Is it easy to apply for food patents? What's the procedure? How long will it take?

Hello, the shape of food can't be protected by invention patent. In addition, for the patent of utility model to protect the shape, products with irregular shapes such as sand piles and ice cream do not belong to the category of "shape" stipulated by utility model.

So your invention only lies in the improvement of appearance, so you can't get patent protection. If the effect is obtained by changing the formula, you can apply for an invention patent for protection.