Extrusion technology and its application in food processing: A review

Abstract

Extrusion technology is gaining increasing popularity in the global agro-food processing industry, which employs mixing, forming, texturing and cooking to develop a novel food product. Extrusion cooking is a high-temperature short-time (HTST) process which inactivates enzymes and reduces microbial contamination. Extrusion cooking is mostly preferred, as it has high productivity and significant nutrient retention as compared to conventional cooking. The extrusion technology has become an important technique in food processing industries with its numerous advantages over other processing methods. It is one of the cost effective method and offers a platform for processing of different products from various food groups by modifying minor or major ingredients and processing conditions. Extrusion technology is applied in food processing industry for the development of variety of snacks, pasta, breakfast cereals, pet foods, supplementary foods and other textured foods. It is an economical technology for incorporating food processing by-products and residue back into the food stream. The versatility of extrusion technology makes it convenient for development of nutritionally rich fortified products and value added products with combination of different inexpensive raw materials. Extruded products have less moisture content, longer shelf life and are microbiologically safe. The variability of the product and high quality, productivity of the new foods and minimal processing time are the advantages of this technology.