Manufacture of Pasta Products

Pasta is consumed throughout the world today, thanks to a wide range of features designed to satisfy the consumer: variety of compositions (plain, with eggs, enriched with fiber or vegetables...), multiplicity of shapes (long or short, smooth or rough surface appearance), ease of preparation (cooking in boiling water, in the pan or in the microwave), long shelf life (from several weeks for fresh pasta to several years for dry pasta), nutritional value (source of vegetable protein, low glycemic index), combined with good hygienic quality and excellent value for money.

Pasta production involves a succession of unitary operations, all of them physical. After the durum wheat's vitreous albumen has been ground into semolina (particles with a particle size of between 150 and 500 microns), the semolina is hydrated, kneaded, pressed and drawn into the desired shape. The resulting structure is then stabilized, usually by drying. This sequence of operations was developed on an industrial scale in the first half of the 20th century, and the principles applied have not changed much since the 1950s. However, production line throughput has increased dramatically, from a few hundred kilograms to 8,000 kg/h today. This evolution has been made possible by a rapid integration of knowledge, including the empirical know-how of practitioners, scientific data on the physico-chemical properties of raw materials and finished products, materials science, and the development of new sensors and automation systems for operating production lines.

This article presents the main unit operations involved in a technological approach. At the same time, the main physico-chemical changes that occur during pasta production are described. Indeed, pasta production must meet very strict hygiene and final quality standards. This is why it is necessary to have a good understanding of the physico-chemical transformations taking place during the various unit operations (hydration, kneading, extrusion/drying). During these stages, raw material constituents are subjected to various mechanical (compression, stretching, shearing) and thermal (glass transition, gelatinization, denaturation) stresses. In-depth knowledge of the effects of these stresses on the various biochemical constituents (proteins, starch, lipids, pentosans) is essential for controlling the quality of finished products and adjusting production line parameters. The use of sensors to finely monitor dough rheology and biochemical changes is also very useful for optimization and regular production.