natural nitrites by inoculating spinach extracts with Lactobacillus farciminis and performing fermentation, and “Study of optimization of natural nitrite source production from spinach” (KIM, Tae-Kyung et al. Korean J. Food Sci. Technol. vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 459-461(2017)) also discloses a method of inoculating Staphylococcus carnosus or various strains of Lactobacillus to produce natural nitrites by using spinach extracts. Inoculation of reducing bacteria is essentially used to produce natural nitrites. However, currently, there is a problem in that a process for producing natural plant extracts that satisfy a sufficient amount of nitrites, or a reduction technology is not secured in South Korea. Therefore, in the present application, a natural coloring agent composition that contains a large amount of natural nitrites, and thus contains a smaller amount of nitrites than conventional natural coloring agent compositions and simultaneously has not only a sufficient color development effect but also suitable characteristics when added to meat products and then processed has been devised. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present application is to provide a natural coloring agent composition containing a high concentration of nitrite which is treated such that a meat product may exhibit its inherent meat color. In addition, an object of the present application is to provide a composition for manufacturing a meat product. In addition, an object of the present application is to provide a meat product. In addition, an object of the present application is to provide a method of developing a color of meat. According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a natural coloring agent composition including a fermented plant product, wherein the composition includes nitrite in a concentration of 700 ppm or more and includes free sugar in a concentration of 1,000 ppm or less, and the free sugar includes lactose. According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a composition for manufacturing a meat product, the composition including the natural coloring agent composition, wherein the natural coloring agent composition is included in an amount of 0.5 wt % or less. According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a meat product including the natural coloring agent composition and meat, wherein the meat product includes residual nitrite ion (NO2−) of 70 ppm or less. According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method of developing a color of meat, the method including mixing the natural coloring agent composition with a meat raw material. A natural coloring agent composition of the present application includes a fermented plant product, includes nitrite in a concentration of 700 ppm or more, and includes free sugar in a concentration of 1,000 ppm or less. The nitrite is a combination of a nitrite ion (NO2) and a salt, and may be specifically sodium nitrite (NaNO2). As the natural coloring agent composition includes nitrite, the natural coloring agent composition may be applied to food products, for example, meat-containing food products, and utilized for the purpose of allowing meat products to exhibit their inherent bright pinkish red or reddish color. The nitrite may be produced by nitrate reductase within the plant. Unlike the related art in which nitrite is produced by reducing bacteria by inoculating a nitrate-containing plant with external reducing bacteria, the nitrite included in the natural coloring agent composition of the present application may be produced without inoculation of reducing bacteria by activating nitrate reductase present in a nitrate-containing plant or an extract of the plant. Therefore, there i