Patent ID: 8621989

Claim:
A food manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing food products by co-extrusion, the apparatus comprising: an extruder assembly having an upper side and a bottom side, and including a rotating extruder die; a feed system for inputting a plurality of materials, said feed system including at least two separate single mass feed assemblies extending in a transverse direction and being arranged one behind the other above said extruder assembly, wherein said extruder assembly receives single masses from said separate single mass feed assemblies on the upper side thereof and co-extrudes said single masses on the bottom side thereof with said rotating extruder die extending in a transverse direction and co-extruding the single masses at the bottom side in a downward direction; said extruder die having an upper half formed with at least two separate single mass input channels and a lower half formed with at least two coaxial output channels; said extruder assembly having at least two separate single mass product channels leading from said separate single mass feed assemblies to the upper side of said extruder die; said extruder assembly including a pump system with separate pump assemblies disposed within said separate single mass product channels; and a cutting assembly for cutting the co-extruded product streams extruded by said extruder die, said cutting assembly being disposed next to said extruder assembly and including a harp with a cutting portion disposed near the bottom side of said extruder die, said cutting portion of said harp being formed with at least one groove and having a wire running across said at least one groove.