How food extruder works? Sunpring will give you some instructions for reference.

Is all food we eat processed?

corn flakes factoryThe answer to this question might challenge what many people think about processed food. It could change our views on its role in a healthy diet. It may also affect how we understand its impact on our well-being. If we look at the products in our daily diet, we’ll see that most of them are processed. Nearly every item we put in our shopping trolley has been processed in some way.

In fact, a deeper investigation will reveal something surprising. The idea that all processed food is harmful and should be avoided is actually a myth. The truth about processed food is somewhere in between good and bad. Processing has both advantages and disadvantages. Processing is not always harmful; sometimes it actually improves the quality of the product. It can also remove threats, such as bacteria, that come naturally with raw products.
In most cases, however, it comes down to the efficiency and increasing the production done in the shortest time possible. Processing helps provide customers with the amount of products they need. It ensures that products are consistent in quality and appearance. When machines handle production, every piece looks, smells, and tastes the same. This means that no piece is better or worse than the others.

Old process of processing

In spite of the fact that processing itself sounds like a recent invention, is it older than expected. The use of processing in mass production began in the late nineteenth century. It was first applied in the production of sausages. That was the time when the first food extruder was invented and put to use. More advanced versions of processing machines have been developed over the decades. Today, the food extruder is one of the most basic machines used. It significantly speeds up the production process.

Thanks to food extruders, consumers get products like pasta, cereals, bread, rolls, snacks, baby food, and pet food. It’s common to see food extruders in TV programs. However, these programs often don’t explain exactly how an extruder works. This article is meant to reveal how the extrusion process is usually happening.

Extrusion process in a nutshell

Most often, if a person witnesses an extruder at work, they observe a vague, half-liquid dough forced through a tube-like machine, from which a raw yet already shaped product falls out towards a conveyor belt or a container. This machine is what is called an extruder and it works thanks to the power of a rotating forces within the part known as a barrel. The extruder ends with a die or a perforated piece shaping the mixed ingredients. The process itself, however, is more complex than visually simple structure of the machine. It can still be described in a relatively simple way, as it can be seen below.

Step 1 – Preparation of the ingredients

In the very beginning, the most basic ingredients are prepared to go through an extruder; they are usually brought into a form of a powder or flour; within a part called a pre-conditioner, the basic ingredients are mixed with sugar, fat, water or other, specific for a product. This could be a food dye, salt or meat – depending on the final form of the product and what is it usually made of. Nor rarely do the ingredients affect the later form of the product – for example, the salt is known to serve as a helper in even spreading food dyes and to affect the food coloring.

Step 2 – Cooking

After the initial mixing of the ingredients, the cooking process begins yet back in the pre-conditioner. It is done in order to produce what is called an extrudate, which means – a mix of ingredients meant to pass through the extruder and eventually form pieces of food in the desired form, shape and size. It is usually done by injecting steam that helps to achieve smooth and partially cooked, dough-like product from which the final portions of food are to be produced.

Step 3 – Extrusion

The extrusion process is strictly connected to the machine that an extruder is; to simplify, it consists of three main pieces: a barrel, a screw, and a steamlock, and each of the pieces play an important part in the process of producing be it pasta, cereals, or other food.
In this stage, the mix of ingredients – extrudate – is pressed into a barrel within which a rotating, well-fitted screw is placed; it is this part that shapes the extrudate and pushes it down the stationary barrel, only so it is cut into portions by the blades at the end of this tube-like part.
In the same time, the rest of the cooking process is happening; because of the high pressure within the barrel, the extrudate filling it starts producing its own friction and heat, and by doing so, in the end it leaves the extruder as a product ready to be cooled or dried. It is not uncommon that during the extrusion process the extrudate changes its properties by emitting moisture and heat, and in the end, increasing in size – these changes are known as expansion ratio.

Effects

With the process of extrusion being explained, it is also important to list what else, aside of basic and visual changes, happens with the ingredients processed within the extruder. It turns out that scientists could list at least a few effects occurring in the process, such as removing natural toxins and microorganisms in the food, an increase of glycemic index, dissolving of vitamin A or proteins. Those results definitely serve as reasoning behind why food processing is considered harmful, yet in today’s world it certainly seems impossible to give up on means of massive food production.

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