Dr. Oluchukwu Margaret Mary Nwadi, a member of AfREN presented two conference papers during the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) Conference which held from 14th to 17th October 2024 in Kano State, Nigeria. One of the papers was titled Extrusion Cooking in Food Processing: A review, excerpts from the presentations are summarised below:
- Many definitions by different authors abound in literature, however, basically, during extrusion cooking, the structure and texture after processing of the food products (extrudates) are changed.
- The microstructure of foods changes on extrusion, depending on the method of extrusion. Variation in the extrusion parameters can lead to extruded products with different and unique microstructure leading to differences in texture and, of course, varieties of food products would result.
- Extrusion improves acceptability and retains nutrients which makes extruded food products more beneficial to man when consumed