An automatic frozen food product vending machine includes a freezer barrel configured to produce a frozen food product, a spigot fluidly connected to the freezer barrel, the spigot for dispensing the frozen food product, a movable platform for supporting a container to receive frozen food product, the movable container movable among a home position and a fill position below the spigot, and a processing circuit configured to open the spigot and fill the container with an amount of frozen food product.

The present invention provides an apparatus for producing frozen confectionery products, the apparatus comprising a mixing chamber, the mixing chamber having: at least one frozen confection inlet connectable to a source of a frozen confection; at least one sauce inlet connectable to a source of sauce; and an outlet, wherein the at least one sauce inlet is positioned between the at least one frozen confection inlet and the outlet, characterised in that the mixing chamber is rotatable. The present invention provides a process for producing frozen confectionery products, the process comprising: providing the foregoing apparatus; supplying a frozen confection to the at least one frozen confection inlet; supplying a sauce to the at least one sauce inlet; and extruding the frozen confection and sauce from the outlet, characterised in that the mixing chamber is rotated thereby to distribute the sauce randomly throughout the frozen confection.

A process for dispensing fluid foodstuff material into a shaping cavity of a mould is provided. The process includes advancing a plurality of moulds on a conveying line, along an advancement direction, each comprising at least one shaping cavity. The process includes dispensing a given quantity of the material through one or more of the nozzles, into the at least one shaping cavity of a mould. The dispensing step is executed while the mould continues to advance below the nozzle formation, along the advancement direction. The at least one shaping cavity of the mould has a depth that varies along the advancement direction. The dispensing step comprises varying the quantity of material dispensed into the shaping cavity as a function of the position of the mould along the advancement direction in such a way that the dispensed quantity is a function of the depth variation within the shaping cavity.

Described is an apparatus for filling food containers, including: a filling device for filling a food container including a neck through which the food product can be filled and a cap to cover the neck, wherein the filling device is configured to remove the cap and to fill the food container through the neck, a food container label printing device configured to print at least one label for the at least one food container; a user interface, configured at least to start the filling device; and a support for supporting at least the food container.

A method and assembly for preparing a drink based on frozen food comprises storing frozen food in various containers in the form of first granular materials and under deep- freeze conditions, crushing a portion of at least one of the first granular materials into a second granular material, and placing the second granular material into a cup. A first liquid is added to the cup at a temperature of at least 50° C. The cup, filled with the foods and possibly the first liquid, is closed, and the content of the cup is ground into a homogeneous mass. Lastly, the cup is opened and served.

Described herein is a dispensing assembly (10) for a machine (M) for dispensing cream food products.

The assembly is characterized in that it comprises: a duct unit (2) having a generic tubular shape so as to define a passage for a cream to be dispensed and defining a section for inlet (2A) and a section for dispensing (2B) of the cream; and a first valve (4) and a second valve (6), each constituted by a diaphragm that can be opened under pressure, which are set inside said unit (2) at said dispensing section (2B) and are set at a distance apart from one another so as to identify a chamber (C) between them.

A frozen confectionery product, a method of manufacturing same, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus manufactures a frozen confectionery product by rotary vertical extrusion. The apparatus comprises a nozzle at least one ice cream passage with at least one inlet port and an outlet portion, and at least one chocolate passage with respectively an inlet port and an outlet port. The outlet ports are provided in the nozzle and have elongated cross-sections, and each chocolate outlet port extends in parallel to an ice cream outlet port, to form annular or helical chocolate layers upon rotation of the nozzle and the container with respect to each other.

A pneumatically actuated valve includes a valve body an inlet duct connected to the valve body and an outlet duct connected to the same valve body, shut-off means acting to selectively interrupt or allow the connection between the inlet duct and the outlet duct, a control chamber associated with the valve body and including: a first deformable membrane and a second deformable membrane which are adapted to form a flexible wall delimiting a closed, sealed space inside the control chamber and which operate on the shut-off means;
the valve including a spacing element interposed between the first deformable membrane and the second deformable membrane to define an intermediate chamber between the first deformable membrane and the second deformable membrane, the intermediate chamber being without fluid sealing.

A frozen food product dispensing machine includes a housing, a freezer barrel disposed within the housing, a plurality of drawers, and a manifold comprising a plurality of inlets and one outlet. The plurality of drawers are disposed within and slidably coupled to the housing and configured to each support a liquid food product mix reservoir. The inlets are each fluidly coupled to one of the liquid food product mix reservoirs, and the outlet is fluidly coupled to the freezer barrel to supply liquid food product mix from all of the liquid food product mix reservoirs to the freezer barrel.

Machinery for processing an ice cream product includes an inlet and a collection chamber, a processing chamber adapted to receive the ice cream product and delimited by a first actuator element and a second actuator element that are movable along a processing direction, a baffle placed inside the processing chamber that separates the processing chamber into two parts and that has a plurality of openings, a control system that controls the reciprocation of the first and second actuator elements to move away from or closer to the baffle so that the ice cream product placed inside the processing chamber can be pushed one or more times from one side to the other of the baffle through the plurality of openings.