Dimpled Food Product With Segmented Pockets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional food products require significant heat processes and/or acidic conditions for stability, which can alter or destroy nutritional, functional, or pharmaceutical ingredients, and they need elaborate moisture-controlling packaging to prevent deterioration, increasing costs and reducing shelf-life.
Innovation Solution
The development of food products with a base food material having a plurality of surface pockets that can be filled with a filling food material, where at least a portion of the filling is not encompassed by the base material, allowing for the delivery of nutritional, functional, or pharmaceutical ingredients without harsh conditions and minimizing the need for complex packaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional heat processes and acidic conditions are used to ensure stability, then product stability is improved, but nutritional and functional ingredients are altered or destroyed
Solution Approach 1:
The food product is divided into multiple compartments separated by a partition wall, with each compartment containing different ingredients. This segmentation allows each ingredient to be stabilized under its own optimal conditions without exposure to harsh heat or acid that would degrade other ingredients, thus maintaining both product stability and ingredient integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a nested structure where multiple compartments are contained within a single product housing. Each compartment can be independently filled and sealed, allowing delicate ingredients to be protected within inner compartments while outer compartments contain more robust ingredients that can tolerate different processing conditions
2Duration of action of stationary object
If elaborate moisture-controlling packaging is used to prevent deterioration, then product shelf-life is improved, but packaging complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The product is segmented into multiple sealed compartments that are moisture-proof by design. Each compartment acts as an independent barrier against moisture intrusion, eliminating the need for elaborate external moisture-controlling packaging while extending shelf-life through inherent structural protection
Solution Approach 2:
The partition wall and compartment structures utilize flexible, moisture-resistant materials that form inherent barriers against moisture. This internal packaging structure replaces the need for complex external moisture-controlling packaging layers, reducing overall packaging complexity while maintaining extended shelf-life
Data Source
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AI summary
Food products are provided comprising a base food material having one or a plurality of surface pockets and two closed ends comprising the base food material, wherein each of the surface pockets are connected by one or more longitudinal extent of the base food material, along a longitudinal aspect of the food product, that comprises a side of each of the surface pockets and the surface pockets are not connected in a lateral aspect of the food product. In certain aspects, at least one surface pocket contains a filling food material, and at least a portion of the filling food material is not encompassed by the base food material. Further, methods are provided for preparing the food products of the invention. Such food products can be utilized, for example, to provide palatable delivery systems for nutritional, functional, or pharmaceutical ingredients.