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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17728/jaft.29764

Improved Extrusion Cooking Technology (IECT): Utilization of Milder Conditions for Better Starch Modification

*José A. Téllez-Morales orcid  -  Departamento de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City, Mexico, Mexico
Jesús Rodríguez-Miranda orcid  -  Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Bioquímica, Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtepec, Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, Mexico
Georgina Calderón-Domínguez orcid  -  Departamento de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City, Mexico, Mexico
Open Access Copyright 2025 Journal of Applied Food Technology

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Abstract

This review aimed to analyze improved extrusion cooking technology (IECT), a novel food processing methodology that uses milder conditions, longer screws, and an extended residence time to physically modify food ingredients, primarily starches and cereal flours. This process improves the ingredients' physicochemical, textural, and nutritional properties while minimizing the degradation of bioactive components. The review also explored the versatility of IECT for application to a wider range of raw materials, including tubers, legumes, fibers, and proteins. IECT modifies starch structure through low temperature and high-pressure gelatinization, destructing the granular and crystalline structure and increasing the gelatinization degree to above 60%. These changes reduce retrogradation and improve functional properties like the water absorption and solubility indices (WAI and WSI). While successful applications include the development of texturized rice and whole buckwheat noodles, research has focused largely on cereals and derivative starches. Future research must focus on applying IECT to tubers and legumes and materials rich in fiber and proteins, as well as conducting bioavailability studies of phenolics in vivo, and performing a comparative analysis against conventional single and twin-screw extruders.

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Keywords: extrusion; extruded; IECT; technology

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Section: Review Article
Language : EN
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