Chemical and Nutritional Changes in Food During Extrusion
Chemical and Nutritional Changes in Food During Extrusion
during extrusion
Introduction.
Critical factors.
Starch.
Dietary fibre.
Protein.
Vitamins.
Minerals.
Natural toxins.
Flavours.
Within the extruder barrel, unique chemical transformations
occur. These changes, coupled with the variable composition
of foods, present a significant challenge to food scientists.
Five general chemical or physiochemical changes can occur
during extrusion cooking:
Binding
Cleavage
Loss of native conformation
Re-combination of fragments
Thermal degradation
Composition of feed materials is altered by physical losses
including leakage of oil and evaporation of water and volatile
compounds at the die.
Most chemical reaction occurs near barrel just before the die,
thermally labile compounds such as flavors and vitamins may
be injected at that site to minimize exposure to heat and shear.
The factors influence the viscosity of the food within the
extruder barrel, the residence time of the material in the
extruder, and the shear applied to the food.
The type of extruder certainly affects chemical reactions.
larger extruders have longer barrels and relatively longer
residence times than laboratory-scale extruders
Following are the factors that influence chemical
changes during extrusion:
Primary Secondary
Barrel temperature Mass(product)
Die geometry temperature
Extruder model Pressure
Feed composition Specific mechanical
Feed moisture energy
Feed particle size
Feed rate
Screw configuration
Screw speed
Starchy grains and tubers are the major sources of energy in
the diet; therefore starch changes during extrusion have
important nutritional effects.
Although complete gelatinization did not occur under the
extrusion conditions used, extrusion greatly increased the
enzyme digestibility of wheat bran and whole flour starch.
Lipids, sucrose, salt and dietary fiber modulate gelatinization
of starchy foods and may affect expansion and other physical
properties.
The highly branched structure of amylopectin is prone to
shear, but amylose & amylopectin may decrease in molecular
weight.
The extent of starch degradation was greater for wheat than
for corn. Wheat flour starch molecular weight was best
retained by higher die temperature(185C) and feed moisture
20%.
Extrusion can be used to direct molecular degradation in order
to manufacture dextrin or glucose. High shear conditions are
necessary to maximize conversion of starch to glucose..
Although enzymes are usually inactivated during extrusion,
thermally stable enzymes added to starch prior to extrusion
increase the reaction rate within the barrel.
An important consequence of starch degradation is reduced
expansion
Factors Increasing Expansion of Starchy Materials are
Following: