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HIT Files First Patent

19/06/2014

The Harare Institute of Technology has successfully filed its first patent for the Preparation of Adansonia digitata flavoured Soy milk based yoghurt, with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO).

Mr Perkins Muredzi, Dean of the School of Industrial Sciences and Technology, invented the patent filed with application number AP/P/2014/007647 and accorded 22/05/14 (priority date) as its filing date.

The patent is now awaiting final processing and publication and will be protected in over 16 countries under the ARIPO protocol and the application has also designated Botswana and Namibia for exclusive protection.

The invention relates to a method of manufacture of Adansonia digitata flavoured Soy milk based yoghurt from soya beans or soybean meal.

According to the Code Alimentarius (FAO / WHO 1977), yoghurt is milk fermented with yoghurt culture i.e.: symbiotic cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp, bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophiles. Soy yoghurt is free of animal protein, is cholesterol and lactose free. Soy yogurt contains less fat than yogurt made with whole cow’s milk. This amounts to about 2.7% (the same percentage as soy milk), versus 3.5% in dairy cows milk yogurt.

The raw material for producing soy yoghurt is Soy milk (also called soya milk, soymilk, soybean milk, or soy juice) and is sometimes referred to as soy drink/beverage -a stable emulsion of oil, water, and protein.

In soy yoghurt the main source of protein is not milk, but soy.

Soya beans are less expensive and more abundant than bovine milk, and do not contain cholesterol. Yoghurt is one of the fastest growing cultured dairy products in the Western world. Soy yoghurt may command a market on the strength of being cholesterol free. Thus the economic incentive exists to develop soy yoghurt, in which soy beans can be used as a major ingredient.