Abstract: A baked shelf-stable cracker or snack product comprising a) a body comprising at least 60% by weight wheat flour, from 5 to 22% by weight fat, 0.7 to 7% by weight leavening agent and up to 5% by weight water, in each case based on the total weight of said body; and b) a surface dusting, on at least one surface of the body, of a particulate material, the particulate material comprising at least 30% by weight, based on the total weight of the particulate material, of wheat endosperm particles. The surface dusting is present on the product in an amount of at least 0.5%> by weight, based on the total product weight. Also provided is a process of making the cracker or snack product.

Abstract: A heat flux measuring device for transporting through a heated chamber, the device having an array of sensors, each sensor comprising first and second surfaces bounding a region, a thermally insulating layer substantially occupying said region, and means for providing a signal which is a measure of the temperature difference across the layer. The said first surface of each sensor is in thermal contact with a heat sink and the said second surface of each sensor is exposed.

Abstract: Apparatus for and methods of meauring heat flux comprises first and second sensors arranged to pass through an oven in line astern. Each sensor measures the temperature difference across a thermally insulating layer by having one surface of each sensor being exposed to the heat flux, each sensor including thermocouple measuring junctions for measuring the temperature of the exposed surface. The first sensor is radiation-absorbing and the second sensor is reflecting. The apparatus includes additional thermocouple junctions for measuring the gas temperature and a device for recording data from the sensors and from additional thermocouple junctions. The signals from one of the sensors at one instant are correlated with the corresponding signals from the other sensor at a later instant, the time difference being the time taken for one sensor to reach a position formerly occupied by the other sensor.

Abstract: A tunnel oven contains a plurality of transversely extending radiant heating elements 17, 18 arranged at intervals along the length of the oven 1, the oven 1 being provided with conveyor band 10 for transporting material to be heated through the oven radiant heating elements 17, 18 supplying thermal energy, a sensing tube 31, 32 which extends within the oven 1 over a part of the length of the oven 1 that contains at least two radiant heating elements 17 or 18 that are spaced from each other along the length of the oven 1, the sensing tube 31 or 32 being arranged to absorb radiation from the said at least two heating elements 17 or 18 with pump 34 for causing a liquid to flow through the sensing tube 31 or 32 at a controlled rate with thermocouple junctions 35, 36 for producing a signal that provides a measure of the temperature increase of the liquid resulting from its passage through the sensing tube 31, 32 within the oven, and control means 29, 30 and with processor 29 and valve controller 30 arranged to co

Abstract: Baked food products are produced by forming a flat sheet of dough and feeding the sheet to a nip between a pair of contra-rotating rollers arranged with their curved surfaces in contact with each other, and each of the rollers has grooves indented into its curved surface. The rollers push the dough into the grooves and form the dough into a lattice comprising an array of ridges imparted to the dough by one of the rollers, which ridges are spaced apart from and extend in substantially the same direction as each other, and an array of ridges imparted to the dough by the other roller, which ridges are spaced apart from and extend in substantially the same direction as each other. The direction in which the ridges of one array extend are at an angle to that of the other array so that the ridges of one array intersect the ridges of the other, and the contacting portions of the curved surfaces of the rollers form apertures in the dough between the intersecting ridges.

Abstract: Fried food products are produced by feeding a dough to a nip between a pair of contrarotating rollers arranged with their curved surfaces in contact with each other, and each of the rollers has grooves indented into its curved surface. The rollers push the dough into the grooves and form the dough into a lattice comprising an array of ridges imparted to the dough by one of the rollers, which ridges are spaced apart from and extend in substantially the same direction as each other, and an array of ridges imparted to the dough by the other roller, which ridges are spaced apart from and extend in substantially the same direction as each other. The direction in which the ridges of one array extend are at an angle to that of the other array so that the ridges of one array intersect the ridges of the other, and the contacting portions of the curved surfaces of the rollers form apertures in the dough between the intersecting ridges.

Abstract: A process for producing biscuits comprises forming a dough into generally laminar portions each having a corrugated configuration and baking the portions to form biscuits. The corrugated configuration is such that the resistance to breaking of the biscuits is greater in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the corrugations extend than in the direction in which the corrugations extend by a factor of at least 1.5. In a preferred process, dough is formed into a sheet 1b having a corrugated configuration (preferably by feeding a flat sheet of dough to a pair of corrugated rollers 6). Individual portions are cut out from the corrugated sheet 1b and baked to form the biscuits.

Abstract: Thermal conditions inside an oven are measured by a transducer device (1) having plates providing heat absorbent and heat reflective surfaces (2,4) and a thermocouple for measuring the temperature difference between them as a measure of radiant heat. The plates are mounted on a thin thermally insulating layer secured to a heat sink in the form of a copper mass (7,9), and a second thermocouple measures the temperature difference between the heat absorbent surface and the heat sink as a measure of heat flux through the surface. A Peltier cooler (55) or a flowing liquid can be used alternatively as a heat sink. Heat flux alone can be measured by omission of the heat reflective surface, and where the heat sink is a flowing fluid the heat gained can be measured.

Abstract: An apparatus (FIGS. 3 to 7) for manufacturing food products such as skinless sausages comprises a tube which contains a plurality of plugs strung along a wire. The plugs are shaped to define sausage end shapes and spaced to define sausage-shaped compartments for filling with sausage-forming material. The plugs and wire are driven through the tube by a motor-driven sprocket which has peripheral recesses for reception of the plugs. Between the recesses the sprocket periphery has slots for receiving the wire. The contents of the tube are cooked by being heated and then cooled by suitable fluid jackets around the tube, or otherwise. In other embodiments, a flexible tube is pinched to form sausage compartments which are moved peristaltically (FIGS. 1 and 2) and a belt having partition-forming formations is rolled within the tube (FIGS. 8 to 11).

Abstract: A snack food product comprises a filling (107) wholly enclosed in a bread-like casing (100), optionally with a barrier layer (106) disposed between the casing (100) and the filling (107). A sterile moisture-proof wrapping (108) wholly encloses the edible part (100, 106, 107) of the product. The snack food product (100, 106, 107, 108) is storable at normal temperature for long periods, e.g. several months. The product can be made by assembling the components before or after a shaped dough component is baked to form the bread-like casing (100) and can be prepared for consumption by a heating step carried out before or after the edible part (100, 106, 107) is removed from the wrapping (108).

Abstract: Filled food products are made by cooking and extruding a casing, in the form of a closed loop in cross-section, moving it past a knife so that it becomes slit open and then introducing one or more fillings into the casing through inlet ducts which pass through the opening formed by the knife, a system of forces being arranged to close up the opening or at least, to prevent it from opening or widening. Introduction of the filling material is preferably spaced downstream from the knife, so that the opening can allow steam or other vapor evolved from the casing to escape.

Abstract: Food articles tending to exclude fat are heated in cooking apparatus provided with a floor removable for cleaning and of double-walled construction so that cooling air can be blown through to reduce or eliminate the risk that fat collected on the floor will ignite. The air flow is controlled so as to occur only when the floor temperature is above a predetermined level.

Abstract: Food articles are heated by radiation in the near infrared wavelength range of 0.72 .mu.m to 2.5 .mu.m. Food articles can be thawed, heated or fully cooked direct from the frozen condition in this way. Hamburger patties are cooked in a conveyor cooker between rows of sources of such radiation. The sources are energized at half voltage during standby periods so that the conveyor is held at a temperature such that it has a searing effect on patties cooked by exposure to the radiation. Full energization is effected by operation of a switch in response to placement of a patty on the conveyor through a flap connected with the switch. A separate conveyor carries hamburger bun halves beneath a third row of the sources. In a static area employing sources of the radiation, reflector and screening arrangements provide even diffuse radiation in the heating zone and control of the heating effect is obtained by selective energization of the sources for selectively variable periods.