General Mills, Inc.

Thomas Leuhrs

James N Weinstein

Peter A Huberg

Laurie Burgess

James M Olive

Jennifer M Mcaab

Apparatus and methods for fabricating food items include extruding a first hot plastic food mass through multiple passages and co-extruding a second hot plastic food mass through a feed stem received in each of the multiple passages and through nozzles. Each nozzle includes a first portion in communication with the feed stem but not the passage and a second portion in communication with the passage but not the feed stem. The nozzles are rotatable in gearing relation with the drive gear of a servomotor. The co-extruded ropes are conveyed at a linear speed rate less than or equal to the discharge speed from the nozzles, cooled, and cut into individual pieces in the form of peelably separable strands.

Apparatus and methods for fabricating food items

Apparatus and methods for fabricating food items include extruding a first hot plastic food mass through multiple passages () and co-extruding a second hot plastic food mass through a feed stem () received in each of the multiple passages () and through nozzles (). Each nozzle () includes a first portion () in communication with the feed stem () but not the passage () and a second portion () in communication with the passage () but not the feed stem (). The nozzles () are rotatable in gearing relation with the drive gear () of a servomotor (). The co-extruded ropes are conveyed at a linear speed rate less than or equal to the discharge speed from the nozzles (), cooled, and cut into individual pieces in the form of peelably separable strands.

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Rogers, MN, United States of America

Thomas Leuhrs