Bar-ilan University

Margalit Bergman

Shlomo Grossman

Abraham I Bakal

Penny A Cash

At least part of the fat in fat-containing manufactured food products is replaced by gelatin in an amount by weight which is generally no more than 10% of the weight of the original fat content which has been replaced. Suitable gelatin for this purpose may be made from fish waste comprising fish skins by an aqueous extraction process, such as e.g. a stepwise process including separate alkaline, mineral acid and organic acid treatment steps. The gelatin is said to mimic the sensation experienced by the consumer of the creaminess or richness of foodstuffs containing regular fat levels. Exemplary products to which the invention may be applied are baked goods, dressings, whipped toppings, frostings, cream fillings and spreads. In Examples, the fat content is thus reduced substantially, to give food products which closely resemble in quality the higher fat-containing analogs.

Food products having a reduced fat content

A process for the production of gelatin from fish skins comprises the steps of: (a) cleaning the skins in order to remove therefrom substantially all superfluous material; (b) treating with dilute aqueous alkali; (c) washing with water until the washing water is substantially neutral; (d) treating with dilute aqueous mineral acid; (e) washing with water until the washing water is substantially neutral; (f) treating with dilute aqueous citric acid and/or another suitable organic acid; (g) washing with water until the washing water is substantially neutral; and (h) extracting with water at elevated temperatures not above about 55.degree. c., the washed citric acid-treated skins. In practice, the present process employs much lower temperatures than known heretofore for the treatment steps, which results in a high quality product (e.g. absence of a fishy smell), compared with the prior art.

Growing community of inventors

Holon, Israel

Margalit Bergman