Patent ID: 7857910

Claim:
A method for operating a food product dispenser in the form of a single unit defined by an outer housing and including a food delivery mechanism having a mixing bowl for preparing a food or food component, a conduit for dispensing the prepared food or food component from the mixing bowl to an outlet along a dispensing path, a cleansing fluid supply located within the housing, and a cleansing fluid path that at least partially includes that portion of the dispensing path from the mixing bowl to the outlet, the method comprising: preparing the food or food component in the mixing bowl; dispensing servings of the food or food component from the food delivery mechanism along the dispensing path to the outlet; periodically directing a cleansing fluid along the cleansing fluid path from the cleansing fluid supply located within the housing from the mixing bowl and through the dispensing conduit of the food delivery mechanism to the outlet along the component dispensing path to conduct a cleaning operation on at least that portion of the dispensing path when the food or food component is not being dispensed, and recirculating the cleansing fluid within the housing and back to the cleansing fluid supply; rinsing that portion of the dispensing path from the mixing bowl and through the dispensing conduit of the food delivery mechanism to the outlet with hot water alone after the cleaning operation to remove cleansing fluid therefrom and conduct a sanitizing operation, wherein the hot water is at a temperature which is sufficient to sanitize the rinsed portion of the dispensing path before dispensing further food or food components, wherein the water is heated upstream of the mixing bowl to the temperature which is sufficient to sanitize; and switching between the dispensing of the food or food component and the conducting of the cleaning and sanitizing operations at a plurality of time intervals without having to connect an external source of cleaning fluid to the dispensing path each time cleaning is needed.