Food processing has come a long way in the last several decades. Food plants are now designed to improve their ability to mass-produce food, transport it over large distances, and make it considerably safer.
The food extrusion process is incredibly beneficial for the production of a wide variety of foods that we consume daily. It’s a sustainable and versatile technology that combines several unit operations into a single integrated process, including cooking, heating, forming, and shaping. It forces all melted ingredients through a ‘die’ opening or perforated plate which is typically designed specifically for the food being shaped.
Food extrusion entails a bioreactor system that pushes several mixed ingredients through a narrow, shaped opening, known as a die (Lisch and Launay 1893) to form various products, referred to as extrudates (Berek, 2009).
Thanks to the advancements in the field of pet food extrusion, consumers around the world are becoming far more specific with what they want. Over the past many years, terms like natural and organic have been increasingly common among pet food buyers.
Food extrusion involves processing several ingredients, forcing them to flow under a predetermined pressure through various conditions, such as shear, mixing, and heat application. The melted mixture passes through a ‘die’ or perforated plate which is typically designed specifically for the food being shaped. Besides, vitamins and minerals can also be added after the cooking process.
Food and feed processing are vast processes that entail many different complex pieces of equipment that have their own distinctive uses and provide their own unique advantages. One such important processing equipment is a hammer mill.