New colour-change and cooking technology for extruded cereals at Interpack 2014

An innovative, cost-cutting colour-change system for packs of assorted extruded cereals, and an expanded CookMaster range of rotary cereal cookers, are being introduced by Baker Perkins at Interpack (Hall 4 Stand C21).

'Spectrum' Colour Change System

The ‘Spectrum’ colour change system extends Baker Perkins’ cereal extrusion capability, which covers a full range of direct expanded and flaked products, plus co-extruded pillows with fillings such as chocolate, yoghurt or fruit paste.

The new development enables changeover between colour variations of an extruded cereal to be made ‘on the run’ and with minimal waste. A typical application is mixed fruit colours in a single packet. The skid-based ‘Spectrum’ system spells an end to the inconvenience and cost of separate production runs for each different coloured snack, plus cumbersome storage and mixing which impacts on waste, hygiene and shelf life.

These problems have led to a demand for automated colour change systems. Changing colours in the extruder barrel leads to a lot of colour mixing so there is inevitably considerable transition waste before a correctly coloured new product emerges. Introducing the colour at the die should avoid this but differential flow rates between the centre and outer again leads to prolonged transitions. Innovative design by Baker Perkins has minimised this differential, and the transition phase is now extremely rapid.

‘CookMaster’ Cereal Cooker Range

The cereal cooker range is being re-launched as the ‘CookMaster’. A new development is the introduction of a cooker with a through-shaft, for customers who prefer this process option. Cook Master rotary cookers are high-output batch machines, processing milled or whole grain cereals including wheat, corn and bran. They are used world-wide for traditional high-quality flaked and shredded products.

Enhanced Control System

There will be demonstrations at Interpack of an enhanced control system for all Baker Perkins rotary cookers. This provides full process visualisation, allowing operators to see every operating parameter at a glance. It features multi-phase recipe editing for up to 16 separate process steps including charging, mixing, purging, cooking and discharge – several steps can be allocated for each phase. This completely flexible system allows all operating parameters to be defined for every stage of the process cycle; setting ranges are restricted to ensure safe and viable operation.

The control system enables recipe recall for absolute repeatability, as well as alarm management and history, historical trending functions, and connection to a plant-wide SCADA or ERP system.

Baker Perkins provides complete systems for cooked and extruded breakfast cereals; the unique Cereal Master concept allows any system to be expanded at any time.

Source: Baker Perkins