SNACK FOOD CHIPS

摘要

A method of manufacturing a plurality of three-dimensionally shaped snack food chips, the method comprising the steps of: i. providing a plurality of dough sheets; ii. providing a belt assembly having an array of a plurality of three-dimensionally curved shaping elements extending from an upper surface of a belt; iii. depositing an array of the dough sheets onto the upper surface of the belt assembly so that the array of dough sheets and the array of shaping elements have a non-indexed relationship; iv. in a shaping step causing the dough sheets to slump at least partially under the action of gravity so that each dough sheet assumes an irregular three- dimensional shape including at least one three-d imen sionall y curved portion formed by a respective shaping element and at least some of the dough sheets slump to contact a portion of the belt adjacent to one of the shaping elements thereby forming a substantially flat portion of the resultant snack chip, the non- indexed relationship forming a population of differently shaped dough sheets from the plurality of dough sheets; and v. cooking the shaped dough sheets to form a population of differently shaped rigid snack food chips each having the respective irregular three-dimensional shape, each snack food chip having at least one three-dimensionally curved portion.