Types of Food Processing Equipment

The type of food processing equipment to get is determined by the products that you aim to make. You can purchase a Roots blower for a specific application. Sorting machinery serves a particular job. Roll crushers, impact mills, and other size-reduction equipment are also made for a certain task. What types of food processing equipment do you need?

Food Processing Equipment Types Based on Purpose

Cleaning Equipment

A common piece of equipment used in food processing is cleaning equipment. Because food is made of ingredients that are natural or organic, it is usually covered in contaminants, dirt, and other unneeded materials that you do not need in the final product. This is where the cleaning equipment comes in.

There are two types of cleaning equipment: those that use the wet process and the dry process. In the wet process, the cleaning steps are done through sterilizing, washing, spraying, or soaking. For the dry process, the cleaning is accomplished by classifying and separating.

Peeling Equipment

Another piece of equipment used in the food processing business is the one used for peeling or skinning the ingredients. Factories need to speed up the process. Instead of manual peeling, companies use equipment that can remove the skins of materials in a quick and efficient manner. They choose the right design of peeling or skinning equipment that best serves the purpose.

For the process, they can use equipment that removes the skin through abrasions, steam, flame, or stationary blades. These designs effectively skin the materials will little waste on usable ingredients.

Air Equipment

Food processing also involves the use of blowers in the production of their final product. Pneumatic conveying is done mostly on powdered items to transfer them from one part of the factory to another. They move granular materials such as spices, grains, sugar, salt, and milk in bulk to the next food processing step.

A commonly used air equipment is a roots blower. It implements positive displacement using air to generate consistent flow and limitations to low and medium vacuum rates and pressure ratings. Some roots blowers use oil as a lubricant while others are only air-cooled.

Size Enlargement Equipment

Food processing includes another step called agglomeration or forming. This process collects materials into a bigger mass or clusters to form a larger, denser material. Companies can use extrusion or agglomeration.

Some examples of equipment used for size enlargement include rotating drums, pelletizing equipment, agitators, extruders, molders, enrobing machines, and formers.

Mixers and blenders

Because processed food commonly results from a combination of different ingredients, you need a big piece of equipment to mix them up. The rotation and act of mixing must be consistent to produce a uniform mixture. This is to avoid any form of air or even clusters of ingredients that you do not want to form on the final product.

To do this, factories use fluid mixers, agitation tanks, cutter mixers, blade mixers, drum blenders, and diffusive mixers.

Sorting equipment

This equipment is utilized to separate raw materials based on the size that you need for the next processing step. The operator sets the classification of the material based on the physical characteristic of the raw ingredient. 

Examples of sorting equipment include sorting conveyors, machine sorting systems, and screen equipment.

Conclusion

When it comes to food processing equipment, you must understand that the purchase and use of these products depend on the type of food to be produced. You can purchase cleaning equipment such as sterilizers, ultrasonic cleaners, washing systems, and sprays. There is also the sorting equipment used in food processing that determines physical characteristics. And you can also get a roots blower, cutting machines, and other mechanical processing equipment for different preparation and finishing processes.