
With the accelerating pace of life and increasing work pressure, consumers are increasingly demanding convenient and fast-acting foods, creating a broad market for snacks.
Snacks are categorized as fried and extruded. Fried foods are higher in calories and fat, but they are crispier and more flavorful, with a stronger oily aroma. Common fried foods on the market include pellets, potato chips, shrimp crackers, and rice crackers. Extruded foods can be produced in a variety of shapes and flavors, creating a crispier texture that is easier to chew and digest. Common extruded foods on the market include cereal rings, garden popsicles, and puffed rice crackers.
Extruded and fried foods also differ in their production processes. Extruded foods are primarily extruded using a twin-screw extruder under high-temperature, high-pressure conditions, while fried foods are puffed by deep-frying at high temperatures.

Extruded puffed food production process: Raw material mixing → extrusion → drying → seasoning → cooling and packaging
Fried puffed food production process: Raw material mixing → extrusion → drying → high-temperature frying → seasoning → cooling and packaging
With consumers increasingly concerned about healthy eating, both extruded and fried puffed foods are trending towards low-fat, low-salt, and low-sugar options. At the same time, manufacturers are constantly introducing new varieties and flavors to meet the diverse tastes of consumers.

The following are five authoritative foreign literature websites in the field of Industrial food machinery:
1. Food Engineering Magazine
Website: https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/
2.Food Processing Magazine
Website: https://www.foodprocessing.com/
3.Journal of Food Engineering
Website:https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-food-engineering
4. Food Manufacturing Magazine
Website:https://www.foodmanufacturing.com/
5. International Journal of Food Science & Technology
Website:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/