CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from South African complete patent application number 2016/08623 filed on 14 December 2016, which is incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to food processing equipment. More specifically, the invention relates to equipment used for holding and compressing foodstuffs such as meat in air-permeable containers or baskets that can be placed in a smoker, freezer, cooker or the like.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Various food press moulds exist that are used in the production of bacon, salami and other food products. Examples of such moulds include those made by King of Bacon™, Singer & Sohn™, Danoftech™, Eberhardt™ and Adelmann™. In these food press moulds, the foodstuff is generally placed in baskets which are then compressed in a machine. In some food press moulds, the baskets are separate items which are put in trolleys that are configured to compress the baskets. The trolleys can then be wheeled into smoking chambers, freezers or the like.

Most food press moulds use wire mesh in their basket construction, which the applicant has found sticks to the foodstuff, may be hard to clean and may be expensive to manufacture. In many cases, the trolley includes a relatively complicated and expensive mechanism for compressing the contents of each of the baskets. In any event, all of the baskets of which the applicant are aware have their bodies made out of multiple separate parts, which may make them relatively expensive to manufacture and possibly difficult to clean. The applicant believes there is scope to improve the situation and the invention aims to address these shortcomings, at least to some extent. The preceding discussion of the background to the invention is intended only to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. It should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgment or admission that any of the material referred to was part of the common general knowledge in the art as at the priority date of the application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is provided food processing equipment comprising a mould formed by an open basket with a lid that closes the basket and is arranged to hold foodstuff in the basket under compression, characterized in that the basket is formed by a single piece of perforated sheet material that has been cut and bent to shape.

Further features provide for the basket to be a generally rectangular trough with a flat bottom, a pair of side walls and a pair of end walls, where the side walls are longer than the end walls.

The lid may be formed by a single piece of perforated sheet material that has been cut and bent to shape; and the lid may have a ratchet and compression mechanism attached thereto configured to hold the lid in a position in which it closes the basket with the foodstuff in the basket under compression.

Further features provide for the ratchet and compression mechanism to include two linear racks at opposite ends of the lid which are biased so that each rack cooperates with a lip formed in a corresponding end wall of the basket. The ratchet and compression mechanism may include a plate which interconnects the two linear racks and which is spring-mounted to the lid so that the lid maintains compression on the foodstuff in the basket. Further features provide for the plate to be mounted to the lid in a spaced configuration relative to a top surface of the lid by means of a number of pins which have coil springs on them, the coil springs being compressed when the plate is pushed towards the top surface of the lid.

Further features provide for there to be at least one pin with a coil spring at each end of the plate, and for each linear rack to be pivotally mounted to an end of the plate and have a projecting portion which engages with the spring of the pin so as to bias the linear rack towards the lip in the end wall. The plate may include two pins with coil springs at each of its ends, the projecting portion engaging with the springs of both pins. Further features provide for the basket to have a pair of side walls with a lip formed along a top edge of both side walls, and for a wire frame to support the basket along these lips and have opposing foot structures at either end of the basket. The wire frame may be stich-welded to basket along the two lips.

Further features of the invention provide for sheet material to be sheet metal, preferably food grade stainless steel sheet metal.

Further features provide for the perforations to be round holes; for the round holes to be about 5mm in diameter; and for the centre of adjacent round holes to be about 7mm apart. Further features provide for the foodstuff to be meat, such as pork, and for the food processing to include one or more of: smoking, steaming, cooking or freezing.

The invention extends to food processing equipment comprising a trolley having a number of tracks, each track carrying at least one mould as previously described.

The invention further extends to a method of processing food, comprising placing portions of foodstuff into a basket of a mould of food processing equipment as previously described, closing a lid of a basket of the food processing equipment, pressing the lid to place the foodstuff under compression, placing the basket into a trolley which has a track that receives the basket, and placing the trolley into one of: a smoker, a steamer, an oven, or a freezer.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a three dimensional view of a mould that includes a basket and a lid according to one embodiment;

Figure 2 is a three dimensional view of a mould similar to Figure 1 but which includes a wire frame according to a different embodiment;

Figure 3 is an end view of the mould of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a detail view of the portion of the mould labelled "A" in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a top view of the mould of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a sectional elevation along lines "B-B" in Figure 5; Figure 7 is a detail view of the portion of the mould labelled "C" in Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a three dimensional view of a trolley according to one embodiment that carries a number of moulds according to Figure 1 ;

Figure 9 is a front view of the trolley of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a detail view of the portion of the trolley labelled "D" in Figure 9;

Figure 1 1 is a side view of the trolley of Figure 8; and

Figure 12 is a top view of the trolley of Figure 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows food processing equipment in the form of a mould (100) that is of two part construction that includes an open basket (102) and a lid (104) that closes the basket (102). The basket (102) is a generally rectangular trough with a flat bottom (106), a pair of side walls (108), and a pair of end walls (1 10). The basket (102) is elongate so that the side walls (108) are longer than the end walls (1 10). A lip (1 12) is formed along a top edge (1 14) of both side walls (108).

Figures 2 to 7 show a mould (105) that is the same as the mould (100) of Figure 1 except that it includes a wire frame (1 16) that supports the basket along both lips (1 12) in the side walls (108) and that has opposing foot structures (1 18) at either end of the basket (102). The wire frame (1 16) may be useful in the event that the mould (105) is to be placed in a trolley in certain configurations, as will be explained below. Since the mould (105) of Figures 2 to 7 is otherwise identical to the mould (100) of Figure 1 , the same reference numerals are used to refer to the common aspects of the moulds (100, 105). The basket (102) is formed by a single piece of perforated sheet material that has been cut and bent to shape. The lid (104) is also formed by a single piece of perforated sheet material that has been cut and bent to shape. In this embodiment, the sheet material is food grade stainless steel sheet metal, and the perforations are round holes (1 13) that have been punched into the sheet metal. While any method of punching may be used, punching by means of a CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machine is generally accurate and cost effective. As shown in the detail view of Figure 4, the round holes (1 13) are spaced in a regular pattern. In this embodiment, holes having a diameter of 5mm with the centre of adjacent holes 7mm apart were chosen, which were found to provide good heat transfer and allow sufficient contact with food processing steps such as smoking. It will be appreciated, of course, that a wide variation in the arrangement, shape and size of holes could be chosen. The flat bottom (106), side walls (108) and end walls (1 10) of the basket are formed from a single sheet of metal that has been cut and bent into shape, with the four corners (120) where the side walls (108) meet the end walls (1 10) being welded together using spot welding. In a method of making the basket (102), a single rectangular sheet of food grade stainless steel sheet metal is taken and the holes (1 13) punched in using a CNC machine. A portion of the sheet metal is removed in each of the four corners of the rectangular sheet by using the same hole punching CNC machine using overlapping holes along the lines in which the sheet metal is to be removed. The perforated sheet metal is then taken to a bending machine which bends the side walls (108), end walls (1 10) and the lips (1 12), which also function to make it easier to pick up and handle the basket. In a similar method to the making of the basket (102), the lid (104) is made by taking a rectangular sheet of food grade stainless steel sheet metal, punching holes (1 13) in using a CNC machine, removing a rectangle of material in each of the four corners and bending each edge to form an inwardly lipped edges (123) of the lid (104). The inwardly lipped edges (123) help to prevent foodstuff from escaping the basket (102).

The lid (104) has a ratchet and compression mechanism (124) attached thereto, configured to hold the lid in a position in which it closes the basket with the foodstuff in the basket under compression. The ratchet and compression mechanism includes a support plate (126) that extends lengthwise across the lid (104) and has two linear racks (128) at opposite ends thereof corresponding to opposite ends of the lid (104). Each rack (128) is biased so that it cooperates with a corresponding lip (130) formed along a top edge (132) of an end wall (1 10) of the basket (102), as most clearly shown in Figure 7. The lip (130) effectively forms a pawl of the ratchet.

The support plate (126) interconnects the two linear racks (128) and is spring-mounted to the lid so that the lid can maintain compression on the contents of the basket. The plate (126) is mounted to the lid (104) in a spaced configuration relative to a top surface (134) of the lid by means of a number of pins (136) which have coil springs (138) on them, the coil springs (138) being compressed when the plate is pushed towards the top surface of the lid. In this embodiment, there are two pins (136) at each end of the plate (126), two in the middle, and one at the one-quarter and three-quarter position along the length of the plate (126). This arrangement was found to result in a good spread of weight when the plate is pressed on from above.

As most clearly seen in Figure 7, each linear rack (128) has a projecting portion (140) that extends at right angles from a corner at which there is a pivot (142) where the linear rack (128) is pivotally mounted to the end of the support plate (126). The projecting portion (140) engages with the coil spring (138) of the two pins (136) that are near the edge of the plate so as to bias the linear rack towards the lip (130) in the end wall (1 10). The projecting portion (140) may have slots (not visible in the current views) which allow the projecting potion to extend around the pins (136) so as to properly engage with the coil springs (138). Using two of the coil springs (138) to also function as the biasing means for the rack (128) of each ratchet was found to be a robust arrangement which also has the advantage that the biasing strength increases as the lid is pushed downwards and the coil springs (138) compressed.

In use, a paper lining such as baker's paper is placed into the basket (102) and foodstuff such as pieces of meat, which may for example be pieces of pork, are placed in the basket (102) until the basket (102) is full. The foodstuff may be mixed with an enzyme such as transglutaminase to help with reconstitution of the foodstuff. The lid (104) is then placed on the basket (102) and pressed down to compress the foodstuff, with the ratchet (128) being spring-loaded relation to the lid, so as to maintain compression on the foodstuff in the basket (102). The basket (102) is then placed in a location where a food processing step can be carried out, such as smoking, cooking or freezing.

In one embodiment, the food processing equipment also includes a trolley (200) which holds a number of moulds (100) as shown in Figures 8 to 12. The trolley (200) includes a pair of rectangular tubular outer frames (202) that carry wheels (204) on a lowermost frame member, and are connected by a number of vertically spaced and horizontally extending metal rods (206). In this embodiment, nine rods (206) extend between the outer frames (202) along a front (208) of the trolley (200) and along a rear (210) of the trolley (200).

A number of tracks (212) extend between each corresponding front and rear rod (206). Each track (212) is formed by a pair of laser cut and bent strips of metal (214) welded to the rods (206) and shown most clearly in Figure 10.

In the illustrated embodiment, two moulds (100) fit one in front of the other on a single track (212), four tracks (212) are provided between each corresponding pair of rods (206) at the front and the back and nine pairs of rods (206) form nine vertically stacked rows of moulds (100), so that the trolley (200) is configured to hold a total of seventy-two moulds (100).

Should it be desired to use the mould (105) with an existing trolley in which moulds are inserted and removed by sliding them in a direction transverse to their length, as opposed to a trolley in which the moulds are inserted and removed by sliding them along their length as illustrated in Figures 8 to 12, the embodiment of the mould (105) that includes the wire frame (1 16) is preferable. In this embodiment, the foot structure of the wire frame (1 16) allows the mould (105) to fit into a wider track which accommodates the full width of the wire frame (1 16), while preventing interference that could otherwise have been caused by the ratchet mechanism (128) of adjacent moulds (105) hooking against each other.

By using the food processing equipment of the invention, efficient smoking, cooking or freezing of foodstuffs can be achieved. In particular, in the case of pork strips or pieces being placed in the moulds and compressed, after smoking and freezing the contents of each mould (100,105) are taken for slicing and packaging as sliced bacon. The applicant found that the percentage of wasted offcuts to be as low as 1 percent, which is significant since sliced bacon is generally sold for a higher price per weight than diced bacon.

The apparatus of the invention is cost effective to produce as the moulds can be made from sheet material that is perforated and bent into shape with a minimum number of pieces being required and a minimum amount of welding needed. Perforated stainless steel was found to be relatively easy to clean and did not significantly adhere to the contents of the baskets.

Throughout the specification and claims unless the contents requires otherwise the word 'comprise' or variations such as 'comprises' or 'comprising' will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.