Page 41 - FoodFocusThailand No.160 July 2019

SMART PRODUCTION

triggers to the inconsistency of noodles extend noodles’ shelf life. Temperature should
quality. If these variances can be effectively not be set to high as that will turn the noodle
controlled, noodles produced will be of brownish. After properly dried, noodles
consistent quality. must be stored in air-tight containers
B) Tapioca Flour: Tapioca flour, be it to keep them away from environmental
normal or modified one, is normally used to moisture.
mix with rice flour to help soften the noodle As a conclusion, there are many
texture. Optimally, tapioca flour ratio to rice determining factors affecting the
flour should not exceed 20%. The overuse of quality of noodles, from choices of raw
tapioca flour will give sticky, lumpy and easily materials to production process quality.
broken noodles. If manufacturers can properly monitor and
C) Salt: Salt is yet another ingredient control these factors, the finished products
normally added to dried noodles, to help bring will be of a consistently high quality.
out elasticity and softness after cooking
(Sangpring et al., 2015) The advised amount
of salt to use is 1-2%, while the resulting taste
also has to be taken into account. It is not
advisable, though, to add salt into fresh
noodles because it will make the noodles
easy to break.

Production Processes
1. Starch Solution Concentration:
2 Starch percentage in the mixture
should be in the range of 38-42%.
2. Steaming Process: This is the
process in which the starch is steamed until
properly cooked and form itself into noodle
sheets. Temperature and time has to be
properly controlled; too low temperature will
result in uncooked noodles, and too long
steaming time will make the noodles overly
dried and broken.
3. Pre-drying and Aging Process: One
of many processes of dried rice noodles
production is the aging process to harden
their texture to the point where cutting can be
done without sticking, because oil cannot be
used as coating or lubricating agent to avoid
rancidity. Before the aging process, moisture
content of the noodles must be reduced by
putting the noodles briefly in a drying machine
until the moisture is brought down to not more
than 34%, after which the noodles are stacked
for further aging process. To make them
harden, noodles are left overnight in room
temperature, inadvertently exposing them to
the risk of increasing number of
microorganisms, leading to undesirable
odors. Therefore, production hygiene is very
important. In coping with this issue, some
manufacturers lower the temperature during
the aging process down to 10 oC to retard
the growth of microorganisms and shorten
the aging time. However, the change in
temperature might result in the change in
noodles quality, so further study must be
pursued on this matter.
4. Drying Process: This is the process
where moisture content in noodles is
brought down to less than 12%, to

JUL 2019 FOOD FOCUS THAILAND 41

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