System for conveying and dispensing material may include a heated supply of the material, one or more heated hoses, a heated dispenser, and a pump having a heating device internal the pump. A pump for conveying liquid or liquefied material, for example chocolate, may include one or more heating devices disposed within the pump. A filter may also be provided with an optional internal heating device.

Content containers and vessels, one aspect including a deformable fluid-tight container shell defining an internal volume and separating the internal volume from an external environment; a room-temperature semi-solid content contained within the internal volume; and a valve operationally connected to and disposed at least partially without the deformable container shell; where the semi-solid content is a hydrophobic matrix with at least partially emulsified hydrophilic components; where the container shell is substantially fluid-tight; where the valve has open state(s) and a closed state; where the valve may be actuated between the open state(s) and the closed state; where the valve is self-cleaning; where during the open state(s), the internal volume is in fluidic communication with the external environment; where during the closed state, the internal volume content cannot fluidically communicate with the external environment; and where the content remains moisture-stable while the valve is in the closed state.

An apparatus for dispensing a foodstuff a heating block (59) having a top side (60) and a bottom side (61), the bottom side (61) being complementary to a portion of the cylinder (11), the heating block (59) being removable from the housing (16) and from the container (1).

A fluid mixture, for example, a chocolate-based mixture, is dosed and fed to forming moulds through two cavities arranged on diametrically opposite sides of a longitudinal axis and having respective opposite inlets. The cavities are rotated in unison and in a stepwise manner around a longitudinal axis between an inlet opening for the mixture and an outlet opening for the mixture and dosed while keeping the volume of both cavities unchanged. One of the cavities is filled with a predefined quantity of fluid mixture and the other cavity is simultaneously emptied while keeping the cavities in angularly fixed positions around the longitudinal axis.

The invention relates to a method for 3D printing of food, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, and plastic or ceramic composite products, and to an apparatus for executing a method for 3D printing of these articles and products manufactured according to the method, and a control or regulating system for the apparatus for executing the method, and the use of the product bodies manufactured according to the method.

A method and apparatus for producing confectionery products, preferably shells for chocolate products. The invention comprises depositing one or more inclusions into a mould cavity and depositing a food product into the mould cavity through a depositor plate comprising a plurality of nozzles.

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.

Content containers and vessels, one aspect including a chocolate dispensing vessel, having a generally fluid-tight enclosure, chocolate substantially filling the fluid-tight enclosure, a fluidic conduit extending through the fluid-tight enclosure, and a fluidic valve operationally connected to the fluidic conduit and positioned outside of the fluid-tight enclosure. The chocolate is solid state at room temperature and the chocolate softens to a liquid state in the temperature range from 26 to 36 degrees Celsius.

Content containers and vessels, one aspect including a chocolate dispensing vessel, having a generally fluid-tight enclosure, chocolate substantially filling the fluid-tight enclosure, a fluidic conduit extending through the fluid-tight enclosure, and a fluidic valve operationally connected to the fluidic conduit and positioned outside of the fluid-tight enclosure. The chocolate is solid state at room temperature and the chocolate softens to a liquid state in the temperature range from 26 to 36 degrees Celsius.

A puzzle of chocolate-based material puzzle pieces is formed by providing a transfer sheet having a design of food-grade material on a first side of the transfer sheet and providing a puzzle piece template having passages shaped as pieces of the puzzle. The puzzle piece template is arranged on top of the first side of the transfer sheet. The passages of the puzzle piece template are filled with a chocolate-based material. After crystallization, the chocolate-based material in the passages of the puzzle piece template form the chocolate-based material puzzle pieces of the puzzle. The chocolate-based material puzzle pieces are removed from the template.