Food bar

Abstract

A ready-to-eat food bar including of agglomerated particles of one or more cereal bases is provided. The cereal bases include primarily amalyceous materials and optionally milk solids. The agglomerated particles are coated with a binder which includes sugars, milk solids, humectants or fat and optionally milk solids. A process for manufacturing the ready-to-eat food bar is also provided.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A ready-to-eat food bar comprising agglomerated particles of one or more cooked cereal bases and a binder, the cooked cereal bases comprising amylaceous material and the binder comprising sugars, milk solids, humecants and fat.  
     
     
         2 . The ready-to-eat food bar according to  claim 1 , wherein the cooked cereal bases further comprise milk solids.  
     
     
         3 . The food bar according to  claim 1 , comprising, in percent by weight, from about 4% to about 12% of protein, from about 50% to about 80% of available carbohydrate and from about 2.5% to about 25% of fat.  
     
     
         4 . The food bar according to  claim 1 , comprising, in percent by weight, from about 5.5% to about 27.5% of milk solids nonfat, from about 2.5% to about 25% of milk fat or vegetable fat, from about 30% to about 60% of amylaceous material, from about 5% to about 30% of sugars, from about 2.5% to about 15% of humectants and added water up to a water content from about 1.0% to about 7%.  
     
     
         5 . The food bar according to  claim 1 , which has an Aw value of from about 0.1 to about 0.5.  
     
     
         6 . A process for manufacturing a ready-to-eat food bar, comprising: 
 preparing a dry mixture of particles of one or more cooked cereal bases, the bases comprising amylaceous materials;    mixing the dry mixture with a binder to form a mass, the binder comprising sugars, milk solids, humectants and fat; and    forming the mass thus obtained into a bar shape.    
     
     
         7 . The process according to  claim 6 , wherein the cooked cereal bases further comprise milk solids.  
     
     
         8 . The process according to  claim 6 , whereby the particles of cooked cereal bases are rolled cereals, gun puffed grains, cereal flakes or cooked-extruded cereals.  
     
     
         9 . The process according to  claim 8 , wherein the cooked-extruded-expanded cereals are prepared by the following steps: 
 cooking-extruding-expanding at about 120° C. to about 170° C. under from about 40 bar to about 160 bar for about 5 seconds to 50 seconds a mixture comprising, in parts by weight, up to about 27.5 parts of milk solids nonfat, up to about 12.5 parts of milk fat or vegetable fat, from about 50 to about 90 parts of amylaceous material, up to about 12 parts of sugars, and added water up to a water content of from about 11% to about 19% by weight of the mixture;    forming the mixture into a rope of a thermoplastic mass having a porous texture, cutting the rope into pieces; and    optionally drying the pieces.    
     
     
         10 . The process according to  claim 9 , further comprising coating the dried pieces with a sugar solution and drying the sugar coated pieces.  
     
     
         11 . The process according to  claim 10 , wherein the sugar solution comprises from about 50% to about 60% sugar, from about 3% to about 10% dextrose, from about 0.5% to about 1.5% oil and from about 10% to 40% water.  
     
     
         12 . The process according to  claim 6 , wherein the binder comprises, in parts by weight, from about 10 parts to about 70 parts of sugars, from about 5 to 30 parts of humectants, from about 5.5 to about 27.5 parts of milk solids nonfat, from about 10 parts to about 35 parts of milk fat or vegetable fat, up to about 10 parts of cocoa powder, up to about 5 parts of emulsifier and added water up to a water content of from about 5% to about 15%.  
     
     
         13 . The process according to  claim 6 , wherein the milk solids are incorporated into the binder in form of fresh milk, condensed milk or milk powder.  
     
     
         14 . The process according to  claim 6 , wherein the binder comprises condensed sweetened milk in an amount of from about 20 to about 45 parts by weight.  
     
     
         15 . The process according to  claim 6 , wherein the binder is prepared by mixing the components in a double walled tank while heating to a temperature of from about 105° C. to about 117° C., thereby concentrating the mixture up to a dry matter content of from about 80% to 95% and then cooling down to a temperature in a range of from about 33° C. to about 80° C.