Spice Oleoresins

United States Imports of Spices and Oleoresins. The consumption of spices has continued to increase in the United States into 1993 (7). The demand for ethnic foods, and the trend toward less salt, glycerides, and fat, has stimulated more spice and condiment use. The United States consumes approximately 25% of the spices produced in the world. In 1993, imports accounted for about 65% of U.S. seasoning needs compared to 80% in the early 1980s. In 1991 approximately 50% by value of U.S. imported spices entered New York, the principal port of entry around 1983 more than 75% was imported through this port. The volume of spices and oleoresins (spice extracts) into the United States has been increasing steadily, but the value of imports has varied because of specific shortages and large price variations (Table 1). 

Many spices are processed (2) to produce essential oils, oleoresins, essences, tinctures, extracts, resinoids, etc. These processes separate nonflavor components and further concentrate the aromatic or pungent principles of the spices. Such products allow a wider variety of uses and appHcations of the vital spice components. 

Table 1. United States Spice and Oleoresin Imports ...

United States Exports of Spices and Oleoresins. The United States (ca 1993) is the foremost grower of peppermint, spearmint, orange, lemon, lime, and grapefmit products. The mints are processed to essential oils, and the citms fmit are sold as fresh fmit or processed to fro2en... 

Information regarding U.S. production of oleoresins is not available. It is estimated that there is a decline in domestic production of oleoresins of those spices imported in large volume, such as black pepper, capsicums of all types, and turmeric, since these oleoresins are more frequendy produced in the growing areas. However, the manufacture of specialty oleoresins produced from selected imports will continue, and oleoresin production from domestically grown spices is expected to increase (7,8). 

The FDA has pubhshed methods for the deterrnination of residual solvents in spice extracts such as oleoresins and has limited the concentrations of those specific solvents that are permitted. Chlorinated hydrocarbons and benzene have been almost completely removed from use as extracting solvents in the United States their use continues overseas where toxicity regulations are less stringent. The presence of pesticides or herbicides in spices is rigidly controHed by the FDA. 

Trichloroethylene was approved for use for many years as an extraction solvent for foods. In late 1977, the Eood and Dmg Administration (EDA) harmed its use as a food additive, direcdy or indirecdy, prohibiting the use in hop extraction, decaffeination of coffee, isolation of spice oleoresins, and other apphcations. The EDA also harmed the use of trichloroethylene in cosmetic and dmg products (23). 

Paprika and its oleoresin are approved for use in foods in general where its appHcation as a color additive frequendy ovedaps its use as a spice. Both products have good tinctorial strength and are used at 0.2—100 ppm to produce orange to bright red shades. 

Prior to 1977, trichloroethylene was used as a general and obstetrical anesthetic grain fumigant skin, wound, and surgical disinfectant pet food additive and extractant of spice oleoresins in food and of caffeine for the... 

George, K.M., On the extraction of oleoresin from turmeric comparative performance of ethanol, acetone and ethylene dichloride, Indian Spices, 18, 7, 1981. 

Paprika, powdered spice, orange-red, paprika oleoresin as food colorant... 

Prevent oxidation of spice oleoresins present in spices themselves and in seasoned foods. 

The enantiomeric differentiation of linalool is useful in the quality control of essential oils and oleoresins, as it was found to provide an important indication of the authenticity of many herbs and spices. The enantiomeric composition of linalool has been determined in many essential oils, including basil, bergamot, rosemary, lavandin, lavender, balm, coriander, mace. Pelargonium, rose, Cymbopogon, lemon, mandarin, Osman-thus, davana, jasmine, Lippia alba and orange, as well as in many fruit... 

Z0285 Nes, I. E., R. Skjelkvale, O. Olsvik, and Z0296 B. P. Berdal. The effect of natural spices and oleoresins on Lactobacillus plantarum and Staphylococcus aureus. 

The resinoids described above should be distinguished from prepared oleoresins (e.g., pepper, ginger, and vanilla oleoresins), which are concentrates prepared from spices by solvent extraction. The solvent that is used depends on the spice currently, these products are often obtained by extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide [223a]. Pepper and ginger oleoresins contain not only volatile aroma compounds, but also substances responsible for pungency. 

Pepper oil and pepper oleoresin are obtained from the black pepper Piper nigrum L. (Piperaceae). Pepper oil is produced by steam distillation of whole or crushed fruits. The oil is an almost colorless to bluish-green liquid with a characteristic odor, reminiscent of pepper, but without the pungency of the spice. 

Extracts of aromatic plant or animal materials obtained using organic solvents or fluidised gasses are not considered as essential oils [1, 23, 25-28]. Concretes, absolutes, spice oleoresins, etc. which can be classified as aromatic extracts are not covered in this chapter. 

The world of aroma compounds is becoming more and more complex. In the early days people used aromatic products like fruit juices or fruit juice concentrates which were relatively weak and still close to the related foodstulf. Later, with more knowledge of separation techniques, infusions, extracts, oleoresins and absolutes ranging from weak to strong impact were used to impart aroma. Essential oils such as spice oils already had a very strong impact. Modern analytical technologies allowed the evaluation of the chemical compositions of extracts and essential oils, so that isolates either as powerful mixtures or even as single compounds could be obtained. 

In the United States, dichloromethane may be present as an extractant or process solvent residue in spice oleoresins at a level not to exceed 30 mg/kg [ppm] (including all chlorinated solvents), in hops extract at less than or equal to 2.2% and in coffee at a level not to exceed 10 mg/kg [ppm] (United States Food and Drug Administration, 1996). 

Most of the industrially applied separation processes use precipitation by means of reduced solvent power by changing the pressure/temperature in one or more steps. In most cases, as for the production of oleoresins from spices, or the extraction of hops, a single-step separation is sufficient. Double- or triple-step separations are applied for spice extraction, in case enrichment of pungency, colour or essential oils are desired - as, for example, with pepper, with precipitation of piperin, the pungent substance of the pepper, in the first step, and essential oil in the second step. 

The extraction of spice oleoresins is relatively new, and industrial plants have been in operation for about the last ten years. Because the CO2 extracts are different to the conventional processed oleoresins, the acceptance in the food industry is growing slowly. The spice plants are much smaller than the decaffeination and hop plants, and use extractors of between 200 and 8001. The same is true for medical herbs and high value fats and oils, which are more or less at the beginning of development. 

The classical method for the production of spice oleoresin consists of two steps, as for example for ginger. 

There are a number of published applications in which spices are extracted with liquid carbon dioxide to isolate a flavour- or aroma concentrate [22,48,54], Liquid CO2 dissolves the essential oils and lighter fractions of the oleoresins. Supercritical CO2 is generally a better extracting-solvent than liquid CO2, because higher densities, equivalent to higher solubility, can be achieved by raising the pressure. 

The British Standard method (331) of test for spices and condiments gives a procedure for the determination of total capsaicinoid content of chilies and chili oleoresins by HPLC. The powdered or ground sample is mixed with an equal volume of acid-washed sand and Soxhlet extracted for 6-8 h with MeOH. The filtered extract, diluted with MeOH, is analyzed by HPLC on a Cl8 column, with an ACN-HzO-glacial acetic acid mobile phase and detection at 280 nm. Oleoresins are diluted with MeOH and analyzed in a similar manner. 

Spices are ground to pass through 340 U.S. 20 mesh (oleoresins warmed). Refluxing for 1 h with acetone, then dilution with the mobile phase. 

Spices impart aroma, colour and taste to food preparations and sometimes mask undesirable odours. Volatile oils give the aroma, and oleoresins impart the taste. Aroma compounds play a significant role in the production of flavourants, which are used in the food industry to flavour, improve and increase the appeal of their products. They are classified by functional groups, e.g. alcohols, aldehydes, amines, esters, ethers, ketones, terpenes, thiols and other miscellaneous compounds. In spices, the volatile oils constitute these components (Zachariah, 1995 Menon, 2000). 

---