Abstract
Bread crumbs are small particles of bread, which are usually used for breading or crumbing foods to give the food favourable flavour and texture. Different processing approaches of bread crumbing, as well as a variety of breadcrumbs / derived products exist in the global market, and are commonly used globally. The research objective of this project is to investigate the processing, applications and markets of breadcrumbs, in order to identify and evaluate opportunities for its processing and potential products it could be applied to. The findings suggest that advanced extrusion processing techniques are desirable for commercial bread crumb processing. Two important business potentials for the bread crumb processing have been identified; the healthy bread crumbs and frozen food segment.
Key Words: Bread crumbs, bread, extrusion, panko, breading, processing, food processing, healthy food, organic bread
Introduction
Bread crumbs are small fragments or particles of bread, usually dried, used as an ingredient for a variety of recipes. The use of bread crumbs possibly originated as a means of utilising stale or hardened bread because, unlike bread, they could be stored for long when kept in refrigerators. But today, it has made its way and become a popular culinary ingredient enhancing the likability of food items. It is being used in a variety of dishes to make it tastier and crunchier. It is also used as filler and improves texture of food. With increasing popularity of taste and culinary benefits of bread crumbs, business opportunities and market for the product are also increasing.
The paper attempts to explore business opportunities of bread crumbs product, processing and marketing. The research objective is to investigate the processing, applications and markets of breadcrumbs, in order to identify and evaluate opportunities for its processing and potential products it could be applied to.
The paper is broadly divided into three sections. The first section constitutes the body of review, which is the foundation of the paper. The second section is the synthesis of ideas and opinions. The third section concludes the paper.
Bread Crumbs Overview
The review of available studies and information on bread crumbs is the foundation of the paper. It helps in providing insights for bread crumb product and processing and recent trends. The overview section is divided into four parts. The first part describes characteristics and types of bread crumbs. The second part discusses the current uses of bread crumbs. The third part gives an overview of the bread crumb industry, including an analysis of its growth potential and its customers and its suppliers. The fourth part reviews the processing of bread crumbs.
Characteristics and Types of Bread Crumbs
Characteristics of Bread Crumbs
Bread crumbs have similar characteristics of bread as it is a miniature version of it. Homemade bread crumbs are directly produced by the end consumers from dry, stale or hardened bread. Commercial production of bread crumbs also requires bread as an ingredient. Hence, the chemical components, ingredients, and raw materials of bread crumbs are identical to that of the breads they are derived from. The likeability of bread affects the likeability of bread crumbs. Thus, consumer's perspective of the quality of breads can also be applied to breadcrumbs. The key determinants of bread quality are its freshness and mechanic properties. Freshness ensures softness of bread and aging adversely affects the bread quality. Stale bread lacks softness, elasticity and taste.
Mechanical properties of bread include its strength and elastic properties. Elastic properties of crumb have been considered a significant determining factor of bread quality (Nussinovitch et al., 1992; Piazza and Masi, 1995; Wassermann, 1979). The elastic properties of bread depend on aging and crumb structure. Nussinovitch, Steffens and Peleg (1992) used compression-decompression cycle to study the effect of strain and aging on elasticity of compressed bread crumb. Using strain, they concluded that the strength and elasticity of bread mostly depend on its crumb structure. Factors that affect the crumb structure are the dough making process and the type of grain used. Scanlon and Zghal (2001) propose that the dough kneading and bread baking process can be regulated to improve predictability of crumb structure and firmness of bread. This, in turn, can increase predictability of bread’s mechanical properties and its quality. The type of grain used also affects the crumb structure. A study conducted by Kaszab et.al. (2009) suggests that, when compared with wheat, lack of gluten in rye breads renders its structure more homogenous. This causes the bread crumb to be harder and possess less elastic properties than wheat breads. Nussinovitch, Steffens and Chinachoti (1992) also that most of the changes in the bread crumb occur during 24 hours after baking. And irrespective of the strain, storage time exponentially causes loss in elasticity of bread crumbs.
The flip side of storing fresh bread is its short shelf life. Apart from losing softness, elasticity and taste, stale bread may undergo complex chemical processes during storage. Mondal and Datta (2008) suggest that fresh bread is vulnerably subjected to a number of chemical and physical changes termed as staling while storing, which is a sophisticated phenomenon not yet fully understood. This increases the usage of bread crumbs. Bread crumbs differ with fresh bread in storage properties. They can be stored for longer time, especially under refrigeration. As they are used as an ingredient for food processing, their hardness and lack of taste does not affect their likeability. In fact, their bread-like structure, better shelf life and ability to add favourable texture to food items make them a preferred ingredient in food processing.
Types of Bread Crumbs
Based on how and where they are made, bread crumbs are of four different types: traditional, Japanese panko, home-style and extruded bread crumbs.
Traditional bread crumbs have been a familiar ingredient in Western cuisine. Japanese panko bread crumbs are slowly gaining popularity for their health benefits. They are lighter and coarser than traditional bread crumbs and absorb less oil, which makes them a healthier option. They are typically made from the soft, tender centres of bread, rather than from the crust, resulting in a more harmonious, crunchy texture when fried (Kessman, 2006). Panko are generally available with spice flavouring to add uniqueness in experience. Since they are less dense, they do not over shadow the original taste of the food.
While home-style bread crumbs are prepared in the most basic home-made style, extruded bread crumbs are prepared in a large scale commercial manner with machinery. Extruded bread crumbs are prepared through a processing line that automatically completes the entire process from baking and drying to packaging of finished product, in different weight packages. As a matter of fact, extrusion technology makes it possible to prepare bread crumbs from a wide variety of raw materials, which is not feasible with traditional production methods. According to Rubin (2010), traditional production methods require use of high-protein flours like wheat, but extrusion process allows manufacturing of bread crumbs from starch based raw materials as well.
Uses for Bread Crumbs
The three important uses for bread crumbs are breading, filling and topping. Breading is the most common use of bread crumbs, which refers to providing a coat of bread crumbs outside the food before frying. The layer of bread crumbs outside the food is usually provided by rolling the food on it. The coating of bread crumbs defines the shape of the food like cutlets and patties, gives it an appealing colour and texture, and crispiness. It also makes the food less greasy by not allowing oil to permeate to the inside of food. Breading can be used for both fresh and frozen foods. Given its long shelf life when kept refrigerated, bread crumbs have become a standard ingredient in modern frozen foods. The rising demand for a quick snack and frozen foods is giving a positive boost to the bread crumb industry.
Bread crumbs are also used as fillers in a variety of cuisines and recipes. Dishes like bread pudding, tarts and quiche are increasingly being made using bread crumbs as the latter makes food light and easy to digest. As bread crumbs act as fillers, they reduce the requirement of other costly ingredients in sweet dish, thereby making the dish less expensive. Apart from sweet dishes, bread crumbs also add bulk to meat dishes. Since it reduces manufacturing cost, it is more commonly used in preparations for commercial purposes.
Bread crumbs are used for topping in casserole dishes and form a browned crispy crust over the surface of the cooked dish (Conjecture Corporation, 2012). A baked dish topped with bread crumbs will have more texture, and the inside will be more moist and flavourful, since the layer of bread crumbs keeps the innards from drying out (Conjecture Corporation, 2012). Thus, topping with bread crumb adds to appearance and flavour value of a dish. Bread crumbs go well with dishes like chicken casserole and ground beef casserole.
Industry Overview
Bread crumbs are fragments of bread and possess the characteristics of normal bread. It is used as an ingredient in food items. Thus, it is closely associated with the bread or bakery industry, under the broader umbrella of food processing industry. The industry overview includes analysis industry attractiveness, industry structure, competition, and profile of customers.
Industry Attractiveness
The key determinants of industry attractiveness are its profitability, size and growth potential. Profitability is the first factor that makes an industry attractive. Profitability of an industry does not appear in isolation, but is significantly influenced by the economy and industry structure. Grant (2005) shows that return on equity (ROE) of food consumer products industry is the fourth highest at 22 per cent during the period 1999-2002. Another analysis conducted by Hawawini, Subramanian and Verdin (2003) based on return on asset (ROA) and economic value added also show high figure for food processing industry as compared to other industries. Food processing industry ranks sixth highest based on ROA. These figures clearly indicate the high profit potential of the industry.
Market size and growth are important factors that make an industry attractive. The size of world bakery market has been estimated at a whopping $407 billion (Franchise India Holding Limited, 2010). The United States bread market reached $20.5 billion in 2008 growing by seven per cent, and even higher growth rates are expected till 2013 (Toops and Fusaro, 2010). Through fresh bread sales dominate the market, all segments of the bread industry including bread crumb segment witnessed growth and is expected to grow in future. The American Breadcrumb Company is the largest manufacturer of breadcrumbs in the United States and alone sells more than forty million pounds of breadcrumbs each year (American Breadcrumb Company, n.d.). Apart from the U.S., the bakery market has huge growth potential globally. The United Kingdom bakery market is worth $5 billion, one of the largest markets in food industry (The Federation of Bakers, 2012). Europe dominates the global bakery product market, with an estimated share of 44% (Vocus PRW Holding, 2008). The fastest growth is expected in the Asia-Pacific region, which is forecasted to grow at a CGAR of roughly seven per cent (Vocus PRW Holding, 2008). The bread segment, including bread crumbs, constitutes of about 50% of the bakery product industry and is expected to witness the fastest growth rate over the assessment period 2007-2015 (Vocus PRW Holding, 2011). Europe, driven by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Finland and Sweden among others constitutes the largest regional market worldwide, followed by the United States and Latin America (Vocus PRW Holding, 2011).
The demand for the bakery products, especially bread crumbs is increasing globally because of multiple reasons. First, liberalisation and cultural integration is causing change in eating habits of people the Asia-Pacific region. Second, lifestyle changes and busy work schedule encourages customers to rely on bakery products, which are easy to carry, for their meals (Vocus PRW Holding, 2011). Third, demand for frozen foods is on the rise as people eat out less often and depend on quick meals and snacks like frozen food and bakery products (Quelch and Jocz, 2008). Bread crumbs form an integral part of the modern frozen foods, like cracker meals. Fourth, people are developing a taste for innovative foods that have bread crumbs as an ingredient, whether is a coat, a filling or binder.
Industry Structure
There are four determinants of industry structure: concentration, entry and exit barriers, product differentiation and information availability (Grant, 2005). However, number of buyers is also an important determinant of industry structure. Bakery industry is characterised by a relatively small number of dominant players. The United States bakery industry constitutes of about 2,800 commercial bakeries and 6,000 retail bakeries (Hoover’s Inc., 2012). While retail bakeries are primarily involved in sale of bakery products, commercial bakeries are involved in manufacturing bread and associated products like bread crumbs, rolls, cakes and cookies. The combined annual revenue of about commercial bakeries is $30 billion and that of retail bakeries is about $3 billion (Hoover’s Inc., 2012). A few players dominate the commercial bakery segment, while the retail bakery segment constitutes of a large number of players. According to (Hoover’s Inc., 2012), top 50 commercial bakeries generate 75% of the segmental revenue, but top 50 retail bakeries generate only 15% of the total revenues of the segment. This clearly indicates the high concentration of suppliers in both retail as well as commercial segment. The top four companies are estimated to only account for 11.7 per cent of the market (Roe, 2012). The UK bakery industry shows a different pattern and is oligopolistic in nature. It is dominated by three main manufacturers that contribute to approximately 80% of the total bread plant market by value (The Federation of Bakers, 2012).
Entry and exit barriers are low for the bakery industry. A retail bakery can be set up with a small capital investment, minimum infrastructure and low technical expertise. Brand building, strong distribution network and economies of scale are beneficial for the industry, but not a must-have factor. Small bakeries can operate and earn profits even at a small scale, without spending heavily on marketing and establishing networks. Since, capital investments are low, exit barriers are also insignificant. But, commercial bakeries operating on large scale, with heavy investment in advanced technologies and infrastructure, face significant entry and exit barriers.
The industry has potential and demand for differentiated products, especially in the arena of introducing health-oriented product lines. The bread industry is changing, from a structure of price differentiation among standardised products to product differentiation. The customers have become more selective and demand quality products. The growing health consciousness among customers is encouraging firms to produce healthy product lines. A similar trend is observed in the bread crumb segment as well.
Information asymmetry is also common in the bakery industry. Bread makers tend to have more information about the products than the buyers.
Thus, buyers are not always confident about the quality of bread from various sources. This encourages them to be loyal to brands or bakeries they are comfortable with. Sellers usually have information of their competitors and buyer’s preferences. However, since these factors are dynamic, a seller cannot have complete information. Hence, both buyers and sellers do not have complete market information.
An overall analysis of the industry suggests that the bakery and bread industry is oligopolistic in nature, characterised by high concentration of buyers and sellers, low entry and exit barriers, but heterogeneity in products and asymmetrical information. Also, large buyers and sellers of well-differentiated products are able to command price, though only to a certain extent.
Competition
The level of competition in the bakery industry and the bread crumb segment can be understood with the help of five factors of Porter’s framework. Competition from substitute is the first force that affects competition. Bread and bakery industry in general and bread crumbs segment in particular have many economically viable substitutes. In fact, individuals can also bake their own food and home style bread crumbs can be easily made, posing threat to the industry. Bargaining power of suppliers is the second factor that affects industry competition. Suppliers’ bargaining power is also low in the industry, as manufacturing bread and bread crumbs does not requires unique and scare raw materials. The materials required are easily available everywhere. The third factor is bargaining power of buyers, which is also low for bread crumbs. Everyone buys bakery products, hence buyers are not in a position to dictate or influence price and they can only choose between the options available to them. However, big buyers are generally able to command price, to a certain extent. Threat of new entrants is the fourth factor in the Porter’s framework. The bread crumb segment is high prone to the threat of new entrants. In fact, if people start preparing their own bread crumbs, it will be the biggest threat to the retail sales of bread crumbs. But, bread crumb is also used as a raw material in commercial production of other processed foods. And the demand attracts new entrants in the market. Rivalry among the firms present in the industry is the fifth but most important determinant of industry’s level of competition. The steady demand and huge market size of bakery products is attracting competition in the industry. The industry is characterised by large number of sellers.
Thus, an overall assessment suggests that the bakery and bread crumbs industry is highly competitive in nature. The industry attractiveness and low barriers to entry are driving competition in the industry. This can gradually impact the profitability of the industry if differentiation strategies are not adopted effectively.
Recent Developments and Trends
A lot of changes are taking place in the bakery and bread crumbs industry. Recent developments in the bread crumb industry are its shifting consumer trends, changing industry structure and focus on developing better products.
Shifting Consumer Trends
There are four visible trends emerging in the bread and bakery industry: rising health consciousness, demand for on-the-go snack, growing overseas market and improved preservation techniques that make it easier to store and re-heat.
Freshness and mechanical quality are the key attributes of bread crumbs that people look for. But recently, consumers are becoming more demanding and selective in their purchases. There is no dearth of options in the bakery industry; hence consumers are looking for differentiated products. The indulgence of consumers on junk fast food is taking a toll on their health. Researchers predict that, if not contained, obesity in the United States may increase to 42% by 2030, affecting nearly half of the population (Hellmich, 2012). The growing obesity and health awareness are making consumers shift to healthier eating options. People are more concerned about their health and watch the nutritive value of what they eat. It poses a challenge as well opportunity for the bakeries to supply differentiated and value added products to the consumers. Consumers look for options that are low in calories, rich in nutrition and have additional health benefits.
People are increasing facing issues of hectic work schedule and managing work-life balance. Grabbing a quick snack, on the way to work, is becoming a routine. Thus, increasing demand for wrapped meals and frozen foods.
Increasing consumerism and influence of western culture in developing countries is promoting the bakery and bread crumb industry. The industry is growing at a fast pace in Asia-Pacific region and offers a lot of business opportunity. But, bread crumbs are subject to staling and assurance of quality with long duration preservation is difficult. Because of this perishable nature of bread crumbs that makes its transportation over long distances unfeasible, breadcrumbs along with the bread production industry's level of globalization has been low and heavily focused on domestic market. However, with advent of new manufacturing and refrigeration technologies that increases the shelf life of bread crumbs; overseas market is becoming increasingly feasible and lucrative. There is immense opportunity to tap the potential of this growing market.
Characteristic of bread crumbs is such that it is prone to staling with age. Staling also negatively affects the mechanical properties of bread crumbs. Frozen food also requires advanced freezing technology during commercial production and home preservation. But, the growth in refrigeration, freezing and reheating techniques are promoting consumers to opt for bread crumbs and frozen food with bread crumb as an ingredient. The new quick freeze technology is changing people’s perception of frozen food. New thawing technologies ensure that the taste and properties of food do not change on thawing. The new high energy efficient and better defrosting technology microwaves are bringing revolution in the demand for preserved and frozen food. Recent researches in bread crumb industry are also helping in improving the shelf life of bread and bread crumbs, thereby triggering the industry demand.
Overall, while freshness and mechanical properties are important in bread crumb, consumers are also looking for additional value in their purchases. The need for long term preservation of bread crumbs coupled with bread crumb’s subjectivity to becoming less elastic, firmer and less flavourful due to aging poses serious challenges to the bread crumb manufacturers. These challenges are, however, been taken care of with improved freezing and heating technologies. Additional value in bread crumbs are usually related to additional health benefits.
Changing Industry Structure
The bakery industry is maturing and moving towards development of well-differentiated products, brand building and achieving economies of scale through consolidation. According to Mondal and Datta (2008), the industry is moving towards increasing consolidation, where high technological, industrial mono-production takes over more fragmented, small-scaled bakeries. There are various examples to support this argument. First, the UK bakery industry is dominated by three main manufacturers that contribute to approximately 80% of the total bread plant market by value (The Federation of Bakers, 2012). The scale of business empowers the manufacturers by their ability to produce at lower cost, capability to spend on brand building and innovate new product lines, and passing on the cost benefits to the consumers. Second, integration along the value chain is also taking place in the industry. The corporate customers of bakery like restaurants and coffee chains are getting into the bakery business as a means of backward integration. For example, Starbucks is set to acquire Bay Bread and La Boulange Bakery to expand its food offering (Tadena, 2012). Third, the bakery industry ingredient suppliers are also moving towards consolidation offering economies of scale and low production costs to the bakery manufacturers. Small firms that supply ingredients to the bakery industries, like Sonneveld in Europe, are focussing on research and building distribution networks to offer attractive take over proposition (Byrne, 2010). Fourth, Canada bread industry is undergoing consolidation in the last decade. At the end of 2002, Maple Leaf Foods and Canada Bread Company consolidated their operations (U.S. International Trade Commission, 2003). In the same year, Canada Bread Company also purchased stakes in Olafson’s Baking Company and Ben’s Bakery (U.S. International Trade Commission, 2003). This consolidation has helped Canada Bread Company in achieving economies of scale and operations efficiency. Fifth, use of technologies like e-commerce is also brining in advancements in the industry. Such trend indicates the development of breadcrumb processing toward the objectives of efficiency and economies of scale.
Focus on Developing Better Products
Given the shifting consumer preferences and changing industry structure, firms are making attempts to develop better products by spending on product research and adopting latest technologies. A few significant attempts made in this direction are research on healthy bread preparation; increasing shelf-life of bread crumbs; potential of using composite flours for bread and bread crumb making; and organic bread crumbs. Processing and technological improvements are covered in the next section.
Recent Researches on Healthy Bread Preparation
Gluten is found in cereals like wheat and rye, and adds to the elastic properties of the bread. But, there are customers who depend on low-protein diet, who suffer from autoimmune diseases like coeliac disease and who are allergic to wheat and rye (Gallagher, 2009). These are potential customers for gluten-free bread and bread crumbs. Recent researches propose that transglutaminase can cause coeliac disease in humans (Gerrard and Sutton, 2005). Specific allergies cause intolerance to gluten content in wheat, rye and barley (Gallagher, 2009). People with kidney diseases may be suggested low-protein diet. Safe cereals in these cases may include rice, corn, buckwheat and amaranth (Gallagher, 2009). However, whole rice breads do not deliver the quality acceptable by consumers given its harder texture and higher tendency to retrograde (Kadan, Robinson, Thibodeaux and Pepperman, 2001). Isolated starches can also be used in making gluten-free bread crumbs. But, gluten provides elasticity to bread and gluten-free bread crumbs can become harder and brittle. To address this issue, a study was conducted by Gallagher, Gormley and Arendt (2009) that using dairy power with gluten-free flour and 10-20% additional water resulted in higher volume and softer crumb texture. Gluten-free food market is expected to grow at 10 per cent between 2011 and 2015 (Nguyen, 2011).
In addition to their gluten-free property, bread crumbs made of cereals like buckwheat that do not belong to the grass family, have other health benefits too. The content of Rutin, an antioxidant flavonoid, in buckwheat results in a positive increase on the serum antioxidant capacity of human beings (Bojnanska, Francakova, Chlebo and Vollmannova, 2009). Thus, gluten-free bread crumbs with buckwheat flour can serve as a potential product in the healthy product segment for customers suffering from specific diseases and disorders.
Bread crumbs that are rich in protein and fibre can serve as suitable ingredient of healthy foods and consumers may readily respond to it. Lupin is obtained from leguminous seeds and is rich in fibre and protein. In the present generation of health conscious customers, it has huge potential in bread crumb manufacturing. In addition to its nutritive value, Lupin also helps in micro-distribution of water in dough and mixtures, adds to crumb smoothness and better resists freezing and thawing (Tronc, 1999 cited in Kohajdova, Karovicova, and Schmidt, 2011). It leaves behind a yellow, likeable tinge to bread crumbs. Thus, adding Lupin to bread crumbs can increase its value for customers. Given its anti-freezing and anti-thawing properties, its crumb properties will not get affected due to freezing and can be more suited in frozen foods preparations.
Increasing Shelf-life of Bread Crumbs
Increasing the shelf-life of bread crumb is necessary for domestic and overseas consumers. Efforts have been made to produce breads that are long lasting. Interstate Bakeries Corporation made an attempt, to produce bread that lasted long, but failed miserably. The new technology when applied to bread, made it gummy and doughy (Adamy, 2004).
Though the bread crumb aging process is complex, spoilage of stored bread due to microbial is not uncommon. Primarily, maintaining hygiene while manufacturing bread crumbs significantly helps in avoiding harmful microorganisms that may spoil the bread crumbs during storage. However, studies have also shown that adding substances that reduce the pH of bread acts as a food preservative and makes it less prone to microbial spoilage. A related study conducted has shown that use of acidulants like lactic acid in combination with calcium propionate could positively affect the bread crumb quality and provide better protection against microbial spoilage (Tarar, Rehman, Mueen-ud-din and Murtaza, 2008). This can be beneficial for customers who require preserving their bread crumbs for long.
Potential of Using Composite Flours for Bread and Bread Crumb Making
In order to prepare healthier bread and bread crumbs, potential of using composite flours is being studied. Using composite flours from breadfruit, breadnut and wheat was explored and it was found that while it increased the nutritive value, it did not negatively affect the mechanical properties of bread (Malomo, Eleyinmi and Fashakin, 2011). Using composite flours of wheat and soya also yielded good results in terms of nutrition and quality of bread. According to a study conducted by Ndife, Abdulraheem and Zakari (2011), substitution of 10% soy flour into wheat flour gave the bread and bread crumb with the best overall quality acceptability.
Bread baking with other flour combinations has also been tried out and it has given successful results, like wheat and legume (Fenn et. al., 2010), wheat and sweet potato (Wu, Sung and Yang, 2009), wheat, plantain and soybean (Olaoye, Onilude and Idowu, 2006), wheat and beniseed (Afolabi, Oguntona and Fakunmoju, 2001), sorghum and hard white winter wheat (Abdelghafor et.al., 2010), wheat and germinated brown rice flours (Charoenthaikij et.al., 2010) and wheat and corn flours (Yaseen, et.al., 2010). All these studies have shown that composite flours improve, while improving the nutrition value of bread, does not visibly affect its sensory and mechanical properties. Thus, these are potential innovation options for the present health conscious generation of consumers.
Organic Bread Crumbs
Consumers are developing a liking for organic food with raw materials grown in a natural way, with minimum use of harmful chemicals. While organic bread crumbs made of organic wholemeal flours are usually lower in protein levels, have a dark appearance and firmer crumb, it has been readily acceptable by customers given its health benefits (Keehan, Gallagher and Butler cited in National Food Centre Research Report, 2003). Marketing plays an important role in selling organic breads as the right communication and visibility will encourage consumers to shift to organic bread. Brand building and ensuring brand loyalty are also important.
Bread Crumb Processing and Technology Improvements
As consumers are becoming more selective in their purchases and their demands are becoming specific, bread and bread crumb manufacturing is undergoing a lot of advancements to keep pace with customer’s needs. Bread crumb processing and technological improvements enhance the potential of the bread crumb segment multi-fold. This part of the paper discusses the processing and technological improvements in bread crumbs industry. Considering the increasing demand for bread crumbs, significant advancements are taking place in the industry. These improvements are pertaining to manufacturing and testing of bread crumbs.
Improvements in Bread Crumb Manufacturing
There have been considerable advancements in the bread crumb manufacturing and processing technologies.
First, panko bread crumbs extrusion processing includes a variety of steps like flour mixing, extruding, cutting, drying and crushing. These processes of extrusion technology have undergone significant improvements. Advanced technology enables automatic flour mixing, dough kneading, extruding and drying. The advanced extrusion technology of twin screw extruder machine helps manufacture desired size of crumb and recycle the waste bread crumbs (Focus Technology Co. Ltd., 2012). The bread crumbs derived from the machine can be used for
