Patent ID: 7117653

Claim:
A flavoring system comprising: a portioning device for receiving items and sequentially supplying batches of a specified quantity of said items; a flavoring dispenser for dispensing measured quantities of a flavoring material; an applying device downstream of said portioning device for individually applying said measured quantities of flavoring material to said batches of items; a packaging device downstream of said applying device for packaging in a bag said batch of items; a sensor for monitoring discharge of flavoring material; a sorting device for discarding a packaged product packaged by said packaging device responsive to an output from said sensor indicating an abnormality in said discharge of said flavoring material; and a control unit for operating said portioning device and said flavoring dispenser in a mutually correlated manner, said control unit being adapted to respond to said portioning device discharging a defective batch not having said specified quantity of said items by inhibiting said flavoring material from being applied to said defective batch discharged from said portioning device by either of said applying device and said flavoring dispenser; wherein said applying device includes a charging device for electrically charging particles of said flavoring material and an ejecting device for ejecting said electrically charged particles of said flavoring material towards said items of said batch; and wherein said applying device includes a charging device for electrically charging particles of said flavoring material and an ejecting device for ejecting said electrically charged particles of said flavoring material towards said items of said batch.