Abstract: An apparatus for handling food products comprises an alignment trough disposed at an incline for holding a stack of the food products at an incline. The alignment trough defines a portion of a passage upon which the food products travel. The stack defines a bottom food product. At least one movable member extends into the passage to control the separation of the bottom food product from the remainder of the stack by moving to provide clearance fro the food product to pass.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 17, 2014
Date of Patent:
October 18, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Mark E. Malenke, Gary S. Rusch, Tod W. Heleniak, Brian Adamski, Larry D. Wierschke, Scott A. Adler
Abstract: An apparatus and method for placing food products into a food tray are disclosed. The apparatus comprises at least one sleeve at least one sleeve having a first end configured to singly receive food products and an at least partially closed second end opposite the first end. The at least one sleeve has a first position where the food products are singly receivable through the first end to form a stack having a predetermined orientation in the at least one sleeve. The at least one sleeve is configured to rotate from the first position to a second position where the food products are positioned over the food tray and substantially simultaneously unloaded in the predetermined orientation through an opening positioned between the first and second ends into the food tray.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 24, 2012
Date of Patent:
October 4, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Mark E. Malenke, Brian Charles Adamski, Tod Wesley Heleniak
Abstract: New and improved seal jaws and methods for creating a seal on a package containing a high-profile product therein are described herein. The seal jaws are configured to seal overlapping wrapping film segments together adjacent the product in a seal zone where the height of the product results in additional film width. The height of the product creates an inward pull that can prevent the additional film width from being taut, which can result in folds or wrinkles in a subsequently formed seal. Advantageously, the seal jaws described herein have a non-linear configuration that provides extra sealing surface area as compared to linear surfaces over the same lateral distance. The extra sealing surface is provided by an array of curvilinear peaks and valleys, where the peaks tension the overlapping film segments in the seal zone to substantially prevent the additional film width from forming folds in a subsequently formed seal.
Abstract: A container for dispensing a liquid concentrate comprises a container body with top edge and a cap base sealed relative to the top edge. The cap base includes a wall having an inner thread, a funnel surrounding an opening, and a spout. The container includes a cap top with a shoulder including a flange having an outer thread and depending downwardly from the shoulder to define a channel being open toward a bottom edge of the cap top and located between an interior of the flange and the sidewall of the cap top. The cap top can be threadingly engaged to the cap base to form an outer seal between at least one of the shoulder and the flange of the cap top and the wall of the cap base and form an inner seal between the bottom edge of the sidewall of the cap top and the funnel of the cap base.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 5, 2013
Date of Patent:
September 20, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Allison Doubles, Shelley Markoulis, Jason Braun, Stuart M. Leslie, Roland Zeder
Abstract: A shelf-stable acidified starch and cheese sauce meal is provided. In one aspect, the meal includes an acidified starch component having a pH of about 4.6 or below and a separate cheese-based sauce component having a pH between about 5.7 and about 6.2. The sauce component is to be combined with the acidified starch component when the meal is ready to be consumed. In another aspect, a buffering composition is blended into the separate cheese-based sauce component and includes blends of dibasic phosphate salts, monobasic phosphate salts, and an edible acid where the cheese-based sauce component has a total dry weight of phosphate salt between about 3 and about 5 percent.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 6, 2008
Date of Patent:
August 23, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Yeong-Ching Albert Hong, Lynell Morales, John Pasch
Abstract: Food or beverages prepared using 1,3-propanediol have shown to have modified flavor profiles, including bitterness suppression of high intensity sweeteners and potassium chloride, relative to comparable food or beverages that do not include 1,3-propanediol. Inclusion of 1,3-propanediol uniquely modifies the flavor profile of food products or food ingredients even when 1,3-propanediol is included in such low amounts that it does not itself contribute flavor to the product. 1,3-propanediol may be included in the food or beverage products in certain amounts to effect this bitterness suppression or in specific ratios relative to one or more high intensity sweeteners or potassium chloride.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 8, 2013
Date of Patent:
August 9, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Lisa Ann Dierbach, John B. Topinka, Deborah D. Barber
Abstract: The present invention provides edible compositions comprising a compound of the present invention, food products comprising such edible compositions and methods of preparing such food products. The present invention also provides methods of reducing the amount of NaCl in a food product, methods of reducing the sodium intake in a diet, and methods of reducing bitter taste in a food product.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 9, 2014
Date of Patent:
August 9, 2016
Assignees:
CHROMOCELL CORPORATION, KRAFT FOODS GROUP BRANDS LLC
Inventors:
Kambiz Shekdar, Daniel Lavery, Joseph Gunnet, Jessica Langer, Jane V. Leland, David Hayashi, Peter H. Brown, Louise Slade, William P. Jones
Abstract: According to one embodiment, a protein product may include a mixture of water and particulate matter comprising protein. The mixture may include medium chain aldehydes and pyrazines. The ratio of a total concentration of medium chain aldehydes in the mixture to a total concentration of pyrazines in the mixture, as determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, may be greater than or equal to 0.5 and less than or equal to 45. The mixture may also include from about 0.5 wt. % to about 8.0 wt. % total protein by weight of the mixture. In addition, the mixture may include from about 40 wt. % to about 98 wt. % water by weight of the mixture and less than or equal to about 4.0 wt. % oil and fat by weight of the mixture. The particulate matter may have an average particle size less than or equal to about 50 ?m.
Type:
Application
Filed:
March 14, 2016
Publication date:
July 7, 2016
Applicant:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Lisa A. Dierbach, Julia L. Gregg-Albers, Ryan M. High, Jennifer L. Kimmel, Ray Laudano, Inmaculada Andujar Ortiz, Yan Wang
Abstract: An apparatus and method for macerating raw meat pieces includes two sets of rotating arbors, each having a different primary function. More particularly, the first arbor set is primarily configured to flatten and roughly tenderize the meat. The second arbor set is primarily configured to increase the surface area and tenderness of the meat without breaking the meat apart, though the second arbor set may also further reduce the thickness of the meat pieces. The second arbor set is positioned downstream of the first arbor set by a conveyor such that the meat pieces advancing through the macerator are only macerated by one of the arbor sets at any give time. Each arbor set has a pair of counter rotating shafts.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 26, 2012
Date of Patent:
July 5, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Zbigniew Stanislaw Borkiewicz, Thomas W. Kleckner, Timothy Dale Schnell
Abstract: A flexible film package for storing food products comprises a body with a side wall, a closed bottom end, and a closed top end. The body includes a primary line of weakness and a pair of secondary lines of weakness formed in the side wall. Each of the primary and secondary lines of weakness includes a plurality of score lines spaced apart by non-scored portions of the side wall. The score lines of the primary line of weakness have a greater length, width, and depth than the score lines of the secondary lines of weakness. The non-scored portions between the score lines of the primary line of weakness are longer than the non-scored portions between the score lines of the secondary lines of weakness.
Abstract: The present invention is based on applicants' discovery, disclosed herein, of agonists for the TAS2R receptors TAS2R1, TAS2R4, TAS2R9, TAS2R13, TAS2R14, TAS2R16, TAS2R44, TAS2R46, and TAS2R60. The assignment of agonists to these receptors makes assays for identifying compounds that modulate bitter taste possible. For example, the present invention provides methods of identifying compounds that inhibit the bitter taste due to these agonists. The present invention also provides methods of identifying compounds that selectively inhibit the bitter taste due to these agonists. The present invention further provides methods of identifying compounds that mimic the bitter taste due these agonists. The present invention also provides methods of identifying compounds that enhance the bitter taste due to these agonists.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 22, 2012
Date of Patent:
May 24, 2016
Assignees:
Chromocell Corporation, Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Kambiz Shekdar, Purvi Manoj Shah, Joseph Gunnet, Jane V. Leland, Peter H. Brown, Louise Slade
Abstract: Anti-boil-over compositions and methods are provided that significantly reduce boil-over during microwave oven cooking of pasta relative similar pasta and water mixtures such that oversized containers are not required. Thus, when prepared using limited volume container, the container of cooked pasta appears full.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 13, 2014
Date of Patent:
May 10, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Jaime Davis Flaherty, Yeong-Ching Albert Hong, Tia Michelle Rains, Cecily Elizabeth Brose, Ricardo Villota, Cathy Jean Ludwig, Anilkumar Ganapati Gaonkar, Dennis Ann Kim
Abstract: A chewy and intermediate moisture bar is provided that uses a dairy-based binder generally without the need to employ gums, humectants, and sugar syrups as a binder to achieve the moist and chewy texture. In one aspect, the bar includes a dry base uniformly blended with a dairy-based binder that uses high levels of dairy proteins as the main binding component. A method of forming the chewy and intermediate moisture bar is also provided that may use a lay or delay period to allow moisture equilibration or migration from the binder to the dry base.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 7, 2010
Date of Patent:
May 3, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Gary Francis Smith, Olaf C. Kortum, Yinqing Ma, Amanda J. Reilly, Kelly K. Harman, Edward Charles Coleman, Juan R. Peebles
Abstract: A chewy and intermediate moisture bar is provided that uses a dairy-based binder generally without the need to employ gums, humectants, and sugar syrups as a binder to achieve the moist and chewy texture. In one aspect, the bar includes a dry base uniformly blended with a dairy-based binder that uses high levels of dairy proteins as the main binding component. A method of forming the chewy and intermediate moisture bar is also provided that may use a lay or delay period to allow moisture equilibration or migration from the binder to the dry base.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 15, 2013
Date of Patent:
April 26, 2016
Assignee:
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Inventors:
Gary Francis Smith, Olaf C. Kortum, Yinqing Ma, Amanda Jane Criezis, Kelly K. Harman, Edward Charles Coleman, Juan R. Peebles