Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L13/00—Meat products; Meat meal; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L13/10—Meat meal or powder; Granules, agglomerates or flakes
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L19/00—Products from fruits or vegetables; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L19/01—Instant products; Powders; Flakes; Granules
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L19/00—Products from fruits or vegetables; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L19/03—Products from fruits or vegetables; Preparation or treatment thereof consisting of whole pieces or fragments without mashing the original pieces

Definitions

• the invention relates to a snack product and to a process for making a snack product.
• snack products consist primarily of crisps, nuts, potato granules and maize—based snacks.
• snack products which are savoury based include flavoured (chicken, beef, cheese and onion etc.) crisps and other flavoured, extruded and fried snacks.
• one aspect of the invention provides a snack product comprising dried pieces of food in the form of chips or flakes.
• the flakes are preferably bite-sized so that they are convenient to eat at any time.
• the flakes may consist of meat, fish, vegetable or fowl and contain little or no fat.
• the flakes are of good quality meat, fish, vegetable or fowl and contain a low fat content.
• the finished flakes are very thin, having a maximum thickness of preferably 0.8mm.
• the finished flakes are preferably at least 0.125mm thick and have a preferred thickness range of from 0.25 to 0.375mm.
• the flakes are preferably curled at least in part. In this way the flakes add further volume to the amount in a bag enabling a full bag of flakes of a reasonable size relative to the price of the product to be provided.
• the flakes are spiced and flavoured and in certain circumstances have vitamins added.
• the flakes are preferably seasoned with natural spices and marinated before being dried to cure the beef.
• Turkey flakes are preferably seasoned with garlic and spices, or provided as tandoori turkey or turkey tikka.
• Fish flakes eg of smoked salmon, are suitably marinated with lemon and black pepper.
• soya protein can be used as an alternative to meat. This may be seasoned with spices and hydrolysed vegetable protein flavourings. Because the meat, fish, vegetable and fowl flakes contain little or no moisture they may be stored in moisture tight packaging for several months without deterioration.
• Another aspect of this invention provides a process for the production of a snack product which in a broad sense comprises providing slices of food in the form of flakes and drying the flakes.
• the slices are of a thickness such that the flakes curl at least in part during the drying process, particularly at their edges.
• the food Prior to the slicing step the food is chilled to between -10 * C and 0 * C depending on the quality and type of food being used.
• the food Prior to the chilling step the food is pressed into preformed containers so that once chilled it is in a form suitable for dicing and slicing to produce the flakes.
• the moisture content of the finished flakes may be up to 5% by weight, preferably up to 3% by weight, and more preferably from 1.5 to 3.0% by weight depending on product and style.
• 90-100% visual lean beef is passed through a foreign body detector and pressure injected with a marinade mix of liquid spices which, in some cases, will include added vitamins.
• the beef is then placed in a vacuum tumbler to disperse the injected marinade and bring out the protein in the meat.
• the meat is then placed into a pressure mould which is approximately 6" x 6" x 18" and placed in a chiller to bring the meat down to a temperature of -5°C
• the meat is removed from the container and placed into a dicing machine which cuts the chilled blocks of meat into columns approximately 2" x 2" x 18".
• the trolley is wheeled out of the unit and the trays are placed on a conveyor or the dried contents deposited on a vibrating conveyor which passes through an infra—red or ultra violet zone and then into the packaging machine hopper which conveys the beef flakes to a weighing head where the product is weighed and portioned before dropping into the bagging section of the packaging machine.
• the product drops from the weigher head it passes through a detector that checks for foreign bodies.
• the bag is sealed it is flushed with nitrogen to evacuate most of the residual oxygen in the bag.
• the bags are conveyed to a packaging area where they are mounted on cards or packed in display boxes which are then placed in shipping boxes and sealed for delivery.
• the finished flakes have an average thickness of 0.5mm.
• the process described can be run on a continuous basis or in batches.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Nutrition Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Meat, Egg Or Seafood Products (AREA)
• Confectionery (AREA)
• Formation And Processing Of Food Products (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10725721

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (3)

Citations (8)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 1992
  • 1992-11-26 GB GB929224792A patent/GB9224792D0/en active Pending
• 1993
  • 1993-11-25 JP JP6512918A patent/JPH08503849A/ja active Pending
  • 1993-11-25 WO PCT/GB1993/002431 patent/WO1994012060A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1993-11-25 AU AU55327/94A patent/AU5532794A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1993-11-25 GB GB9324226A patent/GB2273033B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1993-11-25 EP EP94900260A patent/EP0674483A1/en not_active Ceased
• 1995
  • 1995-05-24 NO NO952070A patent/NO952070L/no unknown

Patent Citations (8)

Non-Patent Citations (6)

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