Volume and Weight Reduction Method for Intermediate Moisture Ration Components and Snacks

The need to develop an alternative technology to those that dominate the snack food industry has become apparent over the last decade. Quality, nutrition, functionality, health considerations articulated by the consumers coupled to efficiency, low energy requirements, low asset base, small process footprint, etc. highly desired by manufacturers have constantly reinforced this need stimulating few innovative minds. The same expectations raised for the commercially distributed products have been also expressed, with some specific variations on the theme, within the field of combat rations. In this latter regard, portability along with enhanced nutrition, functionality, convenience, palatability and producibility are being considered essential to manufacture shelf stable products that must enable the individual soldier to perform assigned missions and survive battlefield threats even when dispersed in remote locations and under extreme climatic conditions. Ultrasonic Agglomeration is a powerful alternative to the conventional technologies such as bar line, extrusion, oven baking and simple compression since it allows a mixture of low/intermediate moisture ingredients from any of the six groups of the Food Pyramid, to be rapidly agglomerated into a complex tridimensional shape of desirable density, palatability and nutritiousness.