A healthy option
Saturn Spraying Systems Ltd range of coating machines, using patented spinning disc technology, for the food processing industries, is used worldwide.
Some years ago Saturn were asked by a major food ingredients company, to assist in a project to develop an alternative to the traditional 'flash frying' process for various bread-crumbed foods, such as chicken portions, frozen fish steaks and fish fingers, vegetables, etc.
Traditionally, these foods are dusted with flour, dipped in batter and may then be coated with breadcrumbs. They are then passed through a deep fat fryer, on a travelling belt, which 'flash fries' the product to seal the coating.
This process has a number of disadvantages:-
- The energy cost of heating the oil
- The cost of the vast quantity of oil required to fill the fryer
- The periodic disposal of contaminated oil
- The cross contamination/tainting of products in the oil
- The product is not 'low fat' and is an 'unhealthy' option, as it absorbs a lot of the oil as it passes through the fryer
- The cleaning regime needed to maintain the fryers at a hygienic level
The new process was developed to offer a 'healthy low fat' option.
After the product is coated with breadcrumbs, it passes through a Saturn Spraying Systems spinning disc, spray machine, which sprays a light, very fine, accurate, 'all over' coating of oil to the product. (This is a measurable, and finite, amount, whereas the amount absorbed in the frying process, cannot be controlled.)
The product can then be cooked on either a travelling band oven, or a rack/deck oven, producing the same appearance of product as conventional processes, but without the disadvantages described above.
This process is used by major food processors supplying the major supermarkets, offering a 'healthy food', 'low fat' option to the customer. The key factor in this 'new' process is the accurate and consistent application of the oil coating, where 100% coverage, with a very fine coating is required.
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