Fried Dough Twist Frying Production Line Case

From Street Snack to ASEAN Industrial Benchmark – JCO Food Manufacturing Inc. Introduces Hadof's Fully Automatic Fried Dough Twist Production Line, Re-establishing International Standards for Coconut Milk Twists

Client Name: JCO Food Manufacturing Inc.

Country: Republic of the Philippines

Region: Calamba City, Laguna – Calamba Special Economic Zone, an industrial hub in southern Luzon

Core Products: Coconut shred fried dough twists, salted egg yolk flavor, garlic crispy twists, original lager twists

Equipment Configuration: Hadof custom twin-screw continuous sheeting/twisting + fully automatic deep oil bath frying line (capacity 450kg/h, including automatic seasoning line and pillow packaging integration)

Commissioning Date: Q2 2023

The Philippines is one of the world's biggest consumers of fried dough snacks. Fried dough twists, locally known as “Shakoy” or “Bitsu-bitsu,” are the most common handmade snack found everywhere. For the past decade, JCO Company, based in Laguna, had been producing coconut?shred twists by hand for local markets and tourist areas. But with the acceleration of ASEAN economic integration, JCO began receiving bulk orders from Vietnam, Thailand, and Filipino communities in the Middle East – and the capacity and quality control of its traditional workshop instantly hit a ceiling.

Founder Cristina Lopez realized that if JCO did not achieve standardized industrial production, it would not only miss out on export opportunities but could even be eliminated by modern supermarket channels. However, after examining equipment from Europe, the US, and Japan, she identified three critical issues:

Coconut aroma and crispiness seemed mutually exclusive: The soul of Filipino twists is fresh coconut shreds and coconut milk. Under high frying temperatures, the coconut shreds easily burn and turn bitter; but if the oil temperature is lowered to preserve the coconut aroma, the twists do not cook through and quickly become soft.

Inconsistent hand?twisted shapes: Traditional twists rely on manual rolling, resulting in uneven thickness and inconsistent cooking. The reject rate during automated packaging reached as high as 20%.

Storage challenges in a humid tropical climate: The Philippines experiences relative humidity above 85% year?round. Conventional fried twists absorb moisture quickly after cooling and lose their crispness within three days, making sea?freight export impossible.

Customized Breakthrough: An Industrial Frying Solution Tailored for Tropical Coconut Twists

Through a contact in Malaysia, Ms. Lopez was introduced to Hadof’s international department. Instead of simply recommending a standard fryer, we stationed engineers in Calamba for two weeks to analyze local coconut shreds, flour, and palm oil characteristics, and then developed this industrial twist line specifically designed for “tropical coconut aroma + high?humidity storage.”

1. Low?Oxygen Pre?drying + Dual?Zone Frying – Locking in Coconut Aroma, Crispy Outside and Soft Inside
Because coconut shreds easily burn at high temperatures, we designed a nitrogen?protected pre?drying stage: the twist dough pieces are first dried with low?temperature hot air (80°C) to remove surface moisture, while nitrogen is introduced to displace oxygen and protect the natural aroma of the coconut shreds. They then enter a dual?zone fryer – first zone at 170°C for rapid crust setting, second zone at 150°C for slow dehydration, ensuring the core is fully cooked without forming burnt spots. The final product retains 80% more coconut aroma and has an oil content controlled below 24%.

2. Fully Automatic CNC Twisting + Vision Inspection System – Standardized Shape Rivaling Handmade Quality
To address the shape?consistency challenge, we provided a twin?auger continuous sheeting line and a servo?controlled CNC twisting machine. After the dough is rolled out through four stages to remove air bubbles, it is automatically cut and twisted into the classic four?strand shape, with twist?tightness variation below 3%. An AI vision inspection unit at the end of the line automatically rejects misshapen pieces, boosting the yield rate from 78% to 96%.

3. Intense Cooling + De?oiling and Moisture?Proof Integration – Conquering High?Humidity Environments
To cope with the Philippines’ year?round high humidity, the fryer exit is followed by a forced?air laminar cooling tunnel, a centrifugal de?oiling unit to remove surface oil, and then an immediate transfer into a constant?temperature, constant?humidity conditioning chamber (25°C, 40% RH). This technology lowers the center temperature of the twists to room temperature within five minutes and reduces surface water activity to below 0.4, completely eliminating moisture reabsorption. JCO’s twists now have a natural shelf life extended from 7 days to six months while maintaining their crispness.

4. Online Seasoning Module for Salted Egg Yolk / Garlic – Easily Switching to Popular Southeast Asian Flavors
To meet the demand for flavors popular in the Philippines and Southeast Asia – salted egg yolk, garlic, spicy – we equipped the line with a dual?drum continuous seasoning system. The drum interiors are coated with a non?stick PTFE layer and incorporate a powder?metering spray system. Changing flavors takes only ten minutes of air?washing plus an alcohol spray sanitization, perfectly avoiding cross?flavor contamination. By the end of 2023, JCO’s salted egg yolk twists won an exclusive supply contract with the Philippines’ largest convenience store chain, 7?Eleven.

Client Testimonial: JCO Twists Go from Local Markets to Middle Eastern Supermarkets, Annual Export Value Soars 400%

Capacity and Quality Leap
Daily capacity: From 800 kg/day by hand to 10 tons/day on the automated line (two shifts), with consistent quality for 20 consecutive days. Q1 2024 production exceeded 800 tons, and JCO’s own brand “CocoTwist” now accounts for 85% of total revenue.

Channel Breakthrough
The stable oil content, low water activity, and fully enclosed 304 stainless steel line helped JCO pass SGS certification and the Philippines FDA export certification. The “CocoTwist” series is now available in 1,200 SM, Robinsons, and other major supermarket outlets across the Philippines, and is exported to the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Guam, serving Filipino overseas communities.

Economic Benefits
Return on Investment: Ms. Lopez calculated: “The manual line required 32 skilled twist?makers; now the entire line runs with only five operators. We save ?8.6 million a year in labor alone. Lower oil consumption, reduced reject rate, and growing export sales mean we will recover the full investment in about 15 months.”
Product Premium: The golden color and long?lasting crispness achieved through industrial?grade standardized production allow JCO’s twists to sell in Dubai supermarkets at 2.3 times the price of local handmade twists, yet they remain in high demand.

“What surprised us most about Hadof is that they understood how to preserve the authentic Filipino taste. Now every exported twist carries the rich coconut aroma and crispness that Filipino workers in the Middle East say tastes like home. This is the warmth that industrialization should bring.”

—— Cristina Lopez, Founder & CEO, JCO Food Manufacturing Inc.