Snacks Processing Plant & Machinery Solutions

Potatoes, grains, pulses, nuts or seeds are taken in, freed of stones, soil and metal, then graded to size. Washing is used on the tuber and vegetable lines.

Depending on the snack the material is peeled, sliced, diced or blanched before cooking. Chips and crisps are sliced here; namkeen doughs and extruded pellets are prepared instead.

This is where the category branches. Chips, crisps and namkeen are fried; peanuts, grams, makhana and seeds are roasted; puffed snacks and flakes go through an extruder. Popcorn and cereal flakes take the hot-air route.

Surplus surface oil is drained and blown off, then the product is brought down to ambient before seasoning so the flavour holds. Cooling is done on a moving belt or in a tunnel.

Dry seasoning or a slurry is metered onto the snack in a rotating drum or pan so it coats the whole surface. Feed rate and dosing are matched so the coating stays even along the run.

Seasoned snack is collected in a weigher, dropped into a formed pouch, gas-flushed where the product needs it, sealed and checked. Every pack passes metal detection and a checkweigher.

Pouches are collated into cartons or cases, then stacked and wrapped for despatch.