A stick handling apparatus for handling ice cream sticks, said apparatus comprising a magazine arranged to hold ice cream sticks, a conveyor band arranged to retrieve ice cream sticks from the magazine, a stacker unit arranged to retrieve ice cream sticks from the conveyor band and to stack the ice cream sticks one after the other, a stick placing unit arranged to receive the ice cream sticks from the stacker unit for positioning the ice cream sticks inside a piece of ice cream mass, and a printer unit configured to print information on the ice cream sticks while the ice cream sticks are conveyed by the conveyor band.

The present disclosure provides an improved system and method that includes a food dispensing machine for dispensing a base food product through a dispensing valve and adding ingredients and other additives, such as flavors and the like, to the base food product when the product is dispensed from a product chamber. Apparatuses and methods for maintaining a consistent mix of the base product in the freezing chamber are disclosed as are processes for calibrating desired proportions of ingredients.

A method and system of producing extruded ice cream products includes providing a plurality of extruded ice cream products in an ordered arrangement on a plurality of trays and arranging the plurality of trays for movement along a conveyor line. The plurality of trays and the plurality of extruded ice cream products are arranged thereon for downstream processing. The method and system further includes sensing at least one of a vertical product height or a horizontal product position of the plurality of extruded ice cream products arranged on the plurality of trays using at least one sensor, and analyzing the sensed at least one of the vertical product height or the horizontal product position of the plurality of extruded ice cream products using a processor to determine suitability for downstream processing.

A micro puree machine has a microswitch for interacting with projections on a bowl to alert the user that the bowl has been installed correctly to the machine housing. The microswitch also interacts with a plunger of a lid and blade assembly to alert the user that the blade has been properly assembled to the lid.

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid products, includes: a first processing container for processing a basic liquid or semi-liquid product and defining a processing chamber; a cooling cylinder mounted inside the first container; a second processing container; a connecting duct between the first container and the second container; a dispensing device associated with the first processing container and configured, in a dispensing configuration, to deliver the liquid or semi-liquid product to the outside or, in an inhibiting configuration, to prevent the liquid or semi-liquid product from being dispensed; and a shutoff valve configured, in a closed configuration, to close the connecting duct between the first container and the second container or, in an open configuration, to open the connecting duct between the first container and the second container.

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products is provided with a frame, a product processing unit and a control unit for driving the processing unit; the processing unit is in turn provided with a first vessel which is set in rotation about its central axis by a brushless gear motor and which defines inside it a product processing chamber, a stirrer provided with a spatula mounted inside the processing chamber, and a movement unit for moving the stirrer; the movement unit for moving the stirrer imparts to the spatula, through two distinct linear actuators, a first movement, towards and away from the bottom of the first vessel, and a second movement, independent of the first, towards and away from the inside wall of the first vessel.

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products comprises: a frame; a first container containing a liquid or semi-liquid base product; a second container defining a processing chamber for processing a base mixture made up of the liquid or semi-liquid base product and a gas; a stirrer mounted inside the second container; thermal treatment means associated with the second container, acting in conjunction with the stirrer to convert the base mixture inside the second container into a finished liquid or semi-liquid product; a connecting duct connecting the first container to the second container and configured to connect the first container to the second container in such a way as to allow the base mixture to be transferred to the second container; a dispenser connected to the second container to allow dispensing the finished product.

A device (1) is described, for producing and delivering ice-cream comprising creaming means (3) for producing such ice-cream (2) starting from at least one ice-cream base; supplying means (5) of at least one of the ice-cream bases to the creaming means (3); cooling means (7) of the creaming means (3); delivering means (9) of the ice-cream (2) from the creaming means (3) outside the device (1). A disposable container (9) of ice-cream base for this device (1) and a system for producing and delivering espresso ice-cream are also described.

A food preparation system that can simultaneously freeze and shape liquids quickly and has a plurality of integral walls forming a cavity that may be used as a freezing surface, a removable tray that fits inside the cavity, a plurality of shaped freezing surfaces located on the tray, a top surface forming one of the integral walls which is used as a flash-freezing surface, a front panel interface forming one of the integral walls, and a plurality of control buttons located on the front panel interface which control the food preparation system.

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products, including: a first processing container for processing a liquid or semi-liquid base product and defining a processing chamber; a stirrer mounted inside the first processing container; a thermal system including a heat exchanger, associated with the first processing container; a processing and control unit, including a module for receiving and transmitting data, a processing module and a memory containing processing software instructions which can be carried out by the processing module, the processing and control unit defining a storage node of a distributed architecture database.