Food-coating composition, process for preparation thereof and use

1. A food-coating composition comprising an aqueous copolymer poly(vinyl ester) dispersion consisting essentially of:

A) 100 parts by weight of a copolymer of from 40 to 95% by weight of vinyl esters of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acids, from 5 to 60% by weight of maleic esters and/or fumaric esters of monohydric aliphatic alcohols having a chain length of C 1 -C 18 and optionally other comonomers; and

B) a stabilizer system consisting of:

1) from 0.1 to 1.0 parts by weight of an emulsifier;

2) from 0 to 0.45 parts by weight of a cellulose ether; and

3) from 1 to 10% by weight of at least one polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis in the range from 85 to 90 mol % and a viscosity of from 2 to 70 mPa·s for the 4% by weight aqueous solution at 20° C.

2. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of, as vinyl ester of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acids a vinyl ester of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acid with chain length C 2 -C 18 .

3. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the vinyl esters of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acids in an amount of at least 50% by weight.

4. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of, as maleic and fumaric esters of monohydric aliphatic alcohols of chain length C 1 -C 18 , esters of saturated alcohols of chain length C 1 -C 18 , or esters of monohydric aliphatic unsaturated alcohols of chain length C 3 -C 18 .

5. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the monomer group of maleic and fumaric esters, optionally in combination with other comonomers, in an amount of from 20 to 50% by weight based on the weight of the copolymer.

6. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said emulsifier consists essentially of sodium salts, potassium salts and ammonium salts of unbranched aliphatic carboxylic acids of chain length C 12 -C 20 , sodium hydroxyoctadecanesulfonate, sodium salts, potassium salts and ammonium salts of hydroxyl fatty acids of chain length C 12 -C 20 and their sulfonation or acetylation products, alkyl sulfates, triethanolamine salts, alkyl(C 10 -C 20 )sulfonates, alkyl(C 10 -C 20 )-arylsulfonates, dimethyldialkyl(C 8 -C 18 )ammonium chloride, acyl-, alkyl-, oleyl- and alkylarylethoxylates and their sulfonation products, alkali metal salts of sulfosuccinic esters with aliphatic saturated monohydric alcohols of chain length C 4 -C 16 , sulfosuccinic 4-esters with polyethylene glycol ethers of monohydric aliphatic alcohols of chain length C 10 -C 12 (disodium salt), sulfosuccinic 4-esters with polyethylene glycol nonylphenyl ethers (disodium salt), sulfosuccinic biscyclohexyl esters (sodium salt), lignosulfonic acid and also its calcium, magnesium, sodium and ammonium salts, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate containing 20 ethylene oxide groups, resin acids, hydrogenated and dehydrogenated resin acids and their alkali metal salts, dodecylated diphenyl ether disulfonic acid sodium or copolymers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide having a minimum content of 10% by weight of ethylene oxide.

7. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the emulsifiers in an amount in the range of from 0.2 to 0.85 parts by weight.

8. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein component 2) consists essentially of cellulose ethers.

9. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the cellulose ethers in an amount in the range from 0 to 0.4 parts by weight.

10. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said vinyl esters of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acids are vinyl acetate; said maleic esters and/or fumaric esters of monohydric aliphatic alcohols having a chain length of C 1 -C 18 are dibutyl maleate and/or fumarate; 1) is an ethoxylated oleyl alcohol present in an amount of from 0.25 to 0.5 parts by weight; 2) is a hydroxyethyl cellulose present in an amount of from 0 to 0.3 parts by weight; 3) is present in an amount of from 3 to 8 parts by weight; and

wherein the solids content of the dispersion is in the range from 20 to 65% by weight.

11. A process for preparing an aqueous copolymer poly(vinyl ester) dispersion as a constituent in a food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 by free-radical emulsion polymerization, in which the monomers are added in the batch process, in the feed-stream process, or in the combined batch/feed-stream process, which comprises monomers being charged in an amount in the range from 1 to 15% by weight, based on the total amount of monomers, for starting the polymerization.

12. A hard cheese comprising the food-coating composition of claim 1 .

13. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the emulsifiers in an amount in the range of from 0.25 to 0.5 parts by weight.

14. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the cellulose ethers in an amount in the range from 0 to 0.3 parts by weight.

15. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of the cellulose ethers in an amount in the range from 0 to 0.15 parts by weight.

16. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dispersion consists essentially of no cellulose ethers.

17. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the total amount of polyvinyl alcohol in the dispersion is in the range from 2 to 9% by weight, based on the mass of the total monomers.

18. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the total amount of polyvinyl alcohol in the dispersion is in the range from 3 to 8% by weight, based on the mass of the total monomers.

19. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 10 ,

wherein the solids content of the dispersion is in the range from 30 to 60% by weight.

20. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 10 ,

wherein the solids content of the dispersion is in the range from 40 to 55% by weight.

21. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the vinyl ester of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acid with chain length C 2 -C 18 is selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, vinyl butyrate, vinyl isobutyrate, vinyl pivalate, vinyl 2-ethylhexanoate, vinyl esters of α-branched carboxylic acids having 9 to 11 carbons in the acid group, vinyl esters of lauric, palmitic, myristic and stearic acids, and mixtures thereof.

22. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 21 , wherein the vinyl ester of aliphatic saturated carboxylic acid with chain length C 2 -C 18 is vinyl acetate.

23. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the maleic and fumaric esters of monohydric aliphatic alcohols of chain length C 1 -C 18 consist essentially of esters with saturated alcohols of chain length C 4 -C 8 .

24. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the maleic and fumaric esters of monohydric aliphatic alcohols of chain length C 1 -C 18 is selected from the group consisting of dibutyl maleate, di 2-ethylhexylmaleate, di-2-ethylhexylfumarate, and mixtures di 2-ethylhexylmaleate and di-2-ethylhexylfumarate.

25. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said emulsifier consists essentially of sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium lauryl ether sulfate, polyethylene glycol (4-20) ethers of oleyl alcohol, or polyethene oxide (4-14) ethers of nonylphenol.

26. The food-coating composition as claimed in claim 8 , wherein component 2) consists essentially of methyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, propyl cellulose, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, or mixtures thereof.