Consistent concept for the production of cereal snacks

Krüger & Salecker Maschinenbau, Döhler and LCM Schokoladenmaschinen shared an exhibition booth in hall 3 of the interpack trade show where they jointly presented solutions for the rational production of bars and snacks.

The companies Krüger & Salecker Maschinenbau, LCM Schokola­denmaschinen and Döhler collaborated at the trade show to present attendees with a consistent concept for manufacturing cereal snacks, starting with the recipe and manufacture of the bar mass through to moulding and chocolate coating. Attendees were sent on a “multisensory” journey where they could taste everything from crispy cereal and cookie snacks in flavours like yogurt-passionfruit or coffee-caramel to granola snacks with freeze-dried forest fruits. The product concepts and the ingredients were developed by Döhler, a manufacturer of natural ingredients and ingredient systems for the food and beverages industry.
For the products presented at interpack, Döhler supplied the freeze-dried fruits and granulates along with the highly efficient instant binding material Molda 13. Molda 13 offers the advantage of combining all of the ingredients in a single product, resulting in easier handling, reduced storage requirements and significant energy savings compared to conventional manufacture.
Matthias Plank, Application Technology Director, Döhler, explained during the demonstration, “Using our binding material eliminates the accustomed complex cooking process of the binding mass, since Molda 13 only needs to be mixed and stirred with water and heated to a temperature von 80 °C. This eliminates the necessity of the cooling process prior to chocolate coating. The temperature of the product after moulding is around 30 °C”.

Easy and quick conversion possible The finished binding material was able to be directly mixed in with the cereals and then placed inside the Krüger & Salecker moulding machine, then coated with a chocolate bottom immediately thereafter by the LCM machine. At this year’s interpack show, Krüger & Salecker presented a revised version of its GFT cereal moulding machine and the 2017 edition of the MFW moulding machine. Krüger & Salecker cereal moulding machines can shape bars, balls, bites and other forms out of cereals in a preservative manner with no cutting process involved. They also allow the sugar content to be significantly reduced compared with conventional cereal moulding machines.
Alexander Brühl, Marketing Director at Krüger & Salecker, summed up the trends by saying, “The current challenge for food products manufacturers now more than ever is a matter of producing individual, healthy, nutritious snacks with a taste that consumers like. The motto is ‘Less is more!’, because nuts, seeds, dried fruits and berries and different grain varieties already provide a wide range of different tastes”.
The transfer of the bar took place directly belt-to-belt from the cereal moulding machine straight to the LCM chocolate coating machine. LCM‘s machinery is primarily notable for continuous, stable chocolate temperature control, ensuring that the chocolate machine was ready for demonstration at all times throughout the entire trade show. The simple and fast conversion of the coating machine from bottom coating to complete coating made it easy to demonstrate both variations.
LCM CEO Markus Leute emphasised, “In combination with melting machines and a cooling tunnel, our coating machines are also ideal for application in larger production operations since all LCM machines are simple and fast to clean. This makes a quick changeover of products and couvertures possible”. •