Extrusion Processing of Oilseed Meals for Food and Feed Production

There are several different definitions of extrusion depending on the manufacturer as well as the purpose of the extrusion. For the purpose of this chapter, the best definition of extrusion can be explained as “continuous cooking under pressure, moisture and elevated temperature.” During the process of extrusion, several operations take place, such as grinding, hydration, mixing, shearing, thermal treatment, gelatinization, protein denaturation, destruction of micro-organisms and some toxic compounds, shaping, expanding, and partial dehydration. The use of extruders has been expanding rapidly in the food, feed, and oilseed industries over the past few years, although basic extruder technology has been around for a long time. It has been used in one form or another in many industries. New designs of extrusion equipment have increased the range of their application in food, feed, and oilseed processing. Keywords: extrusion; extruder; food production; feed processing; oilseed; expaders; grinding; hydration; shearing; gelatinization; dehydration