Title of Invention

READY-TO-EAT NOODLES AND PROCESS THEREOF

Abstract

The invention relates to an industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles. The ready-to-eat noodles prepared according to the method of this invention are packed in multilayer flexible retortable pouches. The ready to eat noodles retain the original quality attributes with a shelf life of 12 months under all climatic/environmental conditions. The invention further provides wholesome, nutritious, and shelf-stable ready-to-eat vegetable noodles which are free from chemical preservatives and chemical treatment and confirms to the microbiological standards applicable for thermally processed food products. Ready-to-eat noodles disclosed in the present invention do not require addition of water and further cooking before consumption.

Full Text

READY-TO-EAT NOODLES AND PROCESS THEREOF FIELD OF INVENTION The invention relates to an industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles packed in multilayer flexible retort pouches. The ready-to-eat noodles retain the original quality attributes with a shelf life of 12 months under all climatic/environmental conditions. BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART Different types of noodles are commercially available with different packing. However, no attempts have been reported towards the development of retort pouch processed ready-to-eat vegetable noodles free from chemical treatments/preservatives with longer shelf life and ease of preparation. The fresh or raw noodles known in the prior art are prepared and sold for immediate usages. Since no processing is involved in the preparation, the product is highly prone to enzymatic browning due to polyphenoloxidase enzyme activity unless stored under refrigeration. As a result this type of noodles has only 2% marketing potential (Corosbie et al 1990; Aust. J. Agric. 31:83-88). The dehydrated/dried salted white noodles are the most popular noodles in China, the biggest consumer of noodles in the world. These types of noodles are re-boiled with added seasoning agent and dehydrated vegetables. (Harold Corke and Monisha Bhattacharya; Asian food 3:43-69). The Wet noodles are type of boiled noodles which have a moisture content of about 52% and thus have relatively a short shelf life. They do not undergo any discoloration on storage because while boiling the polyphenoloxidase enzyme is made inactivated. However, they need protection from airborne contamination. Further, the product needs to be reboiled prior to the consumption (Moss, HJ. 1982; Proceedings of International Food Scientist and Technologist Conference at Singapore pp. 234-239). Another type of processed noodles comprising the prior art are the frozen boiled noodles which are prepared by rapidly freezing the noodles after boiling them. The preparation involves washing with water and immersing in cold water ( There are different methods of preparation of ready-to-eat noodles available for immediate consumption. Generally, the noodles are cooked in salted water and drained, further it is rinsed with cold water for faster cooling as well as for separation. In some cases oil is smeared to the noodle for separation. In this process, no guidelines or standard procedure is available on the quantity/volume of oil to be added during boiling or during cooling and therefore, significant changes may take place during retort pouch processing. Hence, this ordinary method of preparation cannot be adopted for industrial scale production of retort pouch processed ready-to-eat vegetable noodles with consistent quality. The packed wet type instant noodles are conventionally manufactured by a process comprising of mixing and kneading an alkaline agent and raw powder consisting mainly of wheat flour and starch forming a dough; preparing a noodle strip from the dough; cutting the noodle strip into plurality of noodles to obtain raw noodles; their boiling and steaming, cooling and treating with an acid solution packing in a bag made up of heat resistant film; and heat treated. These noodles are further put together with a soup containing bag and an ingredient mix containing pouch into a cup made of expanded polystyrene (EPS). At the time of consumption, the instant noodles as well as soup and ingredient of the pouches are emptied into a bowl; after pouring hot water into the bowl the whole mixture is allowed to stand for as short as one minute or till it turns into an edible stage. In the case of fried noodles, the time required for heating is three minute instead of one minute [Youichi (Sapporo, JP); Hanaoka; Akihiro (Chiba, JP); Tezuka; Kenichi (Sapporo, JP) US Patent: 5534273]. This method includes the application of alkaline agent in kneading and treatment with acid solution during cooking of boiled noodles. Japanese patent (KOKOKU publication No. 56-24496) discloses a method of manufacturing ordinary seasoned noodles of two-ply structure, which comprises the steps of preparing a noodle strip by mixing and rolling ingredients, containing wheat flour mixed with an organic acid containing food as a main component; preparing another noodle strip by mixing and rolling ingredients containing wheat flour as a main component without organic acid. The acid containing noodle strip is superimposed upon the acid free noodle strip and thereby two-ply noodle strip is formed; further the two-ply noodle strip is rolled such that adequate adhesion to each layer is achieved; the two-ply strip is cut into a plurality of noodles thereby obtaining seasoned of two-ply noodle structure. But these noodles are not instant in nature and cannot be preserved for a longer period of time. Another Japanese patent (KOKAI publication No.5-91845) discloses a method of manufacturing wet type instant noodles having three-ply structure wherein the middle layer is made hard and another layer is made smooth to have satisfactory feel during eating. This method has inevitably increased manufacturing steps and is more complicated. SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention relates to an industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles. The ready-to-eat noodles prepared according to the method of this invention are packed and thermally processed in multilayer flexible retortable pouches and retain the original quality attributes with a shelf life of 12 months under all climatic / environmental conditions. The invention further provides wholesome, nutritious and shelf-stable ready-to-eat noodles which are free from chemical preservatives and confirms to the microbiological specifications applicable for thermally processed food products. Ready to eat noodles disclosed in the present invention do not require addition of water and further cooking before consumption. The method disclosed in the present invention is simple and easy to adopt for commercial production. An aspect of the present invention is to provide an industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles, wherein said method comprising steps of: i. boiling noodles with 3-8% oil (v/w) in water; ii. sprinkling 25-35% oil (v/w) over the boiled noodles; iii. optionally adding partially cooked vegetables and/or seasonings and/or sauces to the boiled noodles; iv. packing the above using suitable packaging material; v. thermal processing of the above by gradually heating to attain about 100° C within a period ranging from about 12-15 minutes, followed by sterilizing at temperature ranging from about 116-120°C with about 15-20 Ibs pressure for about 5-7 minutes. Further aspect of the present invention discloses an industrial method for processing packed precooked noodles, comprising: a. thermal processing of the packed precooked noodles by gradually heating to attain about 100° C within a period ranging from about 12-15 minutes, and b. sterilizing the packed precooked noodles at temperature ranging from about 116-120°C with about 15-20 Ibs pressure for about 5-7 minutes. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION The invention relates to an industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles packed and thermally processed in retort pouches. The ready-to-eat noodles disclosed in the present invention do not require addition of water and further cooking before consumption. The ready to eat noodles retaining the original quality attributes have a shelf life of 12 months under all climatic/environmental conditions. Ready-to-eat noodles are free from chemical preservatives and confirms to the microbiological specifications applicable for thermally processed food products. One embodiment of the present invention provides an industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles, wherein said method comprising: (i) boiling noodles with 3-8% oil (v/w) in water; (ii) sprinkling 25-35% oil (v/w) over the boiled noodles; (iii) optionally adding partially cooked vegetables and/or seasonings and/or sauces to the boiled noodles; (iv) packing the above using suitable packaging material; (v) thermal processing of the above by gradually heating to attain about 100° C within a period ranging from about 12-15 minutes, followed by sterilizing at temperature ranging from about 116-120°C with about 15-20 Ibs pressure for about 5-7 minutes. Further aspect of the present invention discloses an industrial method for processing packed precooked noodles, comprising: a. thermal processing of the packed precooked noodles by gradually heating to attain about 100° C within a period ranging from about 12-15 minutes, and b. sterilizing the packed precooked noodles at temperature ranging from about 116-120°C with about 15-20 Ibs pressure for about 5-7 minutes. The method of preparation of ready-to-eat noodles of the present invention comprises thermal processing at relatively high temperature (about 116-120°C at 15-20 Ibs pressure) and thereby the product has possibility to develop lumps/spillover due to the volumetric expansion of starch moiety of noodle. The method employs the use of 3- 8%, preferably 5% oil v/w in water for boiling noodles and addition of 25-35 %, preferably 30% oil v/w over the boiled noodles. The addition of appropriate amount of oil results in well separation of noodles during thermal processing. In the present invention, the vegetables can optionally be added to boiled noodles after cooking them on a medium flame (about 65-85°C). Cooking on a medium flame removes free water/moisture content of onion, cabbage, and capsicum since low flame (55°C) is inadequate to remove free water/moisture content of the above mentioned vegetables. The reduction of free water/moisture content has avoided the volumetric expansion of noodles during retort pouch processing. The salts, seasoning agents and the noodles are added to the partially cooked or sauteed vegetables at the end of preparation and removed from fire immediately to reduce the thermal stress on the product during retort pouch processing. This has led to minimum exposure of the product to heat and thereby increased the retention of nutritional quality. The noodles are thermally processed in flexible mulilayer material the layers of selected from a group consisting of polyester, cast propylene, propylene, nylon, polypropylene, aluminum, cast polypropylene and combinations thereof. The flexible multi-layered material is selected from a group of polyester/cast propylene, propylene/nylon/polypropylene and polyester/aluminum/foil/nylon/ cast polypropylene. The package used for packing and processing the ready-to-eat noodle of the present invention is a retort pouch. Temperature and air pressure are applied gradually to ensure uniform heat penetration so as to achieve a temperature of 118°C as well as a cumulative F0-value of 4.5 which makes the product commercially sterile, without any discoloration. The method disclosed in the present invention is simple and easy to adopt for commercial production. Method for preparing ready-to-eat vegetable noodles The raw material and process described herein would result in a total yield of 25 kg of ready to eat noodles. The raw material required for preparing ready-to-eat vegetable noodles is given in Table No. 1. Table: 1 Raw Material The raw materials exemplarily include but are not limited to the following entities: (Table Removed) The vegetables were washed, cleaned and cut into small pieces. Water was kept for boiling and 200 ml of refined oil (w/v) was added to boiling water followed by addition of 4 Kg of noodles to the above oil-water mixture. Noodles were cooked until softened. Excess of water was drained and noodles were then transferred to aluminum trays. 1200 ml refined-oil (w/v) was sprinkled over the noodles followed by a gentle mixing and cooling. Non-hydrogenated fat / oil of vegetable origin such as sunflower, corn, palm, and groundnut can be used in the preparation. The vegetables were separately cooked on medium flame at 65-85 °C in order to reduce the moisture content. Sauces and seasonings were added to the cooked vegetables for flavor and taste. The noodles were then added to the cooked vegetables followed by removal of the ingredients from fire. The use of sauces and seasoning agents is optional. Similarly, although the method disclosed in the present invention relates to the preparation of ready-to-eat vegetable noodles, however, ready-to-eat noodles without vegetables can also be prepared using said method. All the ingredients were mixed gently and packed into retort pouches (300 gm/ pouch). The pouches were hermetically sealed using the impulse sealer and were transferred to aluminum moulds and arranged in weld mesh basket. The basket was placed in autoclave/retort. The contents of the pouches were heated up to 100°C within 12-15 minutes, to allow gradual penetration of heat. Further, in order to achieve a cumulative F0-value of 4.5, sterilization was continued under 15-20 Ibs pressure at 116-120°C for 5-7 minutes using compressed air. The pouches were allowed to cool down in autoclave / retort itself and were taken out from autoclave after removing the weld mesh. The surface of the pouches was dried and labeled followed by microbiological analysis of the samples. Finally, the proximate analysis of the samples was carried out. We claim: 1. An industrial method for preparing ready-to-eat noodles, comprising: vi. boiling noodles with 3-8% oil (v/w) in water; vii. sprinkling 25-35% oil (v/w) over the boiled noodles; viii. optionally adding partially cooked vegetables and/or seasonings and/or sauces to the boiled noodles; ix. packing the above using suitable packaging material; x. thermal processing of the above by gradually heating to attain about 100° C within a period ranging from about 12-15 minutes, followed by sterilizing at temperature ranging from about 116-120°C with about 15-20 lbs pressure for about 5-7 minutes. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the oil is refined vegetable oil. 3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the refined vegetable oil is selected from a group of sunflower oil, corn oil, palm oil, coconut oil, groundnut oil and mustard oil. 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vegetables are cooked at about 65- 85 °C temperature for about 7-12 minutes. 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the packaging material is a flexible multi-layered material. 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the layers of flexible multi-layered material are selected from a group consisting of polyester, cast propylene, propylene, nylon, polypropylene, aluminum, cast polypropylene and combinations thereof. 7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the flexible multi-layered material is selected from a group of polyester/cast propylene, propylene/nylon/polypropylene and polyester/aluminum/foil/nylon, cast polypropylene. 8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the packing is in retort pouch. 9. An industrial method for processing packed precooked noodles, comprising: a. thermal processing of the packed precooked noodles by gradually heating to attain about 100° C within a period ranging from about 12-15 minutes, and b. sterilizing the packed precooked noodles at temperature ranging from about 116-120°C with about 15-20 1bs pressure for about 5-7 minutes.

Documents:

1271-del-2006-Abstract-(13-11-2013).pdf

1271-del-2006-abstract.pdf

1271-del-2006-Claims-(13-11-2013).pdf

1271-del-2006-claims.pdf

1271-del-2006-Correspondence Others-(13-11-2013).pdf

1271-del-2006-correspondence-others.pdf

1271-del-2006-description (complete).pdf

1271-del-2006-form-1.pdf

1271-del-2006-form-2.pdf

1271-del-2006-form-26.pdf

1271-del-2006-form-3.pdf

1271-del-2006-form-5.pdf