Frito-lay North America, Inc.

Urschel Laboratories Incorporated

Enrique Michel

Keith Alan Barber

John Poole Hildebrand

Deborah Fischer

Michael Scot Jacko

Daniel Wade King

Wilfred Marcellien Bourg, Jr

V N Mohan Rao

Pravin Maganlal Desai

Vn Mohan Rao

Catherine Sarah Cantley

George Vindiola

Wilfred M Bourg

Jacko Micheal Scot Scot

Barber Keith Alan Alan

King Daniel Wade Wade

An apparatus for slicing food product to produce food product slices. The apparatus includes a rotatable cutting wheel having two or more knife assemblies. Each knife assembly includes a knife extending radially between a hub and rim of the cutting wheel. The knife has a leading edge facing a direction of rotation of the cutting wheel and a large-amplitude corrugated shape characterized by peaks and valleys. The knife is secured to the hub and rim with a knife holder, and a clamp secures the knife to a first surface of the knife holder. The knife holder and knife are configured to provide continuous and accurate alignment of an individual food product throughout the slicing thereof by the knife of each knife assembly to produce food product slices with a generally parallel-cut cross-section having a uniform thickness and a large-amplitude periodic shape with an amplitude of 0.1 inch or greater.

Apparatuses for cutting food products

Apparatuses for cutting food product are provided having a cutting head. The cutting head includes one or more knife assemblies. Each knife assembly includes a knife extending toward the food product and is adapter to secure the knife to the cutting head. The knife has a corrugated shape to produce a food product slice with generally parallel cuts wherein the food product slice has a periodic shape and a large-amplitude cross-section.

A high-amplitude corrugated food product and method of making same. The corrugated food product comprises a corrugated surface on opposing surfaces, each surface having a plurality of peaks with substantially equal amplitude values of at least about 2.54 mm. The corrugated food product further comprises a high area moment of inertia of between about 20&#xd7;10mto about 160&#xd7;10mwith a dehydration factor of less than about 1.7, which provides for less breakage and more texture. The corrugated food product has a 90&#xb0;-to-0&#xb0; hardness ratio of at least about 2.78 and a 90&#xb0;-to-0&#xb0; and a crispiness ratio of at least about 3.14.

High amplitude corrugated food product

Snack food product

The present invention is a method to detect defects in a process producing a food product by utilizing multivariate image analysis. In one aspect, an image is captured of the food product in the visible spectrum by on-line vision equipment, multivariate image analysis is performed on the image via an algorithm programmed onto a field programmable gate array to determine if a defect exists, a signal is sent to downstream sorting equipment, and the sorting equipment then rejects those food products that contain defects.

Method for real time detection of defects in a food product

A method for reducing the amount of acrylamide in thermally processed foods. This invention permits the production of foods having significantly reduced levels of acrylamide. The method relies on the manipulation of various unit operations used in the production of food products, particularly the peeling, cooking, and rejecting unit operations. For example, the peeling unit operation can be modified to provide a more fully peeled potato slice. The cooking unit operation can be modified by cooking to higher moisture and/or at lower hot oil temperatures to minimize the high-temperature/low-moisture conditions most favorable for acrylamide formation. The rejection unit operation can be modified to reject defects that result in high levels of acrylamide.

Method for reducing acrylamide formation in thermally processed foods

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Dallas, TX, United States of America

Enrique Michel