Non-contact printed comestible products and apparatus and method for producing same

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, apparatuses, methods and products directed to non-contact printing of confectionery products. The confectionery products may include an edible substrate having a surface and an edible ink printed on the edible surface. The edible ink may cover at least about 5% of the surface. An apparatus of the present disclosure may include a removal device for removing at least a portion of a rolling compound from a confectionery material and a printing device for non-contact printing an edible ink-indicia on the confectionery material. An apparatus of the present disclosure may also include a detection device detecting the presence of confectionery material at a predetermined position.

1 - 23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . A method of producing a confectionery product comprising: non-contact printing an edible ink onto a surface of an edible substrate to cover at least about 5% of the surface. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  comprising non-contact printing a multiple color edible ink. 
     
     
         26 . The confectionery product of  claim 24  comprising covering at least about 50% of the surface with the edible ink. 
     
     
         27 . The confectionery product of  claim 24  comprising covering at least about 75% of the surface with the edible ink. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24  comprising applying the edible ink at a dot concentration from about 3600 dots per square inch to about 36,400 dots per square inch. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the edible substrate traverses a printing device at least once during printing. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 24  comprising allowing the edible ink to absorb partially through a body of the edible substrate to provide the edible substrate with a co-extruded appearance. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the edible ink is an inkjet ink. 
     
     
         32 - 43 . (canceled) 
     
     
         44 . A method for producing a confectionery product comprising:
 removing a rolling compound from a confectionery material; and   non-contact printing an edible ink-indicia on the confectionery material.   
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , comprising removing from about 80% to about 99% of the rolling compound from the confectionery material. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the removing is an act selected from the group consisting of vacuuming the rolling compound, brushing the rolling compound, sponging the rolling compound, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 44 , comprising moving a confectionery material to a predetermined position for non-contact printing the edible ink-indicia on the confectionery material. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 44 , further comprising detecting the presence of the confectionery material at a predetermined position before the non-contact printing. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the confectionery material is a chewing gum selected from the group consisting of a chewing gum stick, a chewing gum tablet, a chewing gum pellet, a coated chewing gum, a center-filled chewing gum, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         50 - 53 . (canceled) 
     
     
         54 . A method for producing a chewing gum product comprising:
 providing a consumer with the ability to select an organoleptic component;   producing a chewing gum product with the organoleptic component after the consumer selection; and   delivering the chewing gum product to the consumer.   
     
     
         55 . (canceled) 
     
     
         56 . The method of  claim 54  wherein the producing comprises dispensing the organoleptic component on a surface of the chewing gum product. 
     
     
         57 . (canceled) 
     
     
         58 . The method of  claim 54  comprising providing the consumer the ability select to an indicia; and producing the chewing gum product with the indicia. 
     
     
         59 . The method of  claim 58  comprising printing an edible ink on a surface of the chewing gum product to form the indicia. 
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 54  comprising:
 generating a list of organoleptic components in a computer-readable medium; 
 receiving data that selects at least one of the organoleptic components; 
 generating instruction data from the received data; and 
 transmitting the instruction data to a dispensing device, the dispensing device dispensing the at least one organoleptic component onto a surface of an edible substrate based on the instruction data. 
 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 60  wherein the received data further comprises indicia data, and the instruction data further comprises indicia data printing instructions, the method comprising transmitting the indicia data printing instructions to a printing device, the printing device printing an edible ink-indicia on the surface of the edible substrate based on the indicia data printing instructions. 
     
     
         62 . (canceled) 
     
     
         63 . (canceled)