New processes for healthy snacks
Date: 19 April 2007
Innovations from Baker Perkins
Baker Perkins is launching significant process innovations allowing snack manufacturers to develop a wide-range of new products that meet the growth in demand for foods matching healthier lifestyles.
A range of ideas has been generated for the production of healthier snack foods including low fat, whole grain and multi-grain products.
Savoury snack foods with high levels of fat and salt have been cited as a contributor towards rising levels of obesity and related health problems. Manufacturers are facing a major challenge as consumers become more aware of health concerns and dietary issues.
Successful new products need to match rigorous health benchmarks: low fat, multigrain and wholegrain snacks are certain to be among the new products that consumers turn to.
Wholegrain products retain, after processing, all three parts of the original grain – the germ, bran and endosperm – in their original proportions.
According to the Whole Grains Council the benefits of whole grains include 30-36% reduced stroke risk; 21-30% reduced type 2 diabetes risk; 25-28% reduced heart disease risk; and better weight maintenance.
Multigrain products feature a combination of grains such as wheat, rye, corn, barley or rice.
They offer the opportunity to develop new textures with a beneficial nutritional profile.
Baker Perkins has developed several product concepts based on a whole or multi- grain platform.
They include shredded, expanded and cracker snacks with greatly reduced levels of saturated fat, overall fat content, and salt.
Baker Perkins has a long track record of success in the snacks industry and has a wide range of technologies that sit at the heart of healthy snack production.
Using Baker Perkins technology and expertise installed lines can be adapted and expanded on a modular ‘building block’ basis to bolt on extra products and processes.
The inherent flexibility of equipment and processes means manufacturers can adapt, as new products and trends enter the market: lines installed now will be able to produce the latest style years into the future. For example, using ingredients based on vegetables, nuts, seeds, pulses or fruits, basic snack products could be transformed into high-value foods for health conscious consumers.
Many lines are based on twin-screw extrusion, a versatile process allowing different grains and other ingredients to be processed. Although extrusion is well established in the snack industry it is gaining fresh impetus due to the renewed interest in non-fried products. Its inherent flexibility is now being exploited to develop new textures and shapes to add interest and variety to the sector.
Baker Perkins has a broad range of technologies that enable new processes to be developed for snack foods. Sheeting, cutting, cereal cooking, flaking, shredding and toasting technologies are all available from Baker Perkins to help food companies take product concepts through to production.
As a leading partner to the snack industry world-wide, Baker Perkins bases its market leadership on process and engineering expertise backed by a focus on creative development of end products that help customers preserve their profitability.
A wealth of end-product opportunities are available with direct expanded, co-extruded and triple-extruded lines.
Many customers use the Baker Perkins Innovation Centre, which offers a range of development facilities in a confidential environment.
Experienced Baker Perkins technologists using production scale equipment can turn initial concepts into finished products, with samples produced for test marketing trials.
![[logo] Fivesite.co.uk](/gfx/gfx_logo_fivesite.gif){kind=logo}
