The Effects of Extrusion on Heat Sensitive Ingredients – Part II
In Part I of this blog, I discussed the importance of paying attention to the way some ingredients, such as vitamins and probiotics, react to the extrusion cooking process. I discussed how they can be adversely affected and ways you can prevent that from happening. In today’s blog, I will discuss how it affects ingredients such as dairy derivatives and ingredients with high sugar content.
Any kind of dairy derivative, most often dry milk, or dairy whey, can be used in pig starters. These products tend to want to burn throughout the extrusion process which destroys the nutritional properties of the ingredients and decreases the palatability of the finished product. This leaves a burnt or bitter taste in your product. In order to prevent any damage, it is best to apply after extrusion because a high percentage may be used in the formulation. Another option to avoid this issue would be to substitute it with another ingredient.
The final ingredient I’m going to discuss is any ingredient with high sugar content such as molasses. Sugar is affected by heat and pressure, but not always adversely. Depending on the process temperature, extrusion of sugar can even have a desirable effect. Sugars will caramelize when exposed to temperature. At lower temperatures, this will help to suspend the sugar evenly through the whole product. In the case of shaped products, extrusion can have a binding effect and increase the durability and palatability of the finished product. Higher temperatures will burn the sugars, but most products using these ingredients are produced at temperatures that will not cause any harm. Another thing to consider is that the percentage of inclusion is normally low so there may be no adverse effect to the process.
That wraps up the few examples to take into consideration if you plan on extruding a complete feed that contains a variety of ingredients. Important ingredients can be affected by extrusion and it is important to address this beforehand to avoid wasting or ruining the quality of your end product. If you have any questions concerning your formulation and how your ingredients and how they may react in the extrusion process, give us a call, our nutritionists and R&D team are here to help.
