Chips infused with meat are produced according to the disclosed method. The method includes preparing a dough mixture by mixing at least one of a grain component and a vegetable component with water in a mixer and transporting the dough mixture from the mixer into an extruder. In the extruder, a ground meat product is introduced into the dough mixture to form a meat-infused dough mixture which is then extruded and cooked to make the chips. Typically, after extrusion, the meat-infused dough mixture will be cut and fried.

Methods of manufacturing products from material comprising oilcake, compositions produced from materials comprising processed oilcake, and systems for processing oilcake are provided herein. A product is produced by a method comprising de-solubilizing protein in a first material comprising oilcake to produce a processed material comprising an insoluble protein fraction by extruding the first material in a pressure range of 10 bar to 80 bar. The processed material is hydrolyzed to produce a mixture comprising the insoluble protein fraction and a hydrolyzed fraction. The insoluble protein fraction is separated from the hydrolyzed fraction. The insoluble protein fraction is processed into the product by extruding the insoluble protein fraction in a pressure range of 10 bar to 80 bar.

The present application discloses a nutritional composition for tonifying spleen. The nutritional composition includes the following components of raw materials in parts by weight: rice 50-90, soybean 8-23, Semen coicis 2-12, Gorgon euryale seed 3-12, poria 0.4-1.6, and Chinese date 0.3-1.5. The present disclosure, in view of the spleen's special susceptibility to dampness pathogen, complies with the physiological function characteristics of the spleen itself, provides the prescription with an assistant effect of restoring the spleen's function as a starting point, is suitable to cooperate with staple foods for long-term consumption and easily accepted by people due to the good taste, and can achieve certain efficacies of tonifying the spleen and removing dampness.

The present application discloses a nutritional composition for moisturizing lung. The nutritional composition includes the following components of raw materials in parts by weight: rice 55-90, wheat 7-25, Chinese yam 3-15, lily 2-9, polygonatum odoratum 0.2-1, and citron 0.1-1. The present disclosure, in view of the lung's characteristics of being not resistant to cold or heat, and susceptible to pathogen, complies with the lung's physiological function characteristics to regulate, and provides the prescription with nourishing yin and moisturizing lung, and resolving phlegm and relieving cough as a starting point, is suitable to cooperate with staple foods for long-term consumption and easily accepted by people due to the good taste, and can achieve certain efficacies of replenishing and restoring lung qi.

The invention provides a composition rich in flavonoids based on natural extracts, comprising a flavonoid extract dispersed by melt mixing or extrusion and encapsulated in a polymer matrix. The invention is also a novel dietary supplement with the naturally occurring ingredient ()-epicatechin, cacao extracted, that could potentially prevent or reduce the risk of Atherosclerotic pathology. The use of ()-epicatechin is promising as a therapeutic agent due to its potential antioxidant activity and its diverse biological properties. ()-Epicatechins are chemically unstable and extensively degraded in fluids of near neutral or greater pH, such as intestinal juice and bile. Current technologies used for taste masking and modified release as spray drying, liposome entrapment, co-crystallization, freeze drying, among others, suffer from numerous shortcomings, including poor repeatability and limitations on target delivery.

A disclosed method addresses the problem of providing a method for producing dried pasta the texture of which when cooked, cold or frozen stored, and reheated by, for example, microwaving to be made eatable is comparable to that immediately after cooking. The method includes a step of preparing dough from a raw powder containing wheat flour having a protein content of 8 to 18 mass %, a step of extruding the dough under a vacuum pressure of 0 to 65 kPa at an extrusion pressure of 60 to 160 kgf/cm.sup.2 to form pasta, and a step of drying the pasta. The method also includes the step of adjusting the gluten vitality of the extruded pasta to 10 to 30%. The gluten vitality adjustment step may double as the drying step.

A disclosed method addresses the problem of providing a method for producing dried pasta the texture of which when cooked, cold or frozen stored, and reheated by, for example, microwaving to be made eatable is comparable to that immediately after cooking. The method includes a step of preparing dough from a raw powder containing wheat flour having a protein content of 8 to 18 mass %, a step of extruding the dough under a vacuum pressure of 0 to 65 kPa at an extrusion pressure of 60 to 160 kgf/cm.sup.2 to form pasta, and a step of drying the pasta. The method also includes the step of adjusting the gluten vitality of the extruded pasta to 10 to 30%. The gluten vitality adjustment step may double as the drying step.

A method and apparatus for the automated mass production of spiral body pet treats, particularly chewable, spiraling rawhide-type pet treats, employs an extruder for extruding at least one rope in the form of a spiraling cross-sectional body having a plurality of radially spaced layers and an outer terminal end portion which is radially in-turned and conjoined with an adjacent one of the plurality of radially spaced layers. The rope is cut by a cutting assembly at longitudinally spaced locations in creating spiral shaped intermediate products which are then dried to form the spiral body pet treats. The spiral body pet treats are hard when dried but, with the radially in-turned outer terminal end portion being joined to a radially inward spiral layer, no terminal edge with potentially sharp contact points is exposed.

Methods of manufacturing products from material comprising oilcake, compositions produced from materials comprising processed oilcake, and systems for processing oilcake are provided herein. The method comprises de-solubilizing protein in a material comprising oilcake to produce a processed material comprising an insoluble protein fraction. The processed material is hydrolyzed to produce a mixture comprising the insoluble protein fraction and a hydrolyzed fraction. The insoluble protein fraction is separated from the hydrolyzed fraction. The insoluble protein fraction is processed into a product.

A use of texturized dairy proteins is suggested, obtainable or obtained by providing (a) a mixture, containing or consisting of (a1) about 25 to about 75% by weight dairy proteins, and (a2) about 75 to about 25% by weight a plant protein and/or a fibre material with the proviso that the quantities add up to 100% by weight, (b) the mixture is extruded in the presence of water and/or whey, applying a temperature gradient of about 20 to about 200 C. and a pressure in the range of 1 to about 200 bar, and (c) subsequently expanding the extrudate,
as a substitute for carbohydrates and as a source of protein in foods.