1 Introduction Food technology has become one of the most important branches of modern technology. Over the past few decades, scientists, technologists and engineers have spent a great deal of money and energy do research in the supply of ingredients, packaging materials and equipment and machinery improvement in the food processing industry. The results of this research have shown that food processing involves not only quality of raw materials, the manufacturing process, the chemical changes in the storage process, packaging and consumer’s preference, but also the machinery and equipment used to process food. In order to improve the techniques of processing food, the entrepreneur must develop new ideas in management. According to current marketing trends, automatic food processing is the most practical method of producing food, not only because it increases the product efficiency, but also because it is more sanitary.
Hard candy production has increased rapidly in recent years in many countries around the world. Some factors contributing to the extensive development of the hard candy industry are: (1) Improved manufacturing method and the development of better processing equipment (2) More and improved ingredients with improved knowledge of ingredient usage (3) Extensive advertising and merchandizing program (4) Maintenance of product composition, nutritive and bacteriological quality and wholesome, palatable products (5) Improved packaging and distribution methods to the consumer with improved home storage facilities.
Although hard candy may not be a basic life necessity, but nowadays more and more consumers enjoy them as their daily snack. The economic importance of hard candy industry had been established, the value of hard candy is now realized and much scientific knowledge had been gained in the production and merchandizing of hard candy. The products standards of hard candy have been modified the trend had been toward a greater emphasis on quality. As the standard of living around the world continues to rise, the demand for hard candy will also continues to rise. Therefore, an investment in a hard candy making plant should prove to be a profitable one.
2 General Processing Information 2.1 Description of Manufacturing Process2.1.1 The desired quantity of sugar and glucose are weight and put into kettle and dissolved.
2.1.2 The dissolved mixture is sent by feeding pump into the vacuum cooker where it is cooked.
2.1.3 The cooked mixture is placed on the cooling table.
2.1.4 A worker adds food coloring, organic acid, and spices into the cooker mixture on the cooling table.
2.1.5 The mixture is then moved into the batch roller where it is formed into sticks.
2.1.6 It is then sent through the sizing roller and stretched to the specified size.
2.1.7 At this point it is moved to the forming machine to form it into the specified type of hard candy.
2.1.8 The life conveyor then moves the formed candy to the cooling conveyor where it is cooled for a specified period of time.
2.1.9 The finished products are sent through the automatic wrapping machine, which wraps each piece individually.
2.1.10 The packed hard candy is forwarded to the automatic scales for weighing. A worker places packing bags on the output side of the automatic scales.
2.1.11 Finally, the candy is heat sealed and ready for shipping.