Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd.

Shuji Akimoto

Taisuke Yamane

Hajime Hamada

Takahiro Miura

Noriyuki Manada

A method and apparatus for manufacturing puffed snack having a hard surface layer and soft inside, and having a good texture and a difference in color tone between the surface layer and the inside. After spraying a coating liquid or water onto the surface of a dough extruded from an extruder in the form of a rope, the extrudate is dried so that the moisture content of the sprayed extrudate becomes 5 to 12% by weight and then cut. The apparatus used for this manufacturing method comprises a spray device for uniformly spraying the surface of the dough extruded from a nozzle hole of an extruder, a drying device arranged on the downstream side of the driving device, a drawing mechanism comprising belts spanned in a tensioned state so as to clamp the extrudate, a holding cylinder for holding the extrudate and arranged adjacently on the downstream side of the drawing mechanism, and a cutting blade arranged in close proximity to the outlet side opening of the holding cylinder to cut the extrudate.

Process for producing puffed snack and production apparatus therefor

A device ( ) for distributing expandable dough to plural holes ( A) is provided at a terminal end of a rotor ( ) in an extruder to form plural expanded confectioneries, each of which has a rod-like configuration. A first member ( ) with a through hole ( ) at central portion thereof has plural and radial channels ( ), and a second member ( ) connected to the first member has a multi-faced pyramid-like projection ( ) at a central portion of the inner wall therof. The inner wall has channels ( ), each radially extending from a base of a face of the projection. The channels in the second member and the other channels in the first member are opposingly arranged in alignment to form diverging flow passages for the expandable dough. The second member has plural bores ( ) arranged so as to form a concentric circle, and one each of each bore communicates with one end of the diverging flow passage while the other end is opened to form an expanding portion for the confectionery dough.

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Sakado, Japan

Shuji Akimoto