Animal chew containing fermented soyfood
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to an enriched animal chew toy comprising a resin a fermented soy nutraceutical. Optionally the nutraceutical may contain enzymes or coenzymes. Also, the enriched animal chew toy may be formed by mixing a resin with the fermented soy nutraceutical in a heated molding machine. Suitable resins include starch, thermoplastic, casein, denatured and partially hydrolyzed collagen, wheat gluten, rawhide, proteins, and mixtures thereof.
1. An enriched animal chew toy comprising a starch resin and a fermented soya nutraceutical, wherein the fermented soya nutraceutical comprises about 40% by weight carbohydrate and about 37% by weight protein, and wherein said starch resin is present at levels between about 50-99% by weight and said fermented soya nutraceutical is present at levels between about 1-40% by weight.
2. The enriched animal chew toy of claim 1 wherein said fermented soya nutraceutical provides proteins, minerals or vitamins in a fermented soy form.
3. The enriched animal chew toy of claim 1 wherein said fermented soya nutraceutical contains saccharomyces cerevisiae.
4. The enriched animal chew toy of claim 1 further comprising a fermented enzymes and/or coenzymes wherein said fermented enzymes and/or coenzymes are present at levels between about 0.1-10% by weight, said starch resin is present at levels between about 50-98% by weight and said fermented soya nutraceutical is present at levels between about 1-40% by weight.
5. The enriched animal chew toy of claim 1 wherein said starch resin is selected from the group consisting of potato starch, tapioca starch, corn starch, wheat starch and mixtures thereof.
6. The enriched animal chew toy of claim 1 , further comprising a food coloring, wherein said food coloring is present between about 0.1 weight percent to about 5 percent weight based upon the weight of said starch resin.
7. The enriched animal chew toy of claim 1 , further comprising a flavoring selected from the group consisting of a liquid flavoring, a powdered flavoring, and a mixture thereof, wherein said flavoring is present between about 0.1 weight percent to about 5.0 percent weight based upon the weight of said starch resin.
8. A method of forming an enriched animal chew toy comprising:
(a) combining a starch resin and a fermented soya nutraceutical, wherein said fermented soya nutraceutical comprises about 40% by weight carbohydrate and about 37% by weight protein to form a mixture, and wherein said starch is present at levels between about 50-99% by weight of said mixture and said fermented soya nutraceutical is present at levels between about 1-40% by weight of said mixture;
(b) introducing and heating said mixture to a heated molding machine containing a feed section, a baffel section and an output section, including a plurality of heating zones extending from said hopper section to said output section;
(c) mixing; and
(d) forming said mixture into an animal chew.
9. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said heating zones are set at the following temperature ranges: zone 1 is at or below about 70° F.; zone 2 is at or below about 150° F., zone 3 is at or below about 300° F. and zone 4 is at or below about 375° F.
10. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said nutraceutical further comprises enzymes and/or coenzymes, wherein said fermented enzymes and/or coenzymes are present at levels between about 0.1-10% by weight, said starch resin is present at levels between about 50-98% by weight and said fermented soya nutraceutical is present at levels between about 1-40% by weight.
11. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said heated molding machine comprises an injection molding machine or an extruder.
12. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said starch resin further comprises water, wherein the water content of said chew toy is between 5% and 20% by weight with respect to the starch resin.
13. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said starch resin is selected from the group consisting of potato starch, tapioca starch, corn starch, wheat starch and mixtures thereof.
14. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said starch resin further comprises water, wherein said water content of said mixture in step (b) as introduced to said molding machine is at or below 20% by weight.
15. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 further comprising combining a food coloring to form said mixture, wherein said food coloring is present between about 0.1 weight percent to about 5 weight percent based upon the weight of said starch resin.
16. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 further comprising combining a flavoring to form said mixture, said flavoring selected from the group consisting of a liquid flavoring, a powdered flavoring, and a mixture thereof, wherein said flavoring is present between about 0.1 weight percent to about 5.0 weight percent based upon the weight of said starch resin.
17. The method of forming an enriched animal chew toy of claim 8 wherein said chew toy comprises the shape of a bone, a disk, a rod, or a ring.