Description
Extrusion is a food processing technique that involves forcing soft mixed ingredients through a hole in a perforated plate or die to generate the desired form. Blades then cut the extruded food to a precise size. The extruder is the machine that drives the mixture through the die, and the mixture is known as the extrudate. The die is usually at the end of a big, revolving screw snugly fitted within a stationary barrel.
Extrusion allows for the mass manufacture of food in a continuous, efficient technique that ensures product homogeneity. Extruded food products typically have a high starch content. Some pasta, bread (croutons, breadsticks, and flatbreads), many morning kinds of cereal and ready-to-eat snacks, confectionary, pre-made cookie dough, various baby meals, full-fat soy, textured vegetable protein, some beverages, and dry and semi-moist pet foods are all examples of these.
