Easy does it. That’s the philosophy today when it comes to cleaning and maintaining equipment, and the quicker, the better.

“Improvements in sanitary design make extrusion equipment much easier to clean, which limits downtime during changeovers,” noted Nico Roesler, North American pretzel and snack equipment sales manager, Reading Bakery Systems. “Our new single-piece blue plastic hopper is easily removed without tools, light weight, durable and easy to clean.”

With the increasing versatility of pretzel systems, sanitation becomes more of a challenge as bakeries discover new applications for their processes to create new products.

“Because of the versatility of the Rheon co-extruder, and the thousands of different products they can make, it has become a necessity for these machines to easily be sanitized,” observed John Giacoio, Rheon USA. “They have been designed where any part of the machine that comes in contact with food is removable from the main body of the machine for it to be sanitized simply and to reduce downtime.These removable components can be duplicated to be used while the first set are being sanitized.” 

Moreover, snack producers are discovering different ways to adapt their process to create pretzel-like products that compete in the cracker, chip and other categories.

“Pretzels can be manufactured from a traditional sheeted dough or rotary moulded line,” said Paolo Betto, application manager, snacks, hard-sweet biscuits and crackers, GEA Bakery. “Cleaning in a better, easier and less labor-intensive way has become the standard for the bakeries in this sector.”

Decades ago, he said, GEA Bakery introduced the concept of tool-free accessibility to equipment for maintenance and cleaning purposes.

“GEA’s equipment can be quickly and easily disassembled to ensure efficient and accurate cleaning of the parts in contact with the product.” Betto said.

The diversification of pretzel processing technology provides a boatload of opportunities, but bakers and snack producers must remain mindful of allergens and other food safety concerns.

“Our pretzel lines can extrude, cook and bake a wide variety of pretzel products, whether they’re gluten-free or wheat-based items,” Roesler said. “With our single-piece blue plastic hoppers, operators can easily spot any residual dough and clean the hopper.”

When it comes to allergens, he noted, that’s a different animal.

“We typically recommend customers run designated allergen lines for products like peanut butter-filled pretzels because the pretzel system is not washdown rated, so there is no way to fully guarantee an allergen has been removed from the oven or other processes,” Roesler pointed out.

This article is an excerpt from the June 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Pretzel Processing, click here.