Apparatus for coating a food product with a batter

A coating apparatus for coating food products with a batter, comprising:

• a frame supporting a conveyor belt and having a transport run to advance food products from an entry section towards a discharge section thereof in a transport direction, the conveyor belt further having a return run, the conveyor belt extending between a front roller at a front end of the entry section and a rear roller at a rear end of the discharge section;
• an upper batter applicator, wherein said upper batter applicator is positioned over the conveyor belt downstream of the entry section and configured to form, in operation, one or more curtains of batter flow from the upper batter applicator to the transport run of the conveyor belt in order to provide batter to an upper surface of the food products;
• a batter pump adapted to feed batter from a batter container to at least the upper batter applicator;
• a wall structure provided at the front end adjacent the conveyor belt and in proximity of the front roller configured to cause, in operation, batter to be dragged with the conveyor belt and/or the front roller upwards towards the entry section;
• wherein a batter overflow device below the entry section of the conveyor belt, the batter overflow device comprising a perforated surface having one or more perforations below and adjacent the entry section of the conveyor belt and a batter reservoir below said perforated surface, the perforated surface is arranged to apply batter to the conveyor belt at a location at the entry section upstream where food products are initially received by the conveyor belt and the upper batter applicator;
• wherein the batter pump is further adapted to feed batter to the batter overflow device so that in operation batter flows through the perforated surface and forms a lower batter layer on top of said perforated surface;
• and
• wherein the entry section passes through said lower batter layer such that the entry section is arranged to receive the food products on top of the lower batter layer.