Food extrusion and design products for successful, laboratory-scale food development
Food extrusion is an established and highly versatile technique for the production of food, feed, nutritional additives and flavors. It enables a continuous and cost-effective means of production, and its precise control ensures a high and constant product quality.
Different extruder dies are available to shape foods with high starch content such as pasta, cereals, snacks and pet food, and to determine their final texture for an optimal product. Tools are also available for co-extruded food products. This is often how you get the light, crispy, crunchy food consumers want with the right encapsulation of ingredients.
Extrusion cooking takes the process to the next level by utilizing the extruders’ precise temperature control and shear energy which is applied by the rotating screws. When passing through the extruder, the food is actually cooked. Due to the changed physical condition of the food, specific denaturation of proteins can occur as well as the rupture of starches resulting in such complex products as meat analogues. Simultaneously the short and controlled residence time in the extruder restricts unwanted decomposition of vitamins, amino acids and enzymes.
During new product development and process optimization, food engineers need highly flexible systems to handle small throughput volumes starting at gram levels up to a few kilograms per hours. They should also be easy to clean, intuitive to operate, and able to mimic a complete processing line. The Thermo Scientific Process 11 Parallel Twin-screw Extruder offers all those features and facilitates a streamlined, flexible R&D workflow.
After successful development of a new food on a laboratory scale, the wide range of Thermo Scientific co-rotating twin-screw extruders allows easy, fast process scale-up with minimal parameter changes to pilot-scale production or efficient manufacturing at a higher volume.
Thermo Scientific co-rotating twin-screw extruders feature:
- Segmented screws and modular barrels for a versatile process design
- Full-length split-barrel design that enables easy access and fast, thorough cleaning
- A small footprint to save floor space.
Using Process 11 Hygienic configuration to extrude meat analog materials
Understand what to measure in your food development and processing workflows, and which tools are best to measure it.
Explore two collections of scientific application notes, interactive resources and articles that cover enhancing food properties via rheological measurements and the development of foods via extrusion.
Watch this webinar to see the benefits of adeptly designing a starch matrix by twin-screw extrusion.
Learn how to influence the texture, stability and further processability of the final product via extrusion.
