Composition containing fine food particulate complexes, and method for producing same

1. A method for producing a food product, comprising:

preparing a mixture comprising one or more dried food ingredients and at least one oil or fat, wherein a total fat content in the mixture is 34% by mass or more; and

wet pulverizing the dried food ingredients in the mixture to produce a food composition containing fine particles, wherein the food composition comprises the at least one oil or fat and 20% to 98% by mass of the fine particles of the dried food ingredients and/or particulate complexes thereof, and wherein the food composition has a water content of 20% by mass or less;

wherein:

the wet pulverization is performed under a pressurized condition with a maximum pressure of 0.01 to 1 MPa and under a rising temperature condition satisfying the following equation:

T1+1<T2<T1+50

T1 is a temperature of the mixture at initiation of the wet pulverization, and T2 is the temperature of the mixture at termination of the wet pulverization of 31° C. or above,

the fine particles and/or the particulate complexes have a maximum size of larger than 100 μm, and

the fine particles and/or the particulate complexes have the following properties:

after being subjected to an ultrasonication treatment at a frequency of 40 kHz and an output of 40 W for 180 seconds, the fine particles and/or the particulate complexes after the ultrasonication treatment have a modal diameter of 0.3 to 200 μm and the maximum particle size decreased by 10% or more; and

after 10,000 of the fine particles and/or the fine particulate complexes are subjected to analysis with a particle shape image analyzer, a 10 th percentile value of a numerical value N for each fine particle and/or fine particulate complex is 0.40 or less, wherein N is calculated by the following equation:

N(roughness×circularity)/aspect ratio.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the wet pulverization is performed by a device selected from the group consisting of a medium stirring mill and a high-pressure homogenizer.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the wet pulverization is a one-pass treatment performed less than 30 minutes.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the food composition comprises 1% or more of particles satisfying the following:

when the particles are subjected to analysis with a particle shape image analyzer, an envelope perimeter of the particle in a planar image is 95% or less of a perimeter of the particle and an envelope area of the particle in a planar image is 200 μm2 or less.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, after the food composition is subjected to the ultrasonication treatment, a specific surface area per unit volume of the fine particles and/or the fine particulate complexes is increased by 1.6 times or more, wherein the specific surface area per unit volume after the ultrasonication treatment is 0.10 m 2 /mL or more.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, after the food composition is subjected to the ultrasonication treatment, the maximum particle size is decreased to 30% to 95% of the maximum particle size before the ultrasonication treatment.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fine particles and/or the particulate complexes obtained after the wet pulverization have a modal diameter of 20 to 400 μm.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dried food ingredients are selected from the group consisting of seeds, grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, spices, animal meat, and algae.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dried food ingredients have a water activity value of 0.95 or less.

10. The food product produced by the method according to claim 1 , wherein the food product comprises the food composition.