Patent ID: 7838057

Claim:
A method of preparing a protein-containing food product comprising the steps of: providing a carrier material consisting of a protein source and water, the carrier material being free of gelatinized starch and suitable for pumping, wherein the protein source in the carrier material is selected from the group consisting of meat, fish and other animal protein; delivering the carrier material to a turboreactor which has a cylindrical reaction chamber with a substantially horizontal longitudinal axis and with a rotor equipped with blades and rotatable about its longitudinal axis provided in the reaction chamber; rotating the rotor at a speed sufficient to centrifuge the carrier material against an inner wall of said reaction chamber in which a high turbulence forms a dynamic, turbulent layer at the inner wall; heat-treating the carrier material in the reaction chamber by heating the inner wall to a predetermined temperature, drying the carrier material to a water content corresponding to an A w value of 0.6 or less, so that the carrier material is microbiologically stable, and granulating the carrier material to create a free flowing granular dried meat, fish or other animal protein carrier material; advancing the heat treated carrier material in the direction of an outlet from the turboreactor and withdrawing the heat-treated carrier material from the outlet; and forming individual food products having a desired shape from the granular dried meat, fish or other animal protein carrier material that is free of gelatinized starch, wherein the individual food products are formed from a plurality of the heat-treated dried meat, fish or other animal protein carrier material granulates.