Title of Invention	"AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PREPARING A FOOD SUPPLEMENT"
Abstract	The invention relates to a foodstuff suitable for animals and humans which has use as a food supplement. The supplement comprises a dispersion of 40 to 90% by weight molasses and 5 to 40% by weight saturated or unsaturated fat in water having as a dispersant a phosphatide in an amount of up to 5% by weight of the dispersion. The invention also provides a process for preparing the supplement.

Full Text

The present invention relates to an improved process for preparing a food supplement. This invention relates to foodstuff for animals including humans. In particular, the invention relates to a food supplement comprising molasses and fat. The supplement is formed by using a dispersant so that the molasses can be combined with the fat. BACKGROUND ART Grazing can not always be relied on the provide sufficient feed for livestock. This is particularly the case for lactating livestock, livestock in feedlots, during exportation of livestock, and during droughts. In such circumstances, an animal's feed must be supplemented. It is known to use molasses and fats in feed supplements for animals. Both molasses and fat are high-energy sources but with significant differences in the way they are metabolised. Molasses, with its high carbohydrate value, metabolises and produces energy with little or no contribution to the stored fat resources of the animal. Its main contribution to the animals is increased energy which in an open range situation results in increased foraging. Fats, as part of a diet, also contribute energy but are metabolised in such a manner that the resultant fatty acids are absorbed into the body and recombine in body fat giving desirable weight gain. Fats are the most concentrated of all food materials and have the highest caloric density. Addition of fat to an animal's diet improves the palatability and delays digestion. This has a direct bearing on a sense of contentment in animals such as cattle and reduces energy-expending foraging. Fats, as a part of feed materials for cattle, also provide a reliable source of essential fatty acids required during pregnancy and in lactation. Many vitamins are fat-soluble and their intake will be enhanced as part of a diet containing fat. Carbohydrates and fats are also important to the health and nutrition of human beings for similar reasons as described in the preceding sentences. The combination of molasses and fat can also be used as a high-energy supplement prior to strong physical exertion or as a cost-effective material for famine relief. A problem with formulations of molasses and fat is that the two compositions cannot be easily combined as one (molasses) is a carbohydrate and thus hydrophilic while fat is hydrophobic. Consequently, special procedures are required to prepare supplements comprising fats and molasses. US Patent No. 3,895,117 describes the preparation of a dispersion of fat and molasses wherein a nonionic compound -such- as polyoxyethyl (20) sorbitan mono-oleate or polyethylene glycol (400) mono-oleate is used as the dispersant. International patent application No. PCT/SE97/00142 (Publication No. WO 97/28896) also describes a dispersion of a fat in molasses for use as a feedstuff. However, in the case of PCT/SE97/00142, the dispersant is a non-ionic ethoxylate of molecular weight 1,500 to 15,000. The dispersant described in PCT/SE97/00142 is a mineral oil and is thus an undesirable additive to feedstuff. The US 3,895,117 dispersant is also a compound not normally found in animal diets. It would therefore be desirable to have available a dispersion of molasses and a fat such as tallow in which the dispersant is a substance normally encountered in an animai's diet and can also be used as a human foodstuff. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a food supplement comprising a dispersion of molasses and fat in which the dispersant is a substance normally encountered in an animal's or human's diet. In one aspect, the invention provides a food supplement comprising a dispersion of 40 to 90% by weight molasses and 5 to 40% by weight saturated or unsaturated fat in water having as a dispersant a phosphatide in an amount of up tr> 5% by weight of the dispersion. In a second aspect, the invention provides a process for preparing a food supplement the process comprising the steps of: a) heating a fat to 45 to 60°C to liquefy said fat; b) mixing a liquid phosphatide with said heated fat at a ratio of phosphatide to fat of 1:300 to 1:20 in parts by weight; and c) cooling the emulsion formed in (b) to less than 42°C and mixing molasses .therewith to give proportions in the final composition of 40 to 90% by weight molasses, 5 to 40% by weight fat, and up to 5% by weight phosphatide. According to the present invention there is provided a food supplement consisting of non-alkaline components comprising a dispersion of 40 to 90% by weight molasses and 5 to 40% by weight saturated or unsaturated fat in water having as a dispersant a phosphatide in an amount of up to 5% by weight of the dispersion. According to the present invention there is also provided an improved process for preparing a food supplement, the process comprising the steps of: (a) heating a fat to 45 to 60°C to liquefy said fat; (b) mixing a liquid phosphatide with said heated fat at a ratio of phosphatide to fat of 1:300 o 1:20 in parts by weight; (c) cooling the emulsion formed in (b) to less than 42°C and mixing molasses therewith to give proportions in the final composition of 40 to 90% by weight molasses, 5 to 40% by weight fat, and up to 5% by weight phosphatide; and (d) optionally adding up to 7% by weight of the additive selected from the group consisting of minerals, trace elements, antibiotics and a nitrogen source, characterized in that the phosphate dispersant is added to the liquefied fat to give an emulsion. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The term "comprise", or variations of the term such as "comprising" or "comprised", are used herein to denote the inclusion of the stated integer or integers, unless in the context of usage an exclusive interpretation of the term is required. The term "food supplement" as used herein also includes supplements usually referred to as "feed supplements". The present inventors have found that phosphatides can be used to form a dispersion of molasses and fat for use as a feed supplement. Suitable phosphatides, or phosphoglycerides, include lecithin and cephalin. These compounds can be from any source but are preferably from a vegetable source. A preferred phosphatide is lecithin which has the structure (Formula Removed) in which R is, independently, a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid residue such as palmitic, stearic, palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. Lecithin is also known as phosphatidyl choline. The molasses, a by-product of sugar processing, is typically present in the food supplement at an amount within the range of 50% to 60% by weight of the total composition. A preferred amount is about 53% by weight. The fat of the food supplement according to the invention, in a generic sense, may be sourced from animal fat (tallow), or vegetable oils that contain oleic, linoleic and palmitic acids. The amount of fat in the food supplement is typically within the range of 20% to 30% by weight of the total composition. A preferred amount is about 20% by weight. The usual process in preparing a food supplement using the method of the second aspect is as follows: 1. The individual ingredients required for the final composition are separately weighed out. 2. The fat is warmed to a temperature of 45 to 60°C depending on the particular fat to give a viscosity suitable for mixing with the other components. The fat is not heated above 60°C to prevent auto-oxidation. 3. The phosphatide, dispersant is then added to the heated fat and the components mixed to give an emulsion. A mixing time of 20 to 30 minutes is usually adequate. 4. The molasses ' is then added to the cooled emulsified fat. Mixing is continued — typically for 30 to 45 minutes — to give a homogeneous mixture. Cooling of the emulsion to less that 42°C is necessary prior to the addition of the molasses as it is unstable above that temperature. 5. Other additives are then added if desired. One of skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing process comprises batch mixing. A continuous mixing process can also be used. In such a process, the specific gravity and viscosity of each ingredient is first determined. The ingredients of the formulation are separately pumped past sensor points into a continuous static chemical mixer. The sensors determine the pump speeds and regulate the proportion of an ingredient delivered to the mixer according to preset parameters. The food supplement according to the invention can include other additives known to those of skill in the art. These additives include minerals, trace elements, antibiotics and a nitrogen source such as urea. The additives can make up to 7% .by weight of the supplement. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the barrier, to combining fat and molasses is getting the water-based molasses to adhere to the surface of , * r .the miceles of fat in the suoplement. The present invention qyercomes .this. problem by adding a phosphatide such as lecithin to the molasses and fat mixture as an emulsifying agent or dispersant. The advantage of a phosphatide as the dispersant is that it is a compound normally found in animal feed or human food, unlike the prior art supplements discussed above. Another advantage of using a phosphatide such as lecithin, is that.it is a natural anti-oxidant and has value as an amphoteric surfactant to combine a hydrophobic fatty chain to a hydrophilic group with both positive and negative charges Having broadly described the invention, non-limiting examples of food supplements will now be described. Example 1 Molasses was obtained from regional sugar mills in the Townsville, Queensland, area. Tallow was similarly obtained from regional meat works. Lecithjn and other additives were from commercial sources. Ten tonne batches were prepared by firstly defining the make-up of the composition. Tallow was heated at 45°C to give a desired viscosity of 1000 centistokes and 2,300 kg pumped into a mixing tank. One hundred kg of lecithin as a phosphatide solution was then pumped into the tank and mixed with the tallow. After emulsification of the tallow, 5,300 kg of molasses (heated to 35°C) was added to the mixing tank with 1,900 kg of water to improve viscosity. To this mixture was solution added 300 kg of a 40% diluted solution of urea and 100 kg of mineral trace elements. Mixing was continued until a homogenous mixture was obtained which was then transferred to a storage tank. The feed supplement product of the above process consisted of the following on a weight by weight basis: molasses 53% tallow 23% lecithin 1% trace elements 1 % urea 3% water 19% The materials for the formulations of the following examples were obtained from the same sources as for the formulation of example 1. The processes used for preparing the formulations, except as noted, were essentially the same as the example 1 process. Example 2 Ten tonne batches of formulation were prepared. A 2,000 kg amount of heated tallow was pumped into a mixing tank followed by 50 kg of lecithin. When these components had been thoroughly mixed, 5,950 kg of molasses was introduced into the emulsified tallow. Two thousand kg of a 34% diluted solution of urea was then added to complete the formulation which was pumped from the mixing tank to storage. The supplement produced as above consisted of the following on a weight by weight basis: molasses 59.5% tallow 20% lecithin 0.5% urea 6.8% water 13.2% Example 3 A formulation of the same components as the example 3 formulation was prepared using a continuous mixing process. A tallow storage tank was heated to reduce the viscosity of the tallow. A supply of urea as a 34% weight by weight solution in water was also provided along with supplies of lecithin and molasses. The tallow and lecithin were pumped past sensor points through a static mixer. The molasses and urea solution were pumped past regulatory sensor points and combined with the tallow/lecithin mix at the head of another static mixer through which all components passed to be pumped to storage as a homogeneous mixture. The formulation produced by the continuous process consisted of the following on a weight by weight basis: molasses 59.5% tallow 20% lecithin 0.5% urea 6.8% water 13.2% Example 4 Ten tonne batches of formulation were prepared, a 500 kg amount of heated tallow was pumped into a mixing tank followed by 30 kg of lecithin. When these components had been thoroughly mixed, 9,000 kg of molasses was introduced into the emulsified tallow. Three hundred and seventy litres of water and 100 kg of mineral supplement were added to the mix which was then pumped from the mixing tank to storage. The foregoing supplement consisted of the following on a weight basis: molasses 90% tallow 5% lecithin 0.3% trace elements 1 % water 3.7% Example 5 Ten tonne batches of formulation were prepared. A 4,000 kg amount of heated tallow was pumped into a mixing tank followed by 200 kg of lecithin. When these components had been thoroughly mixed, 4,000 kg of molasses was introduced into the emulsified tallow. A 1,700 kg amount of a urea/water mixture and 100 kg of mineral supplement were then added. The completed formulation was then pumped to storage. The supplement produced by the foregoing process consisted of the following on a weight by weight basis: molasses 40% tallow 40% lecithin 2% trace elements 1 % urea 6.8% water 10.2% It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that a batch mixing process could have been used to prepare the formulation of example 3 and continuous mixing to prepare the formulations of the other examples. Food supplement prepared according to the foregoing examples is a dark, sweet-smelling liquid which can be stored at ambient temperature if the container is sealed. The composition can be transferred from storage by pumping or by pouring. Feed supplement for animals according to the invention is advantageously used in conjunction with dry roughage and can be applied by pouring or spraying over the roughage and mixing therewith. The supplement improves the palatability and dietary benefit of the roughage. With animals such as cattle, a feed rate of about 1.5 kg per animal per day is recommended. We Claim:- 1. An improved process for preparing a food supplement, the process comprising the steps of: a) heating a fat to 45 to 60°C to liquefy said fat; b) mixing a liquid phosphatide with said heated fat at a ratio of phosphatide to fat of 1:300 to 1:20 in parts by weight; c) cooling the emulsion formed in (b) to less than 42°C and mixing molasses therewith to give proportions in the final composition of 40 to 90% by weight molasses, 5 to 40% by weight fat, and up to 5% by weight phosphatide; and d) Optionally adding up to 7% by weight of the additive selected from the group consisting of minerals, trace elements, antibiotics and a nitrogen source, characterised in that the phosphate dispersant is added to the liquified fat to give an emulsion. 2. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said food supplement components are mixed in batches. 3. The process as claimed'in claim 1, wherein said food supplement components are mixed continuously. 4. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said molasses comprises 50% to 60% by weight of the said food supplement. 5. The process as claimed in claim 4, wherein said molasses comprises 53% by weight of the food supplement. 6. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fat is tallow. 7. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fat is a vegetable oil. 8. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fat comprises 20% to 30% by weight of the food supplement. 9. The process as claimed in claim 8, wherein said fat comprises 20% by weight of the food supplement. 10. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said nitrogen source is urea. 11. An improved process for preparing a food supplement, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the foregoing examples. 12. A food supplement as and when prepared by the process as claimed in claim-1.

Documents:

in-pct-2001-00231-del-abstract.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-claims.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-correspondence-others.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-correspondence-po.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-description (complete).pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-1.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-19.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-2.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-26.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-3.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-4.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-form-5.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-gpa.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-pct-101.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-pct-210.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-pct-304.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-pct-401.pdf

in-pct-2001-00231-del-pct-408.pdf