Pasta is increasingly popular worldwide. According to the International Pasta Organisation, pasta has seen year over year increases in consumption for the past decade. With nearly 15 million tons of pasta produced worldwide, it’s one of the most popular dietary staples. Unsurprisingly, Italy is the highest per capita consumer, with 23.2 kilograms of pasta per person per year. With a 4000 year old history, Pasta is one of the world’s most treasured foods.
Much of the increasing interest in pasta is cultural--as societies move towards sustainable, plant based foods, Pasta is often at the top of the list, alongside rice and legumes. Pasta has a low impact on the environment and can be prepared in a number of different ways. Prepared pasta is one of the most common fresh and frozen foods, due to low cost and endless varieties.
Long noodles, however, provide some difficulty for mechanical food depositors. Unlike short pastas, which can often be scooped, long pasta is prone to clumping and sticking. Cooked Long pasta noodles cannot be pumped--the process subjects the soft noodles to excessive mechanical force, resulting in breaking, lumps, and uneven food deposits.
Some factories have tried using a gravity fed scale to deposit long noodles. This process, while common, has its drawbacks as well. Noodles tend to stick together, making the resulting deposits uneven. Smaller factories rely on hand scooping long noodles. This process keeps the noodles intact, but hand scooping is difficult to scale, and often results in inconsistent portions.
Adding to the difficulty, long pasta needs to remain long in order to appeal to consumers. Long noodles can have cultural importance. Spaghetti noodles lose their appeal when they are chopped. As consumers become more sophisticated, they expect better looking and better tasting food, so the aesthetics of processed food are important. It is common for processed food to compete side by side with restaurant food, as it does in airports. In these cases, the visual appeal of the food becomes critical.
Processing long noodles, such as lo mein, spaghetti, fettuccine, and others, requires gentle machines and some knowledge of the pitfalls. Here are some tips for how to be successful.
Consider these tips as you plan out your line for long noodles. However you work with them, Long Noodles will remain one of the world’s favorite foods, guaranteed to remain popular for years to come.
For more information about Multi-Fill’s world-class volumetric food filling machines, call 801-280-1570 or contact us online.
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Tel: +1 (801) 280-1570
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