A kneading machine for food doughs includes a kneading bowl, one or more tool shafts rotatably mounted in a housing, a kneading tool attachable to the tool shaft and insertable into the kneading bowl, and a kneading space, each tool shaft being assigned a seal carrier fixed to the housing and which carries a seal arrangement to seal the tool shaft with respect to the seal carrier, the seal carrier being spaced from the tool shaft by a first gap outside the kneading space and which communicates directly with an escape space for food particles escaping out of the kneading space.