The CSIRO unveiled its newest asset to 80 representatives from the world’s leading food manufacturers at its Werribee facility last Wednesday.
Food processing centre manager Rod Smith said the $1 million
high-pressure processing unit would be used by food companies to trial
new products on small-scale production before churning out bigger
batches on the factory line.
“It’s about the smallest extruder you can get, but the results and
processing conditions we get on this can be scaled up to larger
machines,” he said.
“This one runs up to 100 kilos an hour, whereas commercial machines are up to 15 tonnes an hour.”
Last Wednesday, as the delegation toured CSIRO’s Sneydes Road
facility, the extruder was being used to produce corn products, which
are the basis of many snack foods, such as Cheezels and Twisties.
Extruders can be used for products including pasta, pet food, cereals, flat breads, confectionery and some drinks.
A set of ingredients are forced through one side of the machine,
heated at several different temperatures and cut by blades to a specific
shape.
Mr Smith said the extruder was an important tool for researching and developing healthy snack foods.
“One of our research programs is to reduce fat, sugar and salt,” he said.
“There’s no good making a healthy snack food that tastes like
cardboard – no one’s going to eat it. Gone are the days that if it
tastes like rubbish, it’s good for you.”
