Advances in Feed Extrusion Technology

Food extrusion can be defined as a process of mixing, homogenizing and shaping low moisture food materials into intermediate or finished products by forcing them through a specially designed die. Extrusion technology provides several different advantages over the traditional methods to the food and feed processing industries. A variety of shapes, texture, color and appearances can be produced with an extruder, which is not easily done using other production methods. Extrusion is a heat treatment which involves HT/ST principle of extrusion cooking (high temperature/short time), namely, the process in which material is exposed to high temperature (to 2000 C) for short time (to 2 minutes). Extruders operate at relatively low moisture while cooking food products, so less re-drying is required. An extrusion system includes a live bin or feeder, pre-conditioner, extrusion cooker, and die/knife assembly and each component are designed to accomplish a specific function in the process of cooking and forming feed products. Parameters that affect the quality of the end product when using extrusion technology are particle size of the ingredients; extruder shaft speed; preconditioning moisture