Evolution of Extrusion Technology in Food Processing

The inception of food extrusion technology traces its roots back to antiquity, credited to the inventive genius of Archimedes of Syracuse, a revered Greek mathematician and physicist from 287–212 BC. Archimedes' pioneering creation, featuring a screw encased within a cylindrical chamber, sparked a revolution across multiple industries, laying the foundation for what we now recognize as extrusion technology.

Initially devised for tasks such as water displacement, this rudimentary screw-in-barrel mechanism gradually found application in diverse sectors, encompassing metal fabrication, ceramics, concrete, plastics, and polymers, before eventually permeating into the realm of food and feed processing, albeit in more recent times.

The evolution of extruders over the past two centuries underscores significant advancements. In 1797, Joseph Bramah secured the inaugural extrusion patent, introducing a method for crafting lead pipes using a ram-type apparatus coupled with a dummy block, forcibly extruding material through a die to form a continuous profile. Subsequent refinement by Thomas Burr in 1820, employing a hydraulic press, marked a pivotal leap forward in extrusion technology.

The historical trajectory of food extrusion dates back to the 1870s when extruders found initial utility in sausage production, signaling early recognition of their potential in food processing. However, it wasn't until the 1930s that extrusion techniques gained prominence in the manufacturing of dry pasta and breakfast cereals, marking a significant milestone in the utilization of this technology within the food industry.

Over time, extrusion technology has undergone democratization, transcending industrial confines to infiltrate domestic kitchens. Common kitchen appliances like meat grinders and select pasta makers leverage extrusion principles, illustrating the widespread adoption of this innovative technology in everyday culinary practices.

In conclusion, the history of extrusion technology in food processing epitomizes a narrative of innovation and progress, spanning from its ancient origins to contemporary applications. With its lineage deeply intertwined with the ingenuity of luminaries such as Archimedes, extrusion technology continues to exert a transformative influence on the landscape of food production and processing, offering efficiency, versatility, and reliability to meet the evolving demands of the industry.
Evolution of Extrusion Technology in Food Processing

History of extruded breakfast cereal

Extrusion is defined as a process in which material is pushed through an orifice or a die of given shape. The pushing force is applied using a piston or a screw. Extrusion-technology is gaining increasing popularity in the global agro-food processing industry, particularly in the food and feed sectors. Extrusion cooking technologies are used for cereal and protein processing in food.

Extruded breakfast cereal is one of ready-to-eat extruded products and ideal food for people’s modern-day lifestyle, where speed and convenience, as well as complete nutritional values, are desirable food characteristics.

Historically, one can trace the use of a screw as a conveying device to the Greek philosopher Archimedes, who used a single screw in a cylindrical open channel to pump water uphill.

The first food extruder was designed to manufacture sausages in 1870s. Breakfast cereal have been produced via extrusion since 1930s when it was used to process making ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals to shape hot, precooked dough.

In this application, the level of shear rate was low. Extrusion technology has replaced the conventional method of boiling and then drying the products and is a popular technique to make ready to eat products.

During the late 1930s and 1940s, directly expanded corn curls were made using extruders, which were characterized by extremely high shear rates. The first patent on an application of twin-screw extrusion technology was filed in the mid-1950s.

The extrusion cooking, especially used in the production of precooked and modified starches, ready to eat cereals, and snack foods has increased recently.

History of extruded breakfast cereal  

History of extruding machine

Literally, extrusion means the action of pushing out in Latin. It refers to a process by which a liquid to a semiliquid product is forced through a die opening of the desired cross section.

Extrusion has been used for industrial applications like rubber and plastics since the late 19th century. Only since the 1930s has it been applied to food products.

The earliest documented example of an extrusion processing machine is a rubber masticator consisting of a toothed rotor turned by a winch inside a toothed cylindrical cavity.

Thomas Hancock developed it in 1820 in England, to reclaim scraps of processed natural rubber.

Later in 1845 a patent was filed by Richard Brooman and modified by Henry Bewley, for the extrusion of Gutta Percha to coat copper conductors.

The birth of extruder, which plays such a dominant role in polymer processing, is linked to the 1879 patent of Mathew Gray in England. At the same time Royle in the United States also developed a screw machine. 

Sausage extruders were developed in the nineteenth century as simple forming machines. Eventually pasta was produce in extruders.

Flour and water were added at one end of the machine, and a screw mixed and compressed the dough before extruding it through numerous holes or dies.

There is a broad variety of twin and multiple screws mixers and extruders; many of them are used in the food industry.

During the 1930s heat was added to the barrel containing the screw; puffed corn curl snacks resulted. During that time food extrusion began with the use of single-single screw extruders to form and shape macaroni and ready to eat cereals.

Proteins and starches are subjected to high temperatures, pressure and shear rates inside the barrel of the extruder, where a screw routes at high speed.
History of extruding machine