Patents Assigned to NESTECS S.A.
  • Soluble beverage powder
    Patent number: 5928703
    Abstract: A soluble beverage powder which, upon reconstitution with water, provides a beverage simulating a coffee drink which contains a small amount of cream. The soluble beverage powder is made up of a soluble coffee powder; and a soluble creamer-containing powder. The creamer-containing powder contains pre-flocculated creamer solids and at least about 10% by weight of soluble coffee solids. The soluble creamer-containing powder has a color similar to that of the soluble coffee powder such that the soluble beverage powder has a substantially homogeneous color. The soluble beverage powder contains a total amount of soluble coffee of at least 25% by weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Oliver Chmiel, Heinz Wyss, Hanspeter Maier
  • Calcium complex and a process of making a food fortified with calcium
    Patent number: 5928691
    Abstract: A fortified foodstuff containing a fortifying amount of a complex formed by the interaction of a soluble calcium salt and an alkali metal citrate and a process for its preparation by forming the complex and adding the complex to the foodstuff or forming the complex in the foodstuff.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Sekhar Reddy, Alexander Sher, Dharam Van Vadehra, Elaine Regina Wedral
  • Food products having intact granular swollen starch and their preparation
    Patent number: 5928707
    Abstract: A food product is prepared by mixing (i) a native starch having, by weight, an amylose content of from about 10% to 30%, (ii) a lipid emulsifier which complexes amylose and (iii) water to obtain a dispersion, heating the dispersion first at a temperature below a gelatinization temperature of the amylose for a time for complexing the amylose and emulsifier and then at a temperature to gelatinize the starch and obtain a heated dispersion of intact swollen starch granules and the heated dispersion is cooled to obtain a food product having intact swollen starch granules. The native starch is employed in an amount of between 5% and 30% by weight based upon water weight and the emulsifier is employed in an amount of between 5% and 15% by weight based upon amylose content weight. The food product has a complex viscosity at 0.4 Hz of between 200 Pa.s. and 700 Pa.s.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Birgitt Mahr, Hans Uwe Trueck
  • Purification of roaster gases
    Patent number: 5928697
    Abstract: A process for operating a coffee roaster to obtain reduced levels of pollutants in exhaust gases vented from the coffee roaster. In the process, fuel gases are combusted in a combustion chamber and all of the combusted gases are directed into a roasting chamber for roasting coffee beans in the roasting chamber. The exhaust gases from the roasting chamber are then separated into a recycle stream and an exhaust stream with the recycle stream comprising the majority of the exhaust gases. The recycle stream is returned to the combustion chamber. The exhaust stream is then subjected to secondary combustion at relatively low temperatures prior to venting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventor: Domingo Argiles Felip
  • Reduction of chocolate bloom
    Patent number: 5925399
    Abstract: A process for preparing chocolate or a fat containing confectionery material which comprises incorporating from 0.01 to 0.5% by weight of a silicon dioxide into the chocolate or a fat containing confectionery material during its preparation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 20, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Pu-Sheng Cheng, Stephen J. Destephen
  • Composition like mayonnaise but having less or no edible oil
    Patent number: 5922391
    Abstract: A composition which has a texture like mayonnaise but which has less or no edible oil is prepared with water and vinegar and less than 20% oil and by weight, yoghurt in an amount of from about 5% to 50% and carrageenan in an amount of from 0.03% to 1%. The composition also may include a starch, particularly, a hydroxypropyl or acetylated starch, and further, particularly when starch is present, the composition also may include a non-gelling hydrocolloid such as xanthan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventor: Hans Uwe Trueck
  • Preparation of filled pastas
    Patent number: 5922381
    Abstract: A process for the production of a pre-cooked, high moisture, shelf-stable or refrigerated acidified filled pasta having a filling within a dough skin which includes mixing pasta ingredients together to form a pasta dough, sheeting the dough to a sheet to form the skin of the filled pasta, encasing a filling having a water activity of from 0.93 to 0.97 and a pH of from 4.6 to 5.6 within the dough sheet to give a raw filled pasta, cooking the raw filled pasta in acidified water to a pH of 4.6 to 5.6 and a moisture content of from 45% to 65% by weight and a water activity of 0.94 to 0.995, and finally packaging the cooked pasta either with heat processing or under modified atmospheric conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Rupak Bajracharya, Janice Baker, George Cherian, Louise Barbara Wyant
  • Aromatization of soluble beverages
    Patent number: 5922384
    Abstract: A process for incorporating an aroma-containing substrate into a soluble beverage powder in a filling machine in which the soluble beverage powder is filled into containers. The soluble beverage powder is introduced into the filling machine and caused to flow in the form of a moving bed. While in the filling machine and prior to the soluble beverage powder being filled into containers, the aroma-containing substrate is sprayed onto the moving bed. In this way, a mixture of soluble beverage powder and aroma-containing substrate having a substantially constant ratio of aroma-containing substrate to soluble beverage powder, is provided in the containers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Brian Blackwell, Lawrence G. Carns, Jason Gawronski, Dean Frederick Rushmore
  • Treatment of vegetables
    Patent number: 5922374
    Abstract: Process for the preparation of a vegetable juice or puree in which at least one fresh vegetable is homogenized in the presence of water, where appropriate under an inert atmosphere, so as to release the flavor precursors and part of the endogenous enzymes, the homogenate is incubated at a temperature of between 0.degree. C. and 70.degree. C. for 5 min to 24 h, it is processed, where appropriate, into juice or puree, and then it is pasteurized. Cooked juice or puree derived from unblanched vegetables, capable of being obtained by the process, having an enhanced raw flavor, and a natural color which is better preserved than that of the same cooked juice or puree derived from blanched vegetables. Use of a juice or puree, or of a dry extract of juice or puree in the preparation of a food product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Cedric Daury, Tuong Huynh-Ba, Eric Raetz
  • Process of modifying texture of food products
    Patent number: 5922388
    Abstract: A process for controlling the softness of a food product which tends to lose water and become progressively harder during storage which comprises adding an immobilized edible plasticizer to the food product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Robert Eugene Garwood, Zenon Ioannis Mandralis, Keith Roberts
  • Method for manufacturing frozen aerated products
    Patent number: 5919510
    Abstract: The method for manufacturing frozen aerated products includes the use of a device having two endless screws, identical and parallel, meshing with each other and turning in the same direction, located in a casing fitted at one of its ends with a nozzle and at the other with a device for feeding with composition to be frozen and, in an intermediate area, with a device for feeding with air, the casing being provided with a jacket in which refrigerating fluids circulate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 6, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Gilles Fayard, Michel John Arthur Groux
  • Compound liquor
    Patent number: 5919502
    Abstract: A process for the production of a compound liquor suitable for making compound coatings and alternatives to chocolate which comprises mixing a cocoa powder which has been obtained from cocoa beans without any roasting treatment with a confectionery fat and roasting the mixture of cocoa powder and confectionery fat to produce the compound liquor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 6, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Angel Manez, David Barfuss
  • Preparation of granular food product for instant food preparation
    Patent number: 5916612
    Abstract: A granular food product for preparation of instant foods is prepared by mixing an oil or fat with an edible carbohydrate and/or protein powder materials to obtain a first mixture, and then further edible carbohydrate and/or protein powder materials are mixed with the first mixture to obtain a second mixture which is powdery or dough-like and that mixture is formed into granules by moistening and particle-to-particle contacting, and then the granules are dried.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 29, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec, S.A.
    Inventors: Sabine Gahot Bonnasse, Josef Burri, Osvlado Geromini, Ernst Heck, Ernst H. Reimerdes, Dhan Pal Sirohi
  • Method and apparatus for preventing agglomeration
    Patent number: 5911488
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for preventing agglomeration while drying sticky particles in a fluid bed. The method comprises supplying sticky particles to an upper surface of a perforated conveyor and advancing said sticky particles through the fluid bed, supplying drying air flow substantially upwards through the perforated conveyor to the sticky particles on it. While drying the particles exposing them substantially, from above, to a pulsing air flow so that they are caused to move and to break up agglomerates of sticky particles. This is done while controlling drying and pulsing air flow, pulsation, and drying air temperature. The invention also relates to a fluid bed preventing agglomeration while drying sticky particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 15, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Osvaldo Geromini, Werner Pfaller, Paul-Henri Poget
  • Milk substitute prepared with whey or whey and added lactose
    Patent number: 5906847
    Abstract: A milk substitute composition is prepared with whey solids or whey solids and added lactose by dissolving a whey solids powder in an aqueous medium containing calcium sequestering agent and carrageenate components at a temperature of approximately from 30.degree. C. to 65.degree. C. and then, in a second step, at the same temperature, a skimmed milk solids powder is dissolved in the whey-containing medium, and before and/or after dissolving the skimmed milk solids powder, the whey solids are allowed to soak in the aqueous liquid phase of the composition so prepared for from 10 minutes to 4 hours for hydrating the whey solids. When lactose is used, the amount of whey solids powder employed may be reduced by about half.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 25, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Hans Engel, Martinas Kuslys, Heinz Wyss
  • Forming articles of fat-containing confectionery material including chocolate
    Patent number: 5902621
    Abstract: Shaped articles of fat-containing confectionery material are formed by extruding a fat-based confectionery material under pressure so that it passes to and through a flow-constriction and a die so that the material subjected to extrusion and the extrudate from the die are in a non-pourable state and so that the material subjected to extrusion plastically deforms and so that the extrudate is plastically deformable, and then while the extrudate is plastically deformable, extrudate is placed in a molding tool and pressed to shape an article which then is demolded, or extrudate is fed to a nip of counter-rotating rollers having depressions which upon passage of the extrudate in the nip between the rollers shape the extrudate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Stephen Thomas Beckett, Mark Jury, Malcolm Robert Mackley
  • Method and apparatus for removing and displacing package headspace sterilized air
    Patent number: 5896727
    Abstract: Aseptic filling and sealing of packages with a food product is carried out in compartments which contain an atmosphere of sterile air and which contain devices for filling and sealing packages and a transporter device for transporting the packages through the compartments for the filling and sealing operations. Headspace sterile air is removed and displaced from the packages by injection of nitrogen into the packages from a nozzle which is at a fixed position and which directs the nitrogen at an angle with reference to a vertical perpendicular to the horizontal package transport direction and counter to the transport direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Josef Egli, Willy Hugelshofer, Alfred Messerli
  • Milk base enriched in calcium and its preparation
    Patent number: 5897892
    Abstract: A UHT-treated or sterilized or ultrapasteurized milk base product is obtained without the presence of thickening or gelling agents by adding calcium glycerophosphate and a calcium chelating agent to a milk base, the pH of the calcium-enriched milk base product is adjusted to a pH of between 6.6 to 7.2 and then the pH-adjusted product is subjected to UHT treatment and that product is packaged, or alternatively, calcium glycerophosphate and a chelating agent are added to water to obtain a mixture, the pH of the mixture is adjusted to a pH of between 6.6 to 7.2 to obtain a solution, the solution is heat-treated to sterilize it, and then the sterilized solution is metered into a milk base which has been sterilized or ultrapasteurized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Elise Jolivet, Luc Niesseron, Michael Schwan
  • Process for degrading diterpenes of coffee grounds for animal food
    Patent number: 5897907
    Abstract: Coffee grounds containing diterpenes are added together with and heated with phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, or sulfuric acid at a temperature of between 80.degree. C. and 100.degree. C. for a time to degrade the diterpenes, and the product so treated is dried and may be used as a part of an animal food.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Robert Baechler, Pierre Hirsbrunner
  • Container
    Patent number: D412281
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec, S.A.
    Inventors: Dean Lindsay, Tirso Olivares