The present invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for fabricating food products, particularly to apparatus and methods for fabricating shaped food products, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for fabricating shaped, dual textured food products.
The sale of snack-type food products is a highly competitive business. In addition to the particular food components, color, flavor, and increasingly shapes and the play value of such shapes are important in the marketability of any particular food piece. For example, fruit-based snack products such as FRUIT CORNER'S.TM. fruit bit pieces are sold in variously shaped pieces such as animals, e.g. bears, sharks, and dinosaurs, and objects such as jets, airplanes, and rockets. While the basic food formulation from which such shaped, snack food pieces can remain relatively constant, the novelty and play value of the shapes in the marketplace decline rapidly. Consequently, new shapes are constantly being developed to replace existing shapes as those existing shapes lose their novelty and appeal.
Accordingly, in the development of apparatus for fabricating shaped, snack food items, it is imperative that the molds for forming shaped pieces be inexpensive to fabricate and replace and easy to install for rapid change of finished product shapes.
While shaped food pieces are known, such food pieces are homogeneous in composition and texture. While desirable, it would be even more desirable to provide a dual textured, shaped food piece. Recently, dual textured food compositions and snack food item articles prepared therefrom have been developed (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,098, issued Jul. 11, 1989 to J. E. Langler, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,236, issued Aug. 1, 1989 to J. E. Langler, each entitled Dual Textured Food Piece of Enhanced Stability and each incorporated herein by reference). Unfortunately, providing a shaped, dual textured food piece greatly increases the difficulty of developing apparatus for fabricating such pieces on an industrial scale.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide novel apparatus and methods for food products, which in the preferred form are shaped, and which in the most preferred form are also dual textured.
Another object of the invention is to provide molds which in themselves are inexpensive to fabricate and which are easy to install and replace. In this regard, an aim of the invention is to allow replacement of existing food products shapes as they lose their novelty and appeal with new shapes as they are developed.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide increased speed of operation for maximizing the fabrication of food products. In this regard, the cavities are moved along a circuitous path where the cavities are filled with food material which is allowed to harden to form the food pieces and where the food pieces are removed from the cavities before they are again refilled. Further, in the preferred form, two cavities are simultaneously filled from a single source of food material.
Still further, another object of the invention is to fabricate dual textured food pieces where first and second food materials are coextruded in a manner where the first food material is hardened to form an outer shell portion which encircles and encloses a softer inner core portion formed by the second food material.