UNEDITED

SESSION 2 / PAPER 6

NEW TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS –

EXTRUSION PROCESS
By

Mian N. Riaz. Ph.D.

Food Protein R&D Center, Texas A&M University

ORGANISED BY
 NEW TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS – EXTRUSION PROCESS

Mian N. Riaz. Ph.D.

Food Protein R&D Center, Texas A&M University

Abstract
Extruded snacks have the greatest potential for growth among the snack foods
category. Extrusion technology provides the opportunity to process a variety of
snack products by just changing a minor ingredient and processing condition on
the same machine. Several different shapes, textures, and colors of snack
foods are possible by using an extruder. The extrusion process can produce
innovative snacks which capture the consumer’s imagination. An example of
this is three dimensional snacks with a variety of shapes including animal,
cartoon, and alphabet. Producing a successful snack is a fine balance between
the consumers’s needs, like tastes and interests vs. a manufacturer’s
production abilities, economics and quality control.

Designing snack foods today can be a complex process to meet

changing consumer’s tastes and expectations. The consumer’s demand for
“good for your health” “rich source of soy protein” and “unique flavor“ snack
foods leads to the elusive search for something unique that also appeals to a
wide variety of peoples. Most snack manufacturers use some form of existing
technology as the basis for creating snack products, but incorporate variation
that increase the resulting snack’s health image appeal by lowering fat and
calories or adding nutrients. This can be accomplished by using extrusion
technology.
Background:

Designing snack foods today can be a complex process to meet changing

consumer’s taste and expectation, e.g. “good for your health,” “rich source of soy
protein” “offering a unique flavor” and the elusive search for something unique that
also appeals to a wide variety of people. Most snack manufacturers use some form of
existing technology as the basis for creating snack products, but incorporate variation
that increase the resulting snack’s health image appeal by lowering fat and calories or
adding nutrients (1). This can be accomplished by using extrusion technology.

What is Extrusion?

Food extrusion is a process in which a food material is forced to flow, under

one or more varieties of conditions of mixing, heating and shear, through a die which is
designed to form and/or puff-dry the ingredients (2). The food extruders can be
visualized as a high temperature short time (HTST) device that can transform a variety
of raw ingredients into intermediate and finished products. During extrusion, the
cooking temperature could be as high as 180-190 C, but residence time is usually 20-
40 seconds (depends on types of extruders and speed of the shaft). For this reason
the extrusion process could be called as HTST process. It is very important to
understand the extrusion terminology, since each manufacture likes to use their own
terminology based on their equipment. Extrusion technology provides several different
advantages over the traditional methods of food and feed processing. Some of the
advantages based on Smith (3) and Riaz (4) with modification includes the following.

Extrusion technology provides the opportunity to process a variety of food

products by just changing a minor ingredient and processing condition on the same
machine. Several different shapes, texture, color, and appearances can be processed
by minor changing in the hardware and processing conditions. Extrusion process is
energy efficient, and low cost compared to other processes. Presently, most of the
extruders are available with automation, which can increase the productivity. Since
extrusion process is considered HTST the product quality is much better than other
processes, since cooking is done in a very short time and less destruction takes place
to the heat sensitive ingredients. It is very easy to scale up the extrusion process for
larger installation.

Types of Extruders:

In the past the most common extruder in the snack food production have been
the single screw extruders. Still most of the expanded snacks are made from single
screw extruders because of the economic point of view. Many common snack foods
such as fried or baked are corn base and produced by single screw extruders.
However, with the new and complex new ingredients, different snack shapes and color
the twin screw extruders have begum to take place for single screw extruder. Snack
products like half products or third generation snacks, may require more advance
extruders like, twin screw.

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 New Technological Solutions – Extrusion Process

Snack Consumption Patterns:

The snack food market is constantly changing relative to product types, and
although most snacks are not primarily consumed for their nutrients, many snacks are
made with nutrition in mind. The snack food industry is experiencing extraordinary
changes from the consumer’s point of view. Consumers want snacks to not only taste
good, but also smell good, feel good, and look good. Snacks should give the
consumer a homemade/fresh feel. Some of the snacks are developed with a special
theme in mind like world soccer. These snack pellets are soccer ball shaped, which on
frying or microwaving become soccer balls.

Snacking overall is on the rise in the US owing to an increasingly hectic lifestyle

with more time spent at work. Currently more than two-thirds of US women work
outside the home and the number of two income families in the US has doubled over
the last 20 years. Snacking is increasing from factors such as increases in one-person
households, and more school age children obtaining their own meals and
refreshments, a highly mobile population, and availability of snack foods in vending
machines and convenience markets. Snacking now provide approximately 30 percent
of many American’s daily calories (5). Various products which were once consumed
mainly on impulse are becoming accepted as side-dish items, for example, corn chips
or potato chips served in place of mashed potatoes. The established position of snack
foods in the diet is demonstrated by the continuous growth in sales.

In the last ten years, changes in life-style and eating patterns have led to a
gradual increase in demand for snack foods. The pattern of snacking in different
countries can be affected by several factors such as the lifestyle in each area, the
economic climate, rival foods and public receptiveness of current views on nutritional
matters. Snacks can provide an increased dietary intake of essential amino acids and
other nutrients for developing countries.

Types of Snack Foods:

Each snack processor may use a specific unit operation and somewhat
different technologies to produce unique snacks. There are many ways to classify
the snacks. Snack manufacturers uses three main terms to identify the snacks: 1) first
generation snacks: In this category all the natural products used for snacking, nuts,
potato chips and popped popcorn are included; 2) Second generation snack: Majority
of the snacks fall in this category. All the single ingredients snacks, simple shaped
products like corn tortilla chips and puffed corn curls and all directly expanded snacks
are included in this category; 3) Third generation snacks also called half-products or
pellets: In this category, multi ingredients formed snacks and pellets, made by
extrusion cooking are included.

Extruded Snacks
This category has the greatest potential for growth among the snack foods. The
snacks can be made to produce innovation which captures the consumer imagination.
Some of the examples are three dimensional snacks, a variety of animals, cartoon,

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 New Technological Solutions – Extrusion Process

and alphabets shapes etc. Producing a successful snack is a fine balance between the
consumers’s needs, like tastes and interests vs. a manufacturer’s production abilities,
economics and quality control. Raw material cost play an important role in the finished
product’s selling price. Therefore, it is an advantage to use the lowest cost raw
material to produce a successful snack.

Expanded Snacks
The majority of extruded snacks are in this category. This group is also
referred as “collet” or “second generation snacks”. In general, expanded snacks are
made on high-shear extruders. These are high-fiber, high-protein, and low calories
snacks. Some examples are corn curls, onion rings, three dimensional snacks, and
potato sticks. These types of snacks can be seasoned with a variety of different flavors,
oils, salt, sugars, etc. The quality of an expansion-cooked product depends upon the
conditions of operation of the extruder and the main raw material used in the
formulation. Several other factors can influence the degree of puffing of snacks during
extrusion, i.e. amount of moisture in the feed material, dough residence time in the
extruder barrel, and cereal particle size.

Fried Collets
These are the most familiar extruded snacks in the market. A special die
arrangement gives the product a twisted puffed shape. These collets are made on
collet extruders. The product is then fried in vegetable oil, and coated with cheese and
some other flavor. During frying the moisture level reduces from 8% to 1-2% in this
product. The most common material used for fried collet is corn meal. Some other
cereal grains can also be used for this type of product.

Baked Collets
Baked collets are another example of the expanded extruded snacks. This
include products such as baked corn curls, onion rings and potato sticks. Baked collets
can be made with different cereal grains and tuber flours. Protein, fibers, cellulose,
and bran can be blended with cereal grain up to 20% to make healthy snacks (6).
Potato sticks usually made by mixing potato flour with corn or rice flour.

Third-Generation Snacks
Third generation snacks (3G) snacks, also referred to as “half products” or
pellets provide an alternative to fully prepared puffed snack foods. Third generation
snacks or half products are extrusion cooked, and formed at low pressure to prevent
expansion, and then dried to a final moisture content of about 10% to form a glassy
pellet. In developing third generation snacks, "half" of the process is completed to
prepare "pellets" which are shelf-stable for periods of up to a year without refrigeration,
provided they are properly packed to retain their moisture. Many types of proteins and
protein enrichments may be added to third generation snack type recipes such as
meats (whole fresh shrimp, fresh chicken, beef, etc), dairy products (cheese, yoghurt,
milk solids) and legume proteins (soy, pea, bean). Up to 30 to 35% levels may be
added and still maintain high quality final products (7). Several minor ingredients have

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 New Technological Solutions – Extrusion Process

very useful effects on the texture, quality and flavor of the final products. Salt is very
useful in assisting with uniform moisture migration throughout the third generation
pellet after drying during the moisture equilibration period. Baking soda will give
special flavor and textural attributes to the finished products after frying, puffing or
microwaving. Oils or emulsifiers reduce stickiness during cutting and other processing
step (8). Drying is very critical in the production of good quality third generation snacks.
Proper drying will reduce the moisture content of the pellet to approximately 12
percent. Temperatures of 70-95 C and retention times of one to three hours are
required. These products are economical to run and have built-in-marketability due to
their high-bulk density. Third generation snacks can be prepared in homes or
restaurants. Unlike typical snack foods, half-products do not yet contain oil that can
oxidize to give off-flavor to the products. These pellets can be shipped from a central
manufacturing distribution point, held until needed for the market, and then puffed,
flavored and packed fresh and locally. New variations of the third generation snacks
expand using infrared heating, hot air, or microwaving. The use of hot air systems
reduces the oil uptake that occurs in frying and allows a controlled addition of oil to be
made as required for flavoring. With consumer concerns about fats and oils, a half
product snack that expands using hot air, offers snack food manufacturers an oil free
snack with perceived health benefits. Elimination of frying oils reduces calories and
allows a marketing opening for snacks with a "lite" image.

With the multidimensional snack system, a wide range of raw ingredients can
be used to blend together to make an excellent formulation for many types of third
generation snacks. The extruder feed must contain a high level of starch to maximize
expansion of the collet during exposure to hot oil or air. Levels of 60% or less total
starch in the formula give only slight expansion in the puffing step and yield a final
product with a crunchy, hard texture. Wheat, corn and tubers are widely grown crops
in developing and industrialized countries, and they are cheaper and easily available in
the market than the other cereal crops.

Co-Extruded Snacks
This is a relatively new technology introduced in 1984 for the snack food
industry. In this process two different materials are extruded from one die. The two
materials can come from two extruders or from one extruder and one pump. This
process can produce a snack with two different flavors, or two textures or two colors.
The most common snack produced by co-extrusion is a cereal based outer tube with a
cheese filling inside. There are three basic types of co-extruded snacks in the market;
cereal-based tubes with cereal-based fillings, cereal-based tubes with fat-based fillings,
and cereal-based tubes with water-based filling. The shelf life of these snacks is
limited, because of migration of moisture and/or oil from the filling to the outer shell.

In conclusion, snack can be processed by variety of different methods and

techniques. Several new raw materials containing nutraceutical and functional
properties are being introduced in the market every day for snack food products.
Snacks can be made with a combination of different raw materials containing different
properties. The role of snacks in a healthy life style is only starting to be developed.

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 New Technological Solutions – Extrusion Process

The recognition of snacks as healthful will increase as industry changes products from
merely good tastes to nutritious.

References:

1. L. Kuntz. Creating healthful salty snacks. Food Product Design. 1996. Vol. 6(9).31-
56.

2. J. L. Rossen and R. C. Miller. Food extrusion. Food Technol.,1973. 27:46-53.

3. O. B. Smith. “Why use extrusion” Symposium on Extrusion: Process and Product

Development. American Association of Cereal Chemists. St. Paul. MN., 1971

4. M. N. Riaz. Extruders in Food Application. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. Originally
Published by Technomic Publishing, 2000.

5. M. Hilliam, Have a snack. The World of Food Ingredients. Sep. 2001, p12-14.

6. G. Huber and G. J. Rokey. Extruded Snacks. In “Snack Food” Ed. Booth, R. G.

Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY. 1990. P. 107-138.

7. R. Sunderland. Production of Third Generation Snacks. Cereal Food Word. 1996.

(41)1:12-14.

8. G. R. Huber. Recent developments and trends in the snack food industry. In M. Riaz,
L. Rooney and M. Barron Eds., Snack Food Processing Shot Course Manual. Food
Protein Research & Development Center, Texas A&M University, College Station,
Texas, 2002

Mian N. Riaz. Ph.D.

Head- Extrusion Technology Program
Food Protein R&D Center, Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas, USA 77843-2476
Tel: 979-845-2774; Fax: 979-458-0019
E-mail: mnriaz@tamu.edu; www.tamu.edu/extrusion

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