Innovations in extruded products with improved nutritional quality

Extrusion processing stands out as a versatile and efficient technology for producing a wide range of food products, including snacks, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, meat analogues, and pasta. However, most conventional extruded products rely heavily on refined cereals, resulting in formulations that are high in rapidly digestible carbohydrates but low in protein, dietary fiber, and essential micronutrients-raising concerns about their nutritional adequacy and long-term health impacts. In parallel, growing global emphasis on environmental sustainability is driving the food industry to seek new approaches that not only reduce resource consumption and waste but also align production practices with greener, more responsible standards. In response to these challenges, recent innovations in extrusion research have focused on redesigning product formulations and processing techniques to enhance nutritional quality, promote healthier dietary patterns, and improve environmental sustainability. These efforts include incorporating nutrient-dense, upcycled, and underutilized ingredients such as plant protein isolates, oilseed meals, fruit and vegetable pomaces, algae, and insect powders. Meanwhile, technological advancements such as raw material enzymatic treatments, novel extruder die designs and blowing agent-assisted extrusion are being explored to enhance nutritional quality and promote sustainability while preserving desirable sensory attributes. Despite significant progress at the research level, challenges remain in balancing nutrition, sensory appeal, and consumer acceptability, as well as in navigating regulatory frameworks and achieving industrial scalability. This chapter summarizes the ongoing developments and future directions in ingredient and process innovations for cereal-based extruded foods, highlighting the potential of these innovations to address global health concerns and advance sustainability goals.