Del Monte Corporation

Big Heart Pet, Inc.

Star-Kist Foods, Inc.

H.j. Heinz Company

Big Heart Pet Brands

Other

Big Heart Pet Branda

Davor Juravic

Donald R Barnvos

Oscar Ortiz

Mark Donatucci

Steven Bautista

Franjo Baltorinic

Yomayra Alvarez

Dwayne P McDowell, Ii

Geoffrey Chase Thornhill

Eric Lew

William Keehn

Donald Barnvos

John F Berry

Richard J Rothamel

Melinda S Cope

Lawrence Hawley

Bill Keehn

Yomayra Diaz

Glenn Shull

Sergio Alberto Jimenez-Marquez

Jeffrey Rabe

Bruno Letinich

Hilda Fleischman

Eric J Lew

Tracy Grammer

Tracy Wojnarowski

Richard Rothamel

Aretha Ashby

John Frederick Berry

John Fredrick Berry

Described herein are chewable articles intended to be provided to animals for purposes including dental cleaning, breath freshening, nutrition, administration to the animal of beneficial agents, satisfaction of the animal's urge to chew, and general enjoyment by the animal. Also disclosed are apparatus and methods for making such chewable articles, the methods including the use of a processing aid to lubricate the article-forming apparatus, such as extruders, portioners, and molds, and to reduce the power requirements of such apparatus in the forming process.

Methods for making appetizing and dentally efficacious animal chews

Described herein are chewable articles intended to be provided to animals for purposes including dental cleaning, breath freshening, nutrition, administration to the animal of beneficial agents, satisfaction of the animal's urge to chew, and general enjoyment by the animal. The chews are made to be appetizing to the animal, to satisfy an urge to chew, to effect abrasive cleaning of the animal's teeth, to deliver one or more active agents to the oral cavity of the animal, or a combination of these. The chews have a resilient, chewable texture and are shaped to facilitate dental cleaning, to facilitate oral grasping by the animal, to appeal to human owners of the animal, to enhance the human-animal bond, or a combination of these. Also disclosed are apparatus and methods for making such chewable articles and for formulating and using them to effect dental health in animals.

Appetizing and dentally efficacious animal chews

Apparatus, systems and methods are disclosed for manufacturing slices of sausages that appear to have been cut from a conventional round sausage log at an angle. An illustrative embodiment provides a manufacturing process for making portions to be finished into angled pet treats comprising: (a) providing a ground mix of proteinaceous material, flavor enhancers and preservatives to a forming chamber comprising: a fixed base surface, a fixed top surface, and a movable intermediate section insertable between said base and top surfaces, said intermediate section having a plurality of die cavities that each have a central axis oblique to the surface of said intermediate plate, said top surface having a plurality of feeder holes that overlap at least partially with said die cavities, (b) filling said plurality of die cavities via said feeder holes with said foodstuff, thereby forming a plurality of portions in shapes and dimensions that generally correspond to the shapes and dimensions of said die cavities, (b) moving said intermediate section containing said plurality of portions out of said chamber, (c) forcibly ejecting said portions with a plurality of longitudinal elements that reciprocate in and out of said die cavities along said central axis, thereby forming angled pet treats.

Apparatus, systems and methods for manufacturing food products

Pet treat

An extrusion process incorporates a forming manifold where a tubular flow of a second material is intermittently interrupted while a core flow of a first material is discharged substantially continuously. Subsequently, the core flow is severed to form individual food items or treats for humans, animals, and the like, where the tubular flow results in an outer component surrounding an inner component which protrudes from one or both ends of the outer component. Material of the core flow is bone-like, while material of the tubular flow is meat like. Material of the tubular flow may include material from the core flow subjected to mixing in a static mixer to achieve a marbled texture of the outer material.

Intermittent flow extrusion apparatus

Apparatus, systems and methods are disclosed to manufacture a plurality of edible pieces in a continuous process where each piece is generally different in thickness, shape, size and/or texture from another piece, so as to create, in the aggregate product distribution, pieces of randomly varying thickness, size, shape and/or texture. More specifically, the present invention, in its various embodiments, provides a process for manufacturing pet jerky treats comprising: grinding proteinaceous material, mixing said proteinaceous material with preservatives and flavor enhancers to form a blend of foodstuff, extruding said foodstuff through at least one die opening that is at least partially irregular to form at least one strip of extrudate that is at least partly irregular in shape, transporting said strip in a first longitudinal direction to a first cutting operation, cutting said strip at a first cutting angle to form a first set of pieces, transporting said first set of pieces in a second longitudinal direction to a second cutting operation, cutting said first set of pieces in said second cutting operation at a second angle to form a second set of pieces, such that the said second set of pieces cumulatively produced during a process run generally appear to be of random sizes and shapes.

Apparatus, systems and methods are disclosed for manufacturing semi-moist meatballs. An illustrative embodiment provides a method of manufacturing generally spherical pet treats comprising: (a) providing a ground mix of proteinaceous material, flavor enhancers and preservatives to a portioning device that divides said mix into smaller portions of roughly uniform volume, (b) placing said portions on a first belt of a first conveyor moving at a first speed in a longitudinal direction, (c) periodically pressing said portions with a second belt of a second conveyor, where said second belt operates in a plane at a height above, and substantially parallel to, said first belt, said second belt moving at a second speed in substantially the same longitudinal direction as said first belt, while also oscillating back and forth in a lateral direction that is at an angle to said longitudinal direction, such that said portions are transformed into generally spherical shapes.

Intermittent flow extrusion process and food product

A pet treat having a sugar-based edible portion including a palatant material and a support portion. Incorporation of starch provides a hard-candy texture for the edible portion. The pet treat may be formed as a lollipop, a toy, or a lozenge using either a batch process or a continuous process. Features to interest a pet include a resilient mount, or a rotatable mount. An adhesive mount can attach the support to a variety of surfaces. A replaceable cover and rejuvenant container may be used.

Cat treat

A dog chew treat is fashioned from a composition comprising sugar, fiber, and flour. Preferably, the sugar is dextrose, and the flour is pre-gelatinized wheat flour. The composition may be molded into the shape of a bone, or other treat. A palatant coating may be applied to the molded product. Colors may be added for different aesthetics such as a marbling pattern. Functional ingredients may be used to provide health benefits.

Dog chew treats

An edible product includes an edible outer cover component in which is located an inner edible component. A system for producing the edible product includes an arrangement for delivering the edible product in the form of an elongated rope-type product to a crimping apparatus. The crimping apparatus receives the longitudinal rope-like product for crimping the longitudinal rope to separate the longitudinal rope into individual edible products.

Filled edible product, and system and method for production of a filled edible product

Growing community of inventors

San Pedro, CA, United States of America

Davor Juravic