Size Reduction

In many food processes it is frequently necessary to reduce the size of solid materials for different purposes. In this case, size reduction may aid other processes such as expression and extraction, or may shorten heat treatments such as blanching and cooking. Comminution is the generic term used for size reduction and includes different operations such as crushing, grinding, milling, mincing, and dicing. Most of these terms are related to a particular application, e.g., milling of cereals, mincing of beef, dicing of tubers, or grinding of spices. The reduction mechanism consists of deforming the food piece until it breaks or tears. Breaking of hard materials along cracks or defects in their structure is achieved by applying diverse forces.