Claims
- 1. An extruded, self-sustaining tough and non-brittle comestible body with long lasting chew time comprising:
between about 50-80% by weight of at least one starch, between about 15-23% by weight of at least one plasticizer, between about 6-15% by weight water, between about 0.2-1.0% of at least one lubricant, and less than about 4% by weight of at least one fat.
- 2. The body of claim 1, characterized by a property of staying non-brittle at 35% relative humidity and above with no packaging.
- 3. The body of claim 1, wherein said at least one starch is comprised of partially retrograded pre-gelatinized starches and partially gelatinized starches.
- 4. The body of claim 3, wherein the relative amount of said pre-gelatinized and partially gelatinized starches ranges from 3:1 to 1:3.
- 5. The body of claim 3, wherein at least 80% of the pre-gelatinized starches are capable of retrograding.
- 6. The body of claim 1 where the endothermo peak energy, a measure of the extent of retrograding, is no less than 0.5 J/g as defined from DSC measurement.
- 7. The body of claim 3, said pre-gelatinized starches being selected from the group consisting of gelatinized wheat starch, corn starch, rice starch, rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, acid thinned starches and mixtures thereof.
- 8. The body of claim 5, further comprising non-retrograding pre-gelatinized starches selected from the group consisting of waxy starch, chemically modified starches including dextrin and maltodextrin, and combinations thereof.
- 9. The body of claim 1, said at least one plasticizer being selected from the group consisting of glycerin, propylene glycol, and mixtures thereof.
- 10. The body of claim 9, said at least one plasticizer comprising glycerine.
- 11. The body of claim 1, said at least one lubricant being selected from the group consisting of glycerol monostearate, glycerol monolaurate, hydrolyzed lecithin and derivatives, hydrolyzed vegetable oils, magnesium stearate, calcium stearate, and mixtures thereof.
- 12. The body of claim 1, wherein said at least one lubricant is glycerol monostearate.
- 13. The body of claim 1, further comprising up to 5% palatability enhancer.
- 14. The body of claim 13, said palatability enhancer being selected from the group consisting of liver, liver digest broth concentrate, liver broth powder, meat broth concentrate, meat broth powder, poultry broth concentrate, poultry broth powder, hydrolyzed proteins, yeast and yeast extract, distillery dry feed, and mixtures thereof.
- 15. The body of claim 1 further comprising one or more additional ingredients selected from the group consisting of coloring agents, fibers, antioxidants, essential minerals including calcium, nutrients, herbs, flavoring agents, dental cleaning agents, and breath fresheners.
- 16. The body of claim 15, wherein the additional ingredient comprises the fiber selected from the group consisting of cellulose fiber, wheat bran, innulin, and mixtures thereof.
- 17. The body of claim 15, wherein the additional ingredient comprises the dental cleaning agent selected from the group consisting of fillers , phosphates, acids, and mixtures thereof.
- 18. The body of claim 15, wherein the additional ingredient comprises the breath freshening agent selected from the group consisting of chlorophyll mint, parsley, kelp, and mixtures thereof.
- 19. The body of claim 15, wherein the additional ingredient comprises the flavoring agent selected from the group consisting of garlic flavor, meat flavor, cheese flavor, fruit flavor, smoke flavor, and mixtures thereof.
- 20. The body of claim 15, wherein the additional ingredient comprises the antioxidant selected from the group consisting of purified natural antioxidants and synthetic antioxidants.
- 21. The body of claim 15, wherein the additional ingredient comprises the colorant selected from the group consisting of titanium dioxide, natural dye, natural pigment, synthetic dye, and synthetic pigment.
- 22. The body of claim 15, said additional ingredient or ingredients individually comprising less than 5% by weight of said body.
- 23. A method of making a comestible body, the method comprising the steps of:
mixing ingredients that include between about 50-80% by weight of at least one starch, between about 15-23% by weight of at least one plasticizer, between about 6-15% by weight water, between about 0.2-1.0% by weight of at least one lubricant, and less than about 3% by weight of at least one fat, to form a mixture; processing the mixture by screw extrusion equipment to achieve a melt temperature, extruding the mixture to form an extrudate, shaping the extrudate to form the comestible body, and cooling, and packaging the product.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the mixing step involves the mixing of said at least one starch comprising pregelatinized starch and non-pregelatinized starch and other ingredients.
- 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the mixing step includes mixing a relative amount of said pregelatinized and non-pregelatinized starch in a ratio that ranges from 3:1 to 1:3.
- 26. The method of claim 24, wherein the mixing step includes selecting at least 80% of the pre-gelatinized starches to include starches capable of retrograding.
- 27. The method of claim 23, wherein the melt temperature ranges from 80-110° C.
- 28. The method of claim 23, wherein the shaping step comprises cutting the extrudate.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the shaping step further comprises shaping the extrudate by impression after the step of cutting.
- 30. The method of claim 28, wherein the shaping step further comprises shaping the extrudate by impression before the step of cutting.
- 31. The method of claim 23, further comprising a step of cooling, packaging, and storing the comestible body for a period of time effective for the starch to retrograde, thereby improving a chew performance characteristic of the comestible body.
- 32. A comestible body produced according to the method of claim 31, the comestible body being characterized by an ability on average to withstand from 10 to 30 minutes of direct chewing by a medium size dog.
- 33. A comestible body produced according to the method of claim 28, the comestible body being characterized by an ability on average to withstand from 10 to 30 minutes of direct chewing by a medium size dog.
- 34. A comestible body produced according to the method of claim 23, the comestible body being characterized by an ability to withstand from 10 to 30 minutes of direct chewing by a medium size dog.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/284,553, filed Oct. 30, 2002.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10284553 |
Oct 2002 |
US |
Child |
10755597 |
Jan 2004 |
US |