DESC:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:
PRICKLY PEAR PRODUCT AND PREPARATION METHOD THEREOF

APPLICANT:
ROYAL GABAT FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LLP
An Indian Entity
Having address:
903, Supath Apt, Vijay Cross Roads, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India ¬¬¬- 380009

The following specification describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PRIORITY
The present application claims priority from Indian Provisional Patent Application No. 201721028431 filed on 10th August 2017.
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention belongs to the field of food processing, particularly to a prickly pear product and its processing method.

BACKGROUND
Prickly Pear is a fruit of cactus plant. Botanically the genus of cactus is known as Opuntia. Opuntia grows in various continents in arid and semi arid regions. Some prominent regions of the many places where Opuntia is found to be growing in abundance are; Mexico, Morocco, Southern parts of Europe, Near rocky Mountains in United States of America, Tunisia, Malta, South Africa and India. It has various names and recognition in different languages and cultures. Commonly known as Prickly Pear or Tuna or Nopal or Indian Fig in international domain.
Local communities have extensively used Prickly Pears coming from varied varieties of Opuntia for it’s medicinal and nutritional values. Villagers in Saurashtra Region of Gujarat, particularly the communities residing in rural areas of Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Jasdan have used prickly pear fruit for its medicinal and nutritional benefits. Conventional knowledge in these areas says that “the fruit is good for pregnant women”. Although the locals possess the knowledge that the fruit is beneficial for pregnant women, there is no scientific knowledge amongst the locals regarding the reason for such nutritional or medicinal value. Apart from fruits, locals make a sugar based fruit concentrate. This sugar based fruit concentrate is mixture of fruit pulp, water and sugar. This concentrate is generally diluted in water and known as “Findla Sharbat” in Saurashtra region.
Locally available sugar based prickly pear fruit concentrate of Opuntia Elatior Mill is although good for its nutritional value, but is not recommended for diabetics as it has high concentration of sugar, it is not safe for teeth as high sugar concentration leads to cavities and is painful for people with sensitive teeth and due to fermentation effect of fruit with sugar, the product degrades very fast. Fast degradation and development of bacterial and fungal growth if stored over prolonged period renders the product not marketable.
Considering the traditional knowledge that the fruit of Opuntia Elatior Mill is nutritive and good for human health but has issues with; i) traditional way of making fruit pulp ii) and usage of sugar to sweeten. There was a need of making fruit nectar or fruit pulp of fruit of Opuntia Elatior Mill, such that the nutritional benefits are kept intact and the downside of using sugar as ingredient to conventional fruit juice or findla sharbat.
Conventional prickly pear fruit juice use sugar as base, which was not safe for diabetics. High concentration of sugar is known to cause cavities and teeth problems, including sensitivity. Sugar based fruit juice or concentrate has issue of fermentation and product shelf life. The shelf life is enhanced by usage of food preservatives like ascorbic acid, mallic acid etc. in current products. These food preservatives are harmful to human health and thus defeat the very purpose of making a nutritive or medicinally benefitting product from prickly pear. Traditional product has a general ratio of 40% fruit pulp, 18% water, 40% sugar and 2% other preservatives and ingredients. Thus, the component (prickly pear fruit pulp) having nutritional benefit is 40% of total product.

Although presently available prickly pear concentrate with sugar aims to help in terms of health benefits, there are issues due to high amount of sugar, not marketable due to shelf life constraints and unhygienic preparation due to home based or conventional production techniques. Thus, there is a long lasting need of a product having more nutritional value and benefit as compared to traditional product.

SUMMARY
This summary is provided to describe aspects related to Prickly pear fruit product containing predefined amount of various ingredients and having medicinal and nutritional effects. It is to be understood that this application is not limited to the particular process steps described in particular order, as there can be multiple possible embodiments which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosure. The terminology used in the summary or description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In one implementation, a Prickly pear fruit product is disclosed. The product may comprise Prickly Pear fruit pulp; natural sweetener; acidity regulator; and preservative, wherein the Prickly pear fruit product has medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of at least 12 months.
In another implementation, a process for making Prickly pear fruit product, having medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of atleast 12 months, is disclosed. The process for making Prickly pear fruit product, comprising steps of: -
harvesting, the fruit at particular time in the morning using tongs;
washing and cleaning fruits in fruit washer;
removing spines on the fruit;
pulping, the fruit without human touch;
heating, the processed fruit pulp at predefined temperature and for predefined time and temperature;
cooling, the mixture by heat exchange process in heating container,
adding, sweetener and preservatives to the processed fruit pulp;
mixing and stirring, the pulp for making it homogenous;
wherein the Prickly pear fruit product has medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of atleast 12 months.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments of this disclosure, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words "comprising,” “having," "containing," and "including,” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

The exemplary embodiments described herein and claimed hereafter may be suitably practiced in the absence of any recited feature, element or step that is, or is not, specifically disclosed herein. For instance, references in this written description to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," and the like, indicate that the embodiment described can include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of various forms or combinations. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to some embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

No or terminology in this application should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential or critical. The use of any and all examples, or example language (e.g., "such as") provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate example embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the claims appended hereto unless otherwise claimed.

Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. Where a specific range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is included therein. All smaller subranges are also included. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges are also included therein, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. For example, a range of "about 0.1% to about 5%" or "about 0.1% to 5%" may be interpreted to include not just about 0.1% to about 5%, but also the individual values (e.g., 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) and the sub-ranges (e.g., 0.1% to 0.5%, 1.1% to 2.2%, 3.3% to 4.4%) within the indicated range.

A Prickly pear fruit product containing predefined amount of various ingredients and having medicinal and nutritional effects is described. The product may have 95% to 99% fruit pulp and 5 to 1% other ingredients which may make the product more effective in nutritional value and benefit as compared to traditional product. While making Prickly pear fruit product, the fruits may be harvested, just after sunrise. Spines on Prickly Pear fruits from Opuntia Elatior Mill may be removed by rubbing the fruit over a cloth and further burning remaining spines using a low flame. Pulping and processing of fruit pulp may be carried out without human touch. A sweetener, steviol glycoside (Stevia Leaf Extract) and preservatives maybe added to the processed fruit pulp. The processed fruit pulp may be heated at predefined temperature and for predefined time. The fruit pulp may be cooled, for predefined time, by heat exchange process in heating container.
Referring now to Figure 1, the process 100 for making Prickly pear fruit product is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
The order in which the process 100 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the process 100 or alternate process. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the process 100 without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the process can be implemented using naturally available prickly pear fruits. However, for ease of explanation, in the embodiments described below, the process 100 may be considered to be implemented in the above described making Prickly pear fruit product.

At block 101, prickly pear fruit is harvested, at a particular time of the day. In one embodiment, the time may be the morning time preferably 2 hours after sunrise, when acid content in fruit is such that its shelf life can be maximized. In one embodiment, long tongs may be used to hold the fruit and twist it to harvest. The tongs are used in order to harvest prickly pear fruit may reduce contamination due to sweat generated in hands of person harvesting the fruit.

At block 102, spines on the fruit are removed. In one embodiment, Spines on the fruits are removed by rubbing the fruit over a cloth and further burning remaining spines using a low flame.

At block 103, the fruits are washed and pulped. In one embodiment, the washing is carried out in a fruit washer in order to clean the fruit from all sides. In another embodiment 2mg/ltr Chlorine is used to disinfect the fruit and water.

In one embodiment, a mechanized and closed chamber pulping machine may be used. The mechanized and closed chamber pulping machine may avoid interaction of fruit from human hands while processing and thus avoids contamination. In one embodiment, the in built stirrer may separate pulp, seeds and outer covering from fruit without human touch.
At block 104, the processed fruit pulp may be heated at predefined temperature and for predefined time. In one preferred embodiment, the processed fruit pulp is heated at 80 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes. In one embodiment, the controlled temperature may maintain nutritional values of the fruit pulp.

At block 105, the pulp may be cooled for predefined time and temperature, by heat exchange process in heating container. In one preferred embodiment, the cooling temperature may be 60 centigrade and cooling period may be 5 minutes. In one preferred embodiment, heat exchange process may be circulation of cool water around heating chamber.

At block 106, a sweetener may be added to the processed fruit pulp. In one preferred embodiment, stevia leaf extract called as steviol glycoside bulked with isomalt is used as sweetener and thus the product may be safe for diabetic people and for teeth.

At block 107, preservatives may be added, to the processed fruit pulp. In one embodiment, degradation of the product is decreased. In one preferred embodiment, the preservative INS 211 and Acidity Regulator - E330 is used.

At block 108, The pulp is mixed and stirred for homogenous mixing.

At block 109, once the pulp is just above ambient temperature, it is hot filled in food grade bottles and each bottle is sealed and then capped.

In one embodiment, the product may have 95% to 99% fruit pulp and 5% to 1% other ingredients. Further, more percentage of fruit pulp may make it more effective in nutritional value and benefit as compared to traditional product.

In one implementation, a Prickly pear fruit product is disclosed. The product may comprise Prickly Pear fruit pulp; about 95% to 99%, natural sweetener Steviol Glycosides – E960 (Bulked with Isomalt – E953) about 5% to 1%, Acidity Regulator - E330 0.01%; and about 0.01% Preservative – INS 211 , wherein the Prickly pear fruit product has medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of at least 12 months.

In one embodiment, disclosed Prickly pear fruit product may comprise 98.38% Prickly Pear fruit pulp; 1.6% natural sweetener; 0.01% acidity regulator; and 0.01% preservative, wherein the Prickly pear fruit product has medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of atleast 12 months.

In one embodiment, the product may have increased shelf life. In one embodiment use of stevia may enhance shelf life of the product. In one embodiment, use of stevia instead of sugar, may decrease fermentation and by using globally recognized as safe preservative preferably sodium benzoate, the product retains its shelf life. Thus, this invention enhances shelf life and makes it more healthy.

In one embodiment, the product may increase hemoglobin level and Lymphocyte count.
In one embodiment, the product may use stevia as sweetener and make the product safe for Diabetics and thus caters to a large audience. Stevia is having antibacterial properties and use of stevia instead of sugar is helpful in cavity free and safe for teeth.
In one embodiment, the product may have 30% Iron content and 21% Calcium. Iron helps in increase of hemoglobin levels and calcium fosters strong bones and teeth.

Examples
Below, using examples to illustrate the present invention more specifically. However, the invention is not at all limited to the following examples. The following examples are provided by way of illustration:
Example 1 – Hemoglobin level
Table 1 summarizes, changes observed in hemoglobin level of 2 different candidates for different time period.
The product has resulted in increase of haemoglobin level.

Target Name Sample 1 Sample 2
Day 0 Day 42 Day 0 Day 18
Hemoglobin 4.2 g/dl 10.9 g/dl 8.5 g/dl 11 g/dl
RBC (Red Blood Cells) 1.13 mill/cmm 4.31 mill/cmm 2.89mill/cmm 3.22mill/cmm
WBC (White Blood Cells) 3,800/cmm 9,600/cmm 3,100 /cmm 7,700/cmm
Platelet Count 82,000 /cmm 1,50,000 /cmm 1,58,000/cmm 1,60,000/cmm

Example 2 – Shelf life
The product of the present invention has been characterized by various tests and analytical procedures.
Table 2 summarizes, changes observed in total plate count, mould and yeast and E.coli for prickly pear fruit pulp product prepared in accordance with the present invention.
Quality characteristic Globally permitted values Sample 1
(storage period 1 year) Sample 2
(storage period 8 days)
Total plate count (cfu/gm) < 10.0 x 103 4.2 x 103 7.0 x 102
Mould and Yeast ( cfu/gm ) <10 cfu/gm <10 cfu/gm <10 cfu/gm
E.Coil/gm Absent/g Absent/g Absent/g
Salmonella/25gm Absent/25 g Absent/25 g Absent/25 g
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM :-
1. A prickly pear fruit pulp product comprising: -
prickly pear fruit pulp;
natural sweetener;
acidity regulator; and
preservative,
wherein the Prickly pear fruit product has medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of atleast 12 months.

2. The product claimed in claim 1, wherein Prickly Pear fruits are selected from Opuntia Elatior Mill.

3. The product claimed in claim 1, wherein the natural sweetener is about 5% to 1%, steviol glycosides (Stevia Leaf Extract).

4. The product claimed in claim 1, wherein the acidity regulator is about 0.01% E330 and the Preservative is about 0.01% INS 211.
5. A process for making Prickly pear fruit product, comprising steps of :-
harvesting, the fruit at particular time in the morning using tongs;
washing and cleaning fruits in fruit washer;
removing spines on the fruit;
pulping, the fruit without human touch;
heating, the processed fruit pulp at predefined temperature and for predefined time and temperature;
cooling, the mixture by heat exchange process in heating container,
adding, sweetener and preservatives to the processed fruit pulp; and
mixing and stirring, the pulp for making it homogenous;
wherein the Prickly pear fruit product has medicinal and nutritional benefits and a shelf-life of atleast 12 months.
6. The process claimed in claim 5, wherein
the particular time in morning is 2 hours after sunrise, when acid content in fruit is optimum;and
2mg/Ltr chlorine is used in washing to disinfect the fruit and water.

7. The process claimed in claim 5, wherein the processed fruit pulp is heated at 80 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes.

8. The process claimed in claim 5, wherein;

pulping and processing is carried out in a closed chamber pulping machine; and
heat exchange process comprises circulation of cool water around heating chamber.

9. The process claimed in claim 5, wherein Prickly Pear fruits are selected from Opuntia Elatior Mill.

10. The process claimed in claim 5, wherein the natural sweetener is about about 5% to 1%, steviol glycosides (Stevia Leaf Extract).

11. The process claimed in claim 5, wherein the acidity regulator is about 0.01% E330 and the Preservative is about 0.01% INS 211.

Dated this 13th day of July 2018

Priyank Gupta
Agent for Applicant
IN-PA-1454