Patent ID: 11889844
Assignee: GEA FOOD SOLUTIONS BAKEL B.V.
Field: Food chemistry (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 17:
18. A method to treat insects to produce human food and/or an animal feed, the insects comprise a chitinous exoskeleton, the insects comprise a three-part body, comprising a head, thorax, and abdomen; compound eyes; and one pair of antennae, wherein the method comprises:
reducing a core temperature of the insects to or below −10° C. in an apparatus using a cooling medium having a temperature between −195 and −20° C., the reducing step takes place between 1.5 and 10 minutes, the cooling medium comprises air, the insects are alive before the reducing step, the method includes establishing a turbulent flow of the cooling medium around the insects;
grinding the insects in a grinder comprising a rotating knife and a holed plate, which cuts the insects into multiple parts;
adding ingredients, spices, and/or water to the grinder and mixed with the insects;
lifting and tumbling the insects with a flow of the cooling medium provided by one or more fans located below a surface on which the insects are provided, the surface is a mesh or grid,
collecting the cooling medium after the cooling medium has contacted the insects, recycling the collected cooling medium, and then cooling the recycled cooling medium prior to reusing the recycled cooling medium;
separating the insects from the cooling medium, wherein the separation occurs at a higher atmospheric pressure than ambient pressure;
wherein during the grinding step, a mixing step, and during further processing steps including forming and coating/battering the insects, i) a protein content of the insects is not reduced and ii) a color of the insects remains unchanged;
storing the insects and storing ingredients at a temperature below 18° C. before the further processing steps in the method; and
wherein the apparatus comprises a sensor for use in a determining step, wherein in the determining step, a core temperature of the insects is determined, and based on the determined core temperature, a signal is generated to control i) a contact time of the cooling medium with the insects, ii) a temperature of the cooling medium, iii) a composition of the cooling medium, and iv) heat transfer conditions.