Patent ID: 7654812

Claim:
A food extruder comprising: an elongated barrel presenting an inlet end and an outlet end; an elongated, axially rotatable, helically flighted screw within said barrel and operable to move food material from said inlet end toward and through said outlet end under pressure; said extruder operable to elevate the temperature of food material passing through the barrel and to achieve at least about 75% cook of the food material; and a die assembly coupled to the outlet end of said barrel and comprising an elongated tubular section having an axial length, a smaller diameter inlet end and a larger diameter outlet end, with an internal bore progressively diverging at an angle of from about 1-11° in a direction from said inlet end towards said outlet end; an elongated, axially rotatable screw section within said tubular section and having an axial screw length with a smaller diameter inlet end proximal to said tubular section inlet end and a larger diameter outlet end proximal to said tubular section outlet end, said screw section including an elongated shaft with outwardly extending helical flighting presenting fighting outer surfaces along the length of the shaft, said flighting outer surfaces progressively diverging at an angle of from about 1-11° in a direction from said screw section inlet end toward said screw section outlet end; and a die unit associated with said tubular section outlet end and having a plurality of die openings therethrough configured to create a pressure drop across the die openings.