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AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsGregory A. Clanton, Julie L. Holmstrom, Peter A. Huberg, Gerald J. Rudolph, Scott A. Tolson, James N. Weinstein
Estimating the term…
Apparatus and methods are disclosed where plastic extrudable food product is provided such as by a food cooker extruder and is mixed with an additive to form a patterned food product, such as by a pattern forming die. The cross-sectional area of the patterned food product is reduced from an inlet end to an outlet end by a factor of at least 50:1 at an average convergence angle of <45.degree. while maintaining the cross-sectional pattern to form a reduced cross-sectional patterned dough, and then is extruded through a die port having an opening equal to the reduced cross-sectional area to form a complexly patterned extrudate. In a preferred form, the additive is injected through ports into an interstitial gap imparted by an annular shoulder between the periphery of the flowing dough and the interior wall surface of the passageway to provide a topical coating to the periphery of the flowing dough to lubricate and reduce friction of the periphery of the flowing dough with the passageway and to produce a surface coloration on the periphery of the flowing dough.
Method for adding at least a first additive to an extrudable food comprising the steps of:
Method for adding at least a first additive to an extrudable food comprising the steps of:
Apparatus for providing a topical coating to a flowing extrudable food comprising, in combination:
Apparatus for providing a topical coating to a flowing extrudable food comprising, in combination:
The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the port extends upstream at a relatively small acute angle to the direction of the flowing extrudable food.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.