If pasta is consumed all over the world today, it is because it has many characteristics capable of satisfying the consumer: diversity of compositions (plain, with eggs, enriched with fiber or vegetables, etc.), multiplicity of shapes (long or short, smooth or rough surface appearance), ease of preparation (cooking in boiling water, in a pan or in the microwave), long shelf life (from several weeks for fresh pasta to several years for dry pasta), nutritional value (source of vegetable protein, low glycemic index), combined with good hygienic quality and a very good price-quality ratio.
The manufacture of pasta implements a succession of unit operations, all physical. After the vitreous albumen of durum wheat has been extracted by milling in the form of semolina (particles whose grain size is between 150 and 500 microns), this is hydrated, mixed, pressed and drawn to obtain the desired shape. The structure obtained is then generally stabilized by drying. This sequence of operations was developed on an industrial scale in the first half of the XXe century and the principles put in place have not changed much since the 1950s. However, the throughput of production lines has increased dramatically, from a few hundred kilograms of production to 8,000 kg/h today. This evolution has been made possible thanks to a rapid integration of knowledge comprising the empirical know-how of practitioners, scientific data on the physico-chemical properties of the raw material and the finished products, on materials science as well as on the development new sensors and automatisms for the management of production lines.
This article presents the main unit operations implemented in a technological approach. At the same time, the main physico-chemical changes that occur during the production of pasta are described. Indeed, the production of pasta must meet very strict hygiene and final quality standards. This is why it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the physico-chemical transformations occurring during the various unit operations (hydration, mixing, extrusion/drying). During these stages, the constituents of the raw materials are subjected to various mechanical (compression, stretching, shear) and thermal (glass transition, gelatinization, denaturation) stresses. A thorough knowledge of the effects of these constraints on the various biochemical constituents (proteins, starch, lipids, pentosans) is essential to control the quality of the finished products and to adjust the parameters of the production lines. The use of sensors to closely monitor dough rheology and biochemical changes is also very useful for optimizing and producing regularly.
