Low moisture extrusion process
AssigneeMars, Incorporated
InventorsWilliam GHARIBIAN, Justin NGUYEN, Adam WATKINS, Sjon-Paul CONYER
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Abstract
A process for making a dry food is described herein. The process includes providing raw materials for a dry food to a preconditioning vessel at a first flowrate, preconditioning the raw materials in the preconditioning vessel and forming a dough, and moving the dough having a moisture content of from about 4% to about 10% through an inlet of an extruder. The process further includes extruding the dough through a die plate of the extruder and forming kibbles by: applying thermal energy to the dough; and applying mechanical energy to the dough, wherein the ratio of the thermal energy to the mechanical energy can range from at least about 2.0 to about 4.0.
Claims27
A process for making a dry food, the process comprising:
- (a) providing raw materials for a dry food to a preconditioning vessel at a first flowrate;
- (b) preconditioning the raw materials in the preconditioning vessel and forming a dough;
- (c) moving the dough having a moisture content of from about 4% to about 10% through an inlet of an extruder;
- and
- (d) extruding the dough through a die plate of the extruder and forming kibbles by:
- (i) applying thermal energy to the dough;
- and
- (ii) applying mechanical energy to the dough,
- wherein the ratio of the thermal energy to the mechanical energy can range from at least about 2.0 to about 4.0.
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A process for making a dry food, the process comprising:
- (a) providing a dough having a moisture content of from about 4% to about 10%;
- (b) placing the dough in an extruder at a first flowrate;
- (c) processing the dough in the extruder, wherein the processing comprises:
- (i) applying thermal energy to the dough;
- and
- (ii) applying mechanical energy to the dough,
- wherein the ratio of the thermal energy to the mechanical energy is at least about 4;
- and
- (d) extruding the dough from the extruder through a die plate to form kibbles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.