Food Machine Glossary

Terms related to food machine and their descriptions

A

Aging: Types of aging are dough aging, noodle sheet aging and product aging. Aging refers to storage used as a means of improving the quality of noodle sheets or products.

Apportioning machine: This is equipment that measures noodles into a single portion right after boiled. Sodick's apportioning machines use a volume-measuring system.

CIP: An abbreviation of Cleaning In Place. This a system of cleaning by flushing with cleaning water under nearly the same conditions as when producing food, without having to disassemble the units/devices in processes. The operation is carried out automatically according to a program set in advance.

Coarse noodle sheet: When the crumbly dough after the mixing process is shaped into sheets by the rotation of a pair of rolls it is called noodle sheets, and these initial noodle sheets are called coarse noodle sheet.

Compounding: Coarse noodle sheet that has passed through rollers only once has low strength as noodle sheets and also has an uneven surface that is not smooth. "Compounding" refers to the process of passing the two coarse noodle sheets through the next rollers in order to make the noodle sheets resilient with a uniform surface appearance.

Crumbly dough: This refers to the pellet-like dough that is made by blending ingredients including wheat flour and water in a mixer.

DDM: This is the abbreviation of Direct Drive Motor. This is a system where the rotational force is conveyed directly to the driven section without going through an indirect mechanism. It is effective against contamination since the motor and gearbox are integrated and sealed. In addition, friction loss due to friction with the chain, gears, etc. can be minimized, so it is characterized by high efficiency, low noise and long service life.

F value: When food is heated for sterilization, F value is used to express a bactericidal effect by converting to that of the entire process to a bactericidal effect at a reference temperature of heating (unit: minutes). The Food Sanitation Act stipulates that foods sterilized by pressure and heat and packed in containers or packaging (such as retort foods) be heated for 4 minutes to a core temperature of 120#8451;, or a method with an equivalent or greater effect.

Gluten: This is a sticky and elastic gum-like substance produced on adding water to wheat flour and kneading it. During the mixing and press-rolling processes, this gluten builds a mesh structure that gives types of noodles like Udon and Chinese noodles their characteristic springiness.

HACCP: This is the abbreviation of Hazard Analysis-Critical Point System.
Hygiene management based on HACCP is a method of scientifically managing the causes of harm (hazards) that could bring about food poisoning or other damage to health in all of the processes from receipt of all the ingredients through to production and shipping of the product. From June 2021, introduction and implementation of HACCP became fully mandatory due to a revision of the Food Sanitation Act.

L noodles (SL noodles) / LL noodles: L noodles = Long noodles, SL noodles = Semi long noodles, LL noodles = Long life noodles. The noodles are sterilized in order to extend shelf life. They are designated as L noodles (SL noodles) or LL noodles according to the strength of the sterilization.

Noodle sheet: When crumbly dough is pressed in from above the rolls, it gets pulled in between the rotation of the rolls, generating continuous dough as a sheet whose cross-sectional shape mirrors the gap between the rolls. This is called a noodle sheet.

Noodle string: This refers to the noodle strings cut from noodle sheets that have been press rolled to the target thickness, and are in other words are in the shape of the noodles that we eat.

Press rolling: This is a process for press-rolling to make continuous noodle sheet long and thin. Press-rolling continuous noodle sheet to the target thickness in one go can put excessive force on the continuous noodle sheet, breaking down its internal gluten composition. For this reason press-rolling is done gradually, in multiple steps.

Retainer: This refers to structures to transport foodstuff loaded in processes of aseptic-packaged cooked rice production equipment and single-portion noodle boiling equipment. The foodstuff is rested on the retainers and moved through the production processes.

Scraper: To slit and cut noodle strings a press-rolled continuous noodle sheet is introduced between a pair of slitting rolls with circumferential grooving and pushed into these grooves as for noodle sheet to be slit into noodle strings. The plates made of brass or other metal that are then used to extricate the noodle strings from the grooves are called "scrapers". There are also "scrapers" that are used to clean off noodle scraps from press rolls.

Slitter: This refers to the slitting & cutting machine's roll that slits and cuts noodle strings from the continuous noodle sheet. There are various slitter types according to the width and shape of the noodle strings to be slit and cut. The gauge number assigned to a slitter are said to be derived from the number of noodle strings that a noodle craftsman cut from a width of 30.03 mm (a traditional Japanese unit length), and now these counts are stipulated by the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards), for example the width of noodle strings cut with a gauge 20 slitter is 30.03 mm ÷ 20 ≒ 1.5 mm.

Slitting & cutting machine: The rolls that are used to cut continuous sheet formed by press-rolling are called a slitting & cutting machine. It normally comprises a roll for fine-adjustment of thickness, a slitting & cutting roll (slitter) and a cutter to cut noodle strings to an appropriate length.

SUS304: Containing 18% chromium and 8% nickel, SUS304 is the representative austenitic stainless steel. It has many excellent characteristics, including favorable corrosion resistance, machinability and weldability. Corrosion resistance can be expressed as rust resistance regarding metals. Note that SUS304 has a low thermal conductivity and thermal insulation effect, and therefore resists the release of heat.

Waved roll: This refers to a roll that has wave forms punched into its surface.