Demaco extruder
The Demaco extruder is a pasta extruder built by Demaco in West Melbourne, Florida, United States. It is the first pasta extruder ever built for USDA sanitary food plants.<ref>United States Department of Agriculture. FSIS Directive 11220.1 "Accepted Meat and Poultry Equipment", Food Safety and Inspection Service (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 1995), pages 50-51.</ref> Its design allowed food producers to use an extruder directly in fresh, frozen and canning factories.
History
The extruder evolved from a mechanical pasta press first built in 1914. The mechanical version was replaced by a hydraulic version shortly thereafter.
Containing an auger screw and mixer, the extruder combined the functions of mixing, kneading and extruding in one machine, operations that formerly required three machines.
In the 1960s, the extruder underwent a series of changes that made it easy to sanitize and suitable for USDA food plants. These included a streamlined design with quick disassembly, and stainless steel construction with completely sealed welds.<ref name =Judson>Judson M. Harper. Extrusion of Foods: Volume I (Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press), page 150.</ref> Demaco engineers also designed a premixer for the extruder, which received a U.S. patent in 1975.<ref>Ignatius Bontempi and Peter Giemisch. U.S. patent 3,891,192 "Pre-Mixer for Alimentary Paste" (Washington, DC: United States Patent and Trademark Office, June 24, 1975).</ref> In the 1980s, the Demaco extruder became automated with PLC controls.
The DEMACO extruder is used to make a wide range of products, including pasta and cereal.<ref name=Hummel>Hummel, Charles. Macaroni Products, (London: Food Trade Press, Ltd.), 1966, second edition, pages 89-90.</ref> Additionally, DEMACO extruders are used to make some snacks, such as crisps and pizza rolls.
Canned goods
An innovative use of the extruder was feeding a can-filling machine for canned products.<ref name=Judson/><ref name=Hummel/> Demaco extruders also feed ravioli machines to make canned ravioli products. The U.S. Chinese-food company Chun King used one for the production of egg rolls.
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