FOOD PRODUCT DISPENSER WITH CLEANSING MECHANISM

摘要

The invention relates to a food product dispenser (100) that includes a food delivery mechanism and a cleansing mechanism (700). The food delivery mechanism includes a food source (211,412,412a), a food conduit (620) associated with the food source (211,412,412a) for receiving a food component therefrom, and a dispensing mechanism (406,409) configured to dispense servings of the food component from the conduit. The cleansing mechanism (700) includes a cleansing conduit associated with the food delivery mechanism to direct a cleansing fluid along a fluid path (1250,1260,1240,1270) in cleansing association with the food delivery mechanism under conditions for performing a cleansing operation on the food delivery mechanism. A controller (1000) can be provided for automatically conducting cleansing operations based on predetermined conditions. The controller (1000), delivery mechanism and cleansing mechanism (700) can be configured to switch between the dispensing of the servings and the cleansing operation at a plurality of intervals during a day without substantial intervention from an operator.