Never miss a testing moment: Video capture

Capturing texture analysis on video offers genuine benefits to manufacturers. When you are testing brittle products on your Texture Analyser, crucial visual elements can be easily missed by the human eye, due to the rapid speed of the test or to the complex breaking pattern of the brittle sample.

By synchronising video data with your Texture Analyser’s force-distance-time graphs you can replay specific moments in a test to help with your understanding of the sample breakdown. The ability to pause, replay and see the exact correlation between peaks and troughs of force with video frames is a brilliant teaching tool for research labs.

Need to test according to FDA CFR21? Part 11

Looking to ensure robust security and regulatory compliance for your testing protocols? Our Enhanced Security Module provides advanced security features, including electronic record and signature management, to align with FDA CFR21 Part 11 guidelines. Whether you need heightened data integrity or secure access control, this module has you covered.

Achieving excellence in poultry and egg quality

Poultry meat has become the most produced meat globally, surpassing pork in popularity. With this rise, quality concerns like tenderness and juiciness have taken centre stage, directly impacting consumer satisfaction and product pricing. Meanwhile, the poultry industry faces growing challenges to meet demand without compromising quality.

The challenge: Tenderness and tough meat

Tenderness is the key textural characteristic that influences a consumer’s acceptance of meat. Yet, the industry is grappling with an increasing prevalence of tough meat — often a byproduct of heightened demand for processed products and accelerated production methods. This makes reliable methods for measuring meat quality more crucial than ever.

Understanding how a Texture Analyser works – Force capacity and sensitivity

The choice and quality of several key components used in a Texture Analyser will affect the accuracy, precision and resolution of its measurements. Force, displacement and time are the key data channels from which others such as stress and strain are calculated.

When testing a sample, the quality of a measurement is crucial in enabling comparison between batches or within batches over varying time periods. Some measurement methods rely heavily on a high resolution in all data channels.

Common pitfalls in texture measurement and how to avoid them: Troubleshooting guide

Texture measurement is a crucial process in product development and quality control, especially in industries like food, pharmaceuticals, and materials science. However, achieving accurate and reliable results can be challenging due to various pitfalls.

1. Inconsistent sample preparation

Problem: Variability in sample size, shape, and condition can lead to inconsistent results.

Solution:

• Standardise preparation: Use templates, moulds, or cutting guides to ensure all samples are uniform in size and shape.
• Control environment: Maintain consistent environmental conditions (temperature, humidity) during preparation and testing.

Example: For a compression test on gel samples, use a mould to prepare samples with identical dimensions and store them in a controlled environment before testing.

Texture measurement: How to optimise your sample preparation for consistent results

In texture analysis and physical property measurement, the accuracy and reproducibility of your results depend significantly on how well you prepare your samples. Proper sample preparation minimises variability, ensuring that the measurements are accurate and reflect the true properties of the material being tested. Ensuring reproducibility also makes it easier to replicate results in future tests or by different operators.

In this guide, we’ll discuss best practices in sample preparation to help you achieve consistent and reliable texture measurement results. 

Understanding how a Texture Analyser works – How to verify your test method

A range of validation samples

The test method and settings that have been selected as having the highest promise now needs to be tested in practice over the full range of texture variability of the product from excellent quality to very poor quality. A minimum of three levels of textural quality is often suggested. Whilst the repeatability within a sample is important, ultimately the method needs to be able to differentiate between a product which is clearly different. If it doesn't provide distinctly different results for products which you know to be different (if only by testing with your own hands) then it's back to the drawing board.

Understanding how a Texture Analyser works – Choosing the best test settings

When creating your optimum test method for texture/physical property measurement you will need to make choices on each of the setting values according to the type of test you have chosen.  The values will depend heavily on the sample.

Pre-test speed

The probe begins to move from its start point towards the sample at the pre-test speed.

When trying to find a trigger force your pre-test speed should really not exceed 3mm/sec for best initial data capture and the most accurate starting point.  A fast approach can lead to a late trigger (or ‘overshooting’) therefore entering the sample before data is being collected. Usually the pre-test speed is slower than the test speed.