18 Breakfast cereals and snackfoods

R.C.E. GUY

18.1 Introduction

Breakfast cereals and snackfoods [1,2] have many features in common,

both in their manufacturing processes and in their product characteristics.
Many of these products are made from similar types of raw materials and
tend to be processed as doughs at much higher temperatures than those
used for conventional baked products [3]. Although the final products in
the breakfast cereal and snackfood markets are distinctly different in their
appearance, they all tend to have low residual moisture contents and
similar brittle crispy textures. Most of the products are based on starch-
rich formulations of raw materials, in which starch biopolymers may
provide from 50 to 80% of the dry solids. The most common methods of
manufacture involve the addition of a limited amount of water to a dry
mix, which serves to hydrate the starch and protein polymers and to act
as a plasticiser, followed by a thermal process. The physical manipulation
of these biopolymers occurs at high temperatures, usually > 100°C
(>212°F). Under such conditions, the base raw materials are transformed
into viscoelastic melts (chapter 5), from which flakes, shreds or foams
may be formed by further physical processing. These new structures are
dried to low moisture levels to form crisp glassy textures, which provide
the characteristic mouthfeel to the products. Snackfoods tend to be eaten
in this dry form, so that they feel brittle and crunchy in the mouth, but
breakfast cereals are usually consumed after immersion in milk, where
they may absorb water and soften. The complex physico-chemical interac-
tions of the biopolymers with water, during the development of the
raw materials into doughs or fluids, and in their subsequent expansion
and stabilisation processes are difficult to envisage. However, the
understanding of these phenomena is essential for the control of the
individual process and product variables. In recent years, research in
the field of food polymer science [4] has begun to reveal some of the
relationships which exist between the polymers, small sugars and the
plasticisers. At present, the limited number of measurements which have
been collected only provide sufficient detail to make rough predictions for
changing the processing conditions or formulation, and each product type
requires further extensive studies. In this chapter some of the most
important physico-chemical reactions are reviewed for a range of products
from the breakfast cereal and snackfood markets.
S. T. Beckett (ed.), Physico-Chemical Aspects of Food Processing
© Chapman & Hall 1995
 BREAKFAST CEREALS AND SNACKFOODS 369

18.2 Physico-chemical changes taking place during the technological

processes used for breakfast cereals and snackfoods

1B.2.1 A general view of the initial changes in mixing and

dough formation
Among the manufacturing processes employed for breakfast cereals and
snackfoods, there are several different types of process which have been
developed empirically over the last century. These processes may be
grouped into two broad categories. The processes in the first category
employ whole grains, or large pieces of grain endosperm, known as
'grits', as their basic raw materials. They generally are operated with
steam cookers, pressure vessels or boiling water vessels as their main
processing units. Such processes are used for the manufacture of well-
known products such as corn flakes, wheat biscuits, shredded wheat and
tortilla snacks. In each case, water is added to the raw materials and

Table 18.1 Breakfast cereal and snackfood products

Product Main raw Moisture Type of process Structural form

type material level for
processing
(% w/w)

Cornflakes maize grit 30-35 steam cooker rolled flake

Shredded wheat grain 35-45 steam cooker mat of rolled shreds
wheat
Wheat wheat grain 30-35 steam cooker layered rolled flakes
biscuit
Puffed wheat grain 18-20 puffing gun/chamber expanded foam in form
wheat of grain
Ready-to- cereal mix 16-20 extrusion cooker shaped foams
eat hoops,
etc.
Tortilla maize grain 35-45 hot water/steam vessel baked as flat biscuit
Corn chips maize grain 35-45 hot water/steam vessel fried as flat biscuit
Popcorn maize grain 15-16 hot air microwaves fine foam shaped by
grain
Corn puffs maize grits 16-18 extrusion cookers shaped foams
Pellets cereal or 25-28 extrusion cookers and dense pellet/expands to
snacks potato mix air dryer foam when heated in air
or oil
Traditional cereal mix 40-50 hot -water boiler and dense pellet expands in
prawn sun drying hot oil
crackers
Tubes and potato mix 30-35 forming extrusion and slightly foamed shape
hoops frying process