Patents Assigned to NESTECS S.A.
  • Crimping chocolate, chocolate analog and chocolate substitute articles to prepare containers
    Patent number: 5882710
    Abstract: A container, such as a bag or a pouch, is made from a fat-based confectionery material, including such as a chocolate, and is formed by crimping an end or ends of a hollowed tube of the material or crimping edges of a sheet or sheets of the material brought together. The tube or sheet which is crimped is an extrudate which is, upon being obtained from an extruder, temporarily plastically deformable and thereby has a temporary flexibility, and the crimping is carried while the material is plastically deformable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventor: Mark Jury
  • Soluble coffee beverage product
    Patent number: 5882716
    Abstract: A soluble coffee beverage powder which, upon the addition of water, is capable of forming a coffee beverage having a foamed upper surface. The soluble beverage powder is made up of a soluble whitener powder containing gas and a soluble coffee powder of delayed water solubility. Upon addition of water, the soluble whitener powder dissolves first and hence it is possible to obtain whiter, stable foams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Daniela Doris Munz-Schaerer, Olaf Wehrspann, Marc Furrer, Heinz Wyss
  • Composition and process useful for reducing the fat caloric content of foodstuffs containing fats and oils
    Patent number: 5879729
    Abstract: The fat caloric content of foodstuffs containing fats or oils can be reduced by adding to the foodstuffs an acidic amylaceous fermented composition resulting from a process whereina) a slurry of cereal flour and at least one additional non-cereal starch material is first subjected to gelatinization and further homogenized;b) inoculated with an acidifying strain or a mixture of acidifying strains selected from Lactobacillus species, Streptococcus thermophilus and Bifidobacterium species;c) then subjected to a fermentation over a period and at a temperature such as to afford a pH of about 3.5 to 4.6 of the fermented material; andd) finally stabilized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Luis Roberto King Solis, Laurenz Anton Kistler Hahn
  • Shaped chocolate in confectionery
    Patent number: 5879731
    Abstract: A confectionery product which has discrete pieces of a chocolate material, which is a chocolate, a chocolate substitute or a chocolate analogue, having specific characteristic shapes which are images dispersed in a confectionery material is prepared by distributing the discrete pieces having a temperature less than 20.degree. C. into a stream of frozen, chilled or ambient confectionery material to obtain a composite product, and the composite product may be mixed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Stephen Thomas Beckett, Mark Jury
  • Method of making fat-based confection
    Patent number: 5876774
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for increasing the solidification rate of a fat-based confection and to a fat-based confection product wherein the improvement comprises 0.1 to 2.0% insoluble fiber by weight effective for increasing the rate of solidification of the product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Shantha Chandrasekaran Nalur, Stephen J. Destephen
  • Moisture-reduced, formulated food product
    Patent number: 5869121
    Abstract: A moisture-reduced, formulated food product which has a soft, resilient texture and which simulates the appearance of cooked meat. The food product has a fried body which is formed of layers of a thermally gelled matrix containing protein and starch. The formulated food product is particularly suitable for use as a pet food. The formulated food product may be fed to pets as a meal or as a treat. Alternatively, the formulated food product may be combined with dried pellets to provide a nutritionally balanced meal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Lorenzo Brescia, Dan Dixon
  • Treatment of fruits and vegetables
    Patent number: 5869122
    Abstract: A process for enhancing the consistency of a macerated fruit or vegetable product by macerating a fruit or vegetable material to almost completely disrupt cellular material therein; adding calcium chloride to the fruit or vegetable material in an amount sufficient to increase consistency after subsequent heat treatment of the material; and heat treating the calcium chloride containing fruit or vegetable material for a sufficient time and at a sufficient temperature to inactivate pectin or other carbohydrate polymer degrading enzymes therein to form a macerated fruit or vegetable product with enhanced consistency. For optimum results, the calcium chloride is added to the macerated material within 1 minute after maceration and the heat treating is conducted within 1 minute after the addition of the calcium chloride.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventor: James G. McCarthy
  • Process of modifying texture of food products
    Patent number: 5866189
    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: January 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Robert Eugene Garwood, Zenon Ioannis Mandralis, Keith Roberts
  • Package for food product and method for emptying the package
    Patent number: 5863585
    Abstract: The invention relates to a package for food product useful for boil-in-bag or microwave. This package comprises a sealed flexible pouch with a web of oriented material having a slit in the direction of the orientation of the material which is covered by an adhesive membrane. The package is opened and emptied by peeling off the membrane to expose the slit, inverting the package and pulling the edges of the package substantially parallel with the slit to open the slit to facilitate emptying of the contents of the package without spillage and with a reduced risk of burning the fingers of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventor: Elisabeth Sjoberg
  • Apparatus and method for heat treating a fluid product
    Patent number: 5863587
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for heat treating a fluid product by injection of steam therein in order to provide a sterilization, pasteurization and/or a homogenization of the product. The apparatus includes a mixing chamber having a steam injection inlet, a product inlet, and an outlet for the treated product, a rotatable shaft disposed within the mixing chamber, a plurality of discs each comprising at least one product passage opening, the discs being disposed substantially co-axially on the shaft, and a motor for rotating the shaft with the discs. The invention also relates to a shaft to be used for homogenizing and mixing in an apparatus or a process for heating by steam injection a fluid product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Ernest Badertscher, Gerald Bernard, Paul-Henri Poget, Nadine Tripier
  • Composition based on amino acids intended for the treatment of sepsis or of an attack bringing about an inflammatory reaction, in animals and man
    Patent number: 5863906
    Abstract: Compositions and methods intended to be administered enterally or parenterally for treating sepsis. The composition containing, in a biologically and nutritionally acceptable medium, at least free cysteine or cysteine in the form of a precursor, prodrug, protein or peptide hydrolysate, in a proportion of pharmacologically active cysteine greater than the proportion of cysteine present in a nutritional composition corresponding to the requirements of a healthy man, the proportion of cysteine being determined with respect to all the amino acids present in the composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Maurice Arnal, Francis Rose, Denis Breuille, Christiane Obled
  • Aromatization of beverage powders
    Patent number: 5855947
    Abstract: A process for incorporating an aroma-containing substrate into a beverage powder. The beverage powder is transported in the form of a moving bed and caused to fall in an annular curtain into a filler for filling the beverage powder into containers. As the beverage powder falls in the annular curtain, the aroma-containing substrate is sprayed onto the beverage powder from a position above the moving bed. This provides a substantially homogenous distribution of the aroma-containing substrate in the beverage powder in the filler.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Dean Frederick Rushmore, Lawrence G. Carns
  • Food fortification
    Patent number: 5855936
    Abstract: A fortified foodstuff comprising a fortifying amount of a blend of calcium salts balanced with soluble and insoluble salts stabilized with a source of glucuronic acid and a process for its preparation by forming a preparation of the blend of calcium salts, contacting this preparation with a source of glucuronic acid, and adding it to the foodstuff.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Sekhar Reddy, Elaine Regina Wedral, Dharam Vir Vadehra, Li Li Zyzak
  • System and method for monitoring and analyzing dynamic nutritional status in patients with chronic disease
    Patent number: 5853377
    Abstract: A system and a method are provided for monitoring a patient. The system receives information relating to weight and/or LBM of a patient as well as other clinical and medical variable may be input relating to the patient. Warning levels or alert levels are input to the system such that a patient or clinician is immediately notified upon the patient reaching such levels. The system provides local transmission to a patient or remote transmission to, for example, a clinician of the patient or the like. The system and method are particularly useful for patients with chronic disease such that the dynamic nutritional status may be closely monitored and analyzed and ultimately addressed when significant changes occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 29, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: David C. Madsen, Chris Kruzel, Susan Trimbo, Theresa Voss, Kathryn Hennessy, Carol Siegel, Hugh N. Tucker
  • Composition and method for providing glutamine
    Patent number: 5849335
    Abstract: A nutritional composition for providing glutamine to a human or animal. The protein source of the composition includes carob protein which is rich in glutamine. A source of Met may also be included. The composition may be used in the treatment of stressed patients; for example those patients who are critically ill, suffering from sepsis, injury, burns, or inflammation, or who are recovering from surgery. Further, the composition may be used to raise plasma glutamine levels; for example in athletes after intense exercise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Olivier Ballevre, Krishna Anantharaman, Julio Boza, Clara-Lucia Garcia-Rodenas
  • Preparation of chocolate-coated frozen confectionary articles
    Patent number: 5843512
    Abstract: A confectionery article is prepared which has a shell of chocolate wherein chocolate having a temperature greater than 35.degree. C. is poured into an aluminum alloy lost-wax-cast-mold having a temperature of not above -10.degree. C. to form a shell, and a remainder portion of the chocolate which is sufficiently liquid for being sucked from the shell is vacuum-suctioned from the shell to obtain a shell having a hollowed space. The process is carried out in an atmosphere having a relative humidity of less than 60%, and the process further includes depositing a frozen confection into the shell hollow space, and also, a biscuit, particularly one coated by a fatty composition, may be deposited within the shell with the frozen confection and also subsequently enrobed to provide a base integral with the shell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Alain Daouse, Christian Mange
  • Process and apparatus for manufacturing noodles
    Patent number: 5840359
    Abstract: Process and apparatus for the manufacture of noodles, in which a mixture of cereal semolina or flour and water is prepared in a twin-screw kneader, the mixture is converted into a band of pasta by pressing it through a die with an oblong outlet orifice, the band is laminated and it is cut into noodles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Jurg Lechthaler, Shiok Guat Teh, Luca Rusconi, Philipp Paul Meyer, Othman Mohamad Yusoff
  • Oil/water emulsion heat-stabilized with protein and datem
    Patent number: 5837308
    Abstract: An emulsion which does not contain egg yolk and which is heat-stable when the emulsion is pasteurized or sterilized is prepared by adding oil to an aqueous mixture of ingredients and emulsifying and contains, for obtaining emulsion physical stability and as an emulsifier, a protein and DATEM alone. The emulsion, which has a pH of from 3 to 8, is prepared with the water and with, by weight, from 5% to 75% oil, from 0.1% to 10% vinegar, from 0.1% to 10% protein and from 0.1% to 5% DATEM and with at least one of salt and sugar. When the emulsion is prepared, the noted ingredients are mixed with the water component, the oil is added and emulsified with the mixture and then the vinegar is added.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Lydia Campbell, Hans Uwe Trueck
  • Fluoridated micellar casein
    Patent number: 5833953
    Abstract: Process for the preparation of fluoridated casein micelles, in which at least 100 ppm of a soluble fluoride salt are added of a solution comprising micellar casein and the fluoridated micellar casein is isolated. Food or pharmaceutical composition for treating dental caries or plaque comprising an effective quantity of fluoridated micellar casein or its micellar subunits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Rafael Berrocal, Jean-Richard Neeser, Pierre Tachon
  • Apparatus for extracting a substance contained in a sachet
    Patent number: 5826492
    Abstract: An apparatus for extracting a substance contained in a sachet for preparation of a beverage has a first member having raised and hollow portions for forming a flow zone and a second member for cooperating with the first member to form a chamber to contain the sachet for extraction of the substance and to grip the edge of the sachet to ensure fluid-tightness upon being tightened, each member being configured for forming substantially half of the chamber for containing and ensuring a specific sachet shape. In one embodiment, the second member has provision for perforating an upper surface of a sachet for introducing water into the sachet. In another embodiment, the first member has an injector member which projects beyond the raised portions for perforating and introducing water into the sachet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Nestec S.A.
    Inventors: Olivier Fond, Gerard Lavanchy, Jean-Pierre Pleisch, Jacques Schaeffer, Alfred Yoakim