IE85776B1 - Apparatus and method for preparing half-shell mussels - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for preparing half shell bivalves. A method of preparing halt‘ shell bivalves comprises placing a tray on a bottom cover layer placing halfshell fully cooked bivalves on a tray, depositing a quantity of a first food product on the mussels, applying :1 top cover layer to the tray, vacuum packing the tray and the top and bottom layers to seal the layers to the tray, with the layers drawn tightly around the tray.

Description

This present invention relates to an apparatus and method for preparing half—shell bivalves in particular mussels.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of preparing half shell bivalves comprising, providing a tray with an array of preformed recesses for receiving bivalves, placing the tray on a bottom cover layer placing half shell fully cooked bivalves in the tray, depositing a quantity of a first food product on the mussels, applying a top cover . layer to the tray, vacuum packing the tray and the top and bottom layers to seal the layers to the tray, with the layers drawn tightly around the tray.

Preferably, a quantity of a second food product is deposited on the mussels.

Further preferably, the first food product is a sauce and the second food product is bread crumbs.

The invention further provides a pack of bivalves prepared in accordance with the method of the invention.

Preferably, the bivalves are mussels.

Further preferably, the bivalves are frozen subsequent to vacuum packing.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for preparing half shell bivalves, comprising a loading station for automatically supplying on to a bottom cover layer an array of trays having recesses for receiving bivalves, means for placing half shell fully cooked bivalves in the tray, a first supply station for supplying a first food product on to individual bivalves, means for applying a top cover layer to the tray and a vacuum station for vacuum packing the tray andthe top and bottom layers to seal the layers to the tray, with the layers drawn tightly around the tray.

Further preferably, there is provided a second supply station for depositing a second food product onto the individual bivalves.

The bivalves are preferably mussels.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which; Figure 1 is a perspective View of a tray according to the invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of an array of the trays of Figure 1; Figures 3a — 3e are sectional views of the trays and mussels at each stage of the method of the invention; Figure 4 is a schematic View of the apparatus according to the invention; and Figure 5 is a perspective View of a pack of bivalves according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawings there is shown therein an apparatus and method for preparing half shell bivalves in particular mussels. In Figure 1 there is shown a metal foil tray 10 having an array of recesses 11 for receiving mussels 12.

A stack 13 of the trays 10 is loaded onto a loading apparatus 14, at a loading station 15, for automatically supplying an array of trays 10. The array of trays 10 is provided onto a sheet of plastics film 16 as shown in Figures 2 and 4. The plastics film 16 may be vacuum formed to correspond to the underside of the tray 10. Further, the plastics film 16 may rest on a conveyor belt (not shown) which moves the array of trays and plastics film 16 through the various stages of the process. As shown, in Figure 2 the trays 10 are moved in an array of 2 x 2 trays. Mussels 12 are arranged in the recesses 11, and this may be performed either manually or automatically. The mussels 12 are already fully cooked, and may be placed in the recesses 11 while in a frozen or chilled state, or at any desired temperature.

The array of trays 10 is moved to a first supply station 17 which has a supply apparatus 18 including an array of forty eight nozzles 19 for depositing a first food product for example a butter or sauce 20 onto individual mussels 12.

A second supply station 21 is provided having a plurality of outlets 22 for depositing a second food product, for example bread crumbs 23 onto individual mussels. The conveyor belt 16 moves the trays 10 to a position under the outlets 22 which are opened for a predetermined time period to deposit a desired amount of bread crumbs onto the mussels 12.

The second supply station 21 has a hopper 24 containing a store of a second food product, for example bread crumbs 23 and a delivery mechanism 25 including a vibrating plate and grill (not shown) which is operated for a suitable time period to release a predetermined volume of bread crumbs 23.

Next, the trays 10 are moved to a vacuum station 30 where the trays 10 are vacuum packed, within top and bottom cover layers 26, 27 respectively of plastic film. It will be appreciated that the plastics film 16, is the lower cover layer 27 so that at vacuum station 30, it is only necessary to apply the top cover layer 26.

The cover layers 26, 27 are sealed so that the tray 10 is sealed within the top and bottom cover layers 26, 27.

The packs of mussels as shown in Figure 5 are frozen or chilled as required and shipped to customers. The end user will then defrost the packs 10 or cook from frozen, either in the packs 10 or after removing the mussels from the packs.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment(s) described herein but can be amended or modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

Claims:

1. A method of preparing half shell bivalves comprising, providing a tray with an array of preformed recesses for receiving bivalves, placing a tray on a bottom cover layer placing half shell fiilly cooked bivalves in the tray, depositing a quantity of a first food product on the mussels, applying a top cover layer to the tray, vacuum packing the tray and the top and bottom layers to seal the layers to the tray, with the layers drawn tightly around the tray.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein a quantity of a second food product is deposited on the mussels.

3. An apparatus for preparing half shell bivalves, comprising a loading station for automatically supplying on to a bottom cover layer an array of trays having recesses for receiving bivalves, means for placing half shell fully cooked bivalves in the tray, a first supply station for supplying a first food product on to individual bivalves, means for applying a top cover layer to the tray and a vacuum station for vacuum packing the tray andthe top and bottom layers to seal the layers to the tray, with the layers drawn tightly around the tray.

4. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 3 wherein there is provided a second supply station for supplying a second food product, the second supply station having a hopper for the second food product and a delivery mechanism including a vibrating plate and grill which is operated for a time period to release a predetermined volume of the second food product.

5. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the sheet of plastics film is vacuum formed to correspond to the underside of the trays.

6. A method as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the first food product is a sauce and the second food product is bread crumbs.

7. A pack of bivalves prepared in accordance with the method of any of Claims 1-2.

8. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 2 wherein the bivalves are mussels.

9. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 2 or 6 or 8 wherein the bivalves are frozen subsequent to vacuum packing.