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US 11,540,552 B2Granted
Continuous coating method
AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsDaniel R Green, Jekaterina Severova-Epp, Thomas M Jarl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are methods and systems for continuously coating food pieces. The methods include a steps of directing and uncoated food stream through an enrober to apply a first coating to at least a portion of a surface of each food piece to form a coated stream and continuously redirecting a portion of the coated stream back through the enrober along with the stream of uncoated food pieces to apply at least one additional coating to the portion of the coated stream.
Claims12
A system for making a food composition, the system comprising:
- a. an enrober configured to apply a first coating to at least a portion of a surface of each food piece in a stream of food pieces to produce a stream of first coated food pieces;
- b. a dryer configured to receive the stream of first coated food pieces and produce a stream of dried first coated food pieces;
- c. a splitter configured to split the stream of dried first coated food pieces into at least two stream portions;
- and
- d. a conveyor apparatus configured to redirect at least one stream portion, representing from about 20% to 60% of the stream of dried first coated food pieces, back to the enrober for application of a second coating on the at least one stream portion, wherein the conveyor apparatus is configured to continuously redirect the at least one stream portion back to the enrober to produce the food composition which comprises a plurality of food pieces, wherein food pieces having one coating layer represent about 35% to about 80% of the plurality of food pieces, and food pieces having two coating layers represent about 16% to about 23% of the plurality of food pieces.
2 more elements
A system for making a food composition, the system comprising:
- a. a first enrober comprising a first drum enrober component configured to apply a liquid component of a coating to a stream of food pieces, a second drum enrober component configured to tumble a dry component of the coating with food pieces including the liquid component, a conveyor apparatus configured to convey a stream of food pieces from the first drum enrober component into the second drum enrober component and to convey the dry component into the second drum enrober component, and a dispenser component configured to apply the dry component of the coating to the conveyor beneath the stream of food pieces;
- b. a splitter configured to split the stream of coated food pieces into at least two stream portions;
- and
- c. a second conveyor apparatus configured to redirect at least one stream portion back through the first enrober, wherein the second conveyor apparatus is configured to continuously redirect the at least one stream portion back to the first enrober, wherein the at least one stream portion represents from about 20% to 60% of the stream of coated food pieces, and wherein food pieces having one coating layer represent about 35% to about 80% of the stream of food pieces, and food pieces having two coating layers represent about 16% to about 23% of the stream of food pieces.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.