Recent development, challenges, and prospects of extrusion technology

Abstract

There is a significant advancement in the modification of extruders for the commercial application in food processing sector, especially during the last three decades. Extrusion is one among the most commercially successful technology, escalating its demand in the diverse field of the food industry, including food processing, digital food marketing (3-D printed food) and food packaging. The paper aims to review the developments in the last 5 years. The novel innovations include hot-melt extrusion, supercritical fluid assisted extrusion and extrusion-based 3-D printing. Hot-melt extrusion finds application in developing food with taste-masking properties of functional components and with high repeatability andy targeted delivery with widespread application in meat replacements, cheese, cocoa etc. The supercritical fluids assisted extrusion is used to develop products rich in nutrients that are heat sensitive. Extrusion based 3-D printing is the latest trend focusing on digitalizing commercial food market with nutritionally personalized and geometrically complex food products. The review also gives lights to the application of extrusion in the food packaging sector as biodegradable polymers replacing synthetic petroleum products. It can be inferred that novel technologies in the extrusion have a promising future for the commercialization of both product and technology.