A tooling for forming patties from a food mass includes a mould cavity holder; a mould cavity arranged such that it is received in the mould cavity holder, the mould cavity being made of a material porous to a fluid and including an internal face defining a patty forming mould and an external face separated from the internal face by a body of porous material; a clamp for clamping the mould cavity in the mould cavity holder; and a seal placed between the mould cavity and one of the mould cavity holder and the clamp. The seal is arranged such that it forces a pressure fluid, brought to the external face of the body of porous material to pass therethrough to the internal face.

The production of three-dimensional products from a mass of pumpable fibrous foodstuff material includes feeding the mass into a chamber via an inlet. A perforated plate is stationary arranged at an outlet side and has a multitude of perforations therein between an inlet face and an opposed outlet face. A flow channels assembly include multiple flow channels. Each flow channel receives therein strands of fibrous foodstuff material emerging at an outlet face from a subset of the multitude of perforations. The strands merge into a coherent bundle, in which the strands are arranged against one another in a generally parallel orientation. A production device is arranged at the discharge mouths of the flow channels assembly, which production device is configured and operated to produce three-dimensional products, each product out of a portion of a bundle that is discharged from one of the discharge mouths.

A mould drum, a system for moulding comprising a mould drum, a method for moulding, and a method for manufacturing a mould drum such that the mould drum includes a mould tube defining an outer circumferential surface with groups of multiple recessed mould cavities. The mould tube has a first mould tube head end. The mould drum includes a driven flange structure arranged against the first mould tube head end, which is adapted to be driven by a mould drum drive member to rotate the mould tube about a drum rotation axis. The driven flange structure is provided with a tooth profile, and the mould tube is provided with a meshing tooth profile, both tooth profiles meshing with each other and thereby being able to transfer torque from the driven flange structure to the mould tube.

A system and a method for moulding food products from a pumpable foodstuff mass include a mould member having an outer surface. One or more recessed mould cavities are provided. An ejection fluid inlet opening of the mould member is arranged relatively movable with respect to an outlet opening of the ejection fluid source. Ejection fluid is allowed to enter the mould member when an outlet opening overlaps an ejection fluid inlet opening.

A patty forming machine configured to mold food products, and its method of use, is provided. The patty forming machine includes a stripper plate through which food product is configured to pass when the stripper plate is in a fill position, a sensor configured to determine positions of the stripper plate, a movable mold, and a sensor configured to determine positions of the mold. A processor is operatively coupled with the sensors. The processor is configured to receive information from the sensors and to determine when the stripper plate is to be moved from the non-fill position to the fill position relative to a determined position of the mold.

An installation for moulding of three dimensional products from a mass of pumpable foodstuff material, for example from ground meat. The installation comprises a feed pump and a moulding device with a mobile mould member having multiple mould cavities. A mass feed member is arranged at a fill position relative to the path of the mobile mould member, which mass feed member is connected to an outlet of the feed pump. The member has a housing defining an elongated chamber with a longitudinal axis and having a pair of spaced apart long lateral walls, short end walls, and a bottom wall facing the mould member at the fill position along the path of the mould member. The bottom wall is provided with a discharge mouth formed by one or more discharge openings spanning the path of said mould cavities, so that foodstuff mass flows into each row of mould cavities via said discharge mouth. The mass feed member is provided with a single elongated plunger that is slidably received in the chamber, sliding between the lateral walls and the end walls. At least one lateral wall is provided with an introduction mouth formed by one or more introduction openings spanning a major portion of the length of said lateral wall.

In a method for moulding food patties from a food product comprising a food mass (5) having a substantially coherent structure formed by particles of the food product that are loosely connected to each other, for example ground meat, the food product is first supplied to a supply hopper (3). Food product is moved in the supply hopper to at least one discharge opening (8) of the supply hopper, from which it is discharged. The food product that has been discharged from the discharge opening of the supply hopper is fed into at least one pump chamber (12) of a positive displacement pump system. Subsequently, the food product in the pump chamber is positively displaced to an outlet opening of the pump chamber by the positive displacement pump system (20). The food product is discharged from the outlet opening of the pump chamber, and then fed into a moulding device having a plurality of mould cavities for molding the food patties. The substantially coherent structure of at least a portion of the food mass is substantially maintained when said food mass is moved in the supply hopper to the discharge opening and also when said food mass or a portion thereof is discharged from the discharge opening of the supply hopper and fed into the pump chamber.

The invention provides methods and systems for molding three-dimensional products from a mass of foodstuff. The systems include a rotatable drum provided with mold holders that accept removable molds that are filled with the mass of foodstuff to form the three-dimensional products. The method includes use of the system to fill removable molds in filling operations to form the three-dimensional products.

Molding device for molding three-dimensional food products from a mass of foodstuff which can be transferred by pumping, for example a meat mass of minced meat. The device comprises a molding drum (16) having a peripheral surface containing multiple series of cavities (44) extending in the peripheral direction. The device comprises a mass feed device which is arranged in a filling position with respect to the peripheral surface of the molding drum. The peripheral surface is embodied as a profiled peripheral surface having a shaping profile. Multiple shoe segments (42) are provided which are arranged next to one another and which have a profiled inner side with a profile which is in meshing engagement with the shaping profile. The shoe segments have freedom of movement with respect to one another, at least in the direction of the rotation axis, in order to each remain individually aligned with respect to the profile of the section with which the inner side of the shoe segment is in meshing engagement.

The present invention relates to a food forming drum comprising a multitude of rows of cavities. The present invention further relates to the process of manufacturing the inventive drum.