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Many fabricated foods are cooked industrially and are given desired textures, shapes, density and rehydration characteristics by an extrusion cooking process. This relatively new process is used in the preparation of “engineered” convenience foods: textured vegetable proteins, breakfast cereals, snacks, infant foods, dry soup mixes, breading, poultry stuffing, croutons, pasta products, beverage powders, hot breakfast gruels, and in the gelatinization of starch or the starchy component of foods.