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How to measure and analyse the texture of food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and adhesives.

Tuesday 14 December 2021

Applying Powder Flow Analysis to different industries

Many powders can potentially gain strength and cake during processing, storage and transport to the final consumer, causing the formation of lumps and aggregates, or they may be transformed into a caked bulk. This can be very undesirable, causing production delays and lost production, and represents a major product quality defect in the eyes of end-users of powder products.

Raw ingredients can be assessed on a regular basis to keep watch on batch and source variation and finished products in powder form can undergo a full assessment to measure the properties (e.g. fully flowing, caking, cohesion) that will be experienced by a consumer or user. 

Tuesday 7 December 2021

The use of substitute bakery ingredients and measuring the effect of texture

There is a growing interest in the bakery industry involving the improvement of the nutritional profile of bakery products. One of the most common ways to improve this nutritional profile is by the use of substitute ingredients, including replacements for carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.

Carbohydrates can have a negative influence on the metabolism, and their excess consumption can lead to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay. However, they are responsible for the structure and texture of many bakery products.

The lipid profile of a bakery product might be altered by substitution. For example, saturated fats have a large impact on the incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, there are useful alternatives to traditional oils and butters with large amounts of omega 3 and other components that can mitigate these problems.

Tuesday 30 November 2021

By-Products in the Baking and Snack Industries and their Effect on Texture

Food waste and by-products are generated in large quantities in the food industry. 38% of this waste occurs during food processing. It arises from a variety of sources including animal-derived (e.g. hooves, feathers, blood and whey) and vegetable-derived (e.g. peelings, seeds, starch and juice). The disposal of this waste is of detriment to the environment due to its poor biological stability, significant nutritional value and high concentration of organic compounds. The large amount of food waste and its microbial decomposition may cause adverse effect on the environment and human health. At a large cost for waste treatment, it is an additional financial burden on the food manufacturer. Food manufacturing industries have low profit margins and the additional impact of the processing cost of waste is a great disadvantage to the food industry along with the agricultural sector and the country’s economy.

Tuesday 23 November 2021

The Volscan Profiler in Food Research

The Volscan Profiler with a sample of butter
The Volscan Profiler was originally designed for use with bakery products. However, its use has exploded into other industries in the past few years, both food- and non-food-based. Not only is volume critical to bakery products, it is also an important physical property of agricultural products, meat, fish and packaging.

Agricultural products have the characteristic of being ‘low value added’ when compared with other industrial commodities. As a result, the application of state-of-the-art technology to the agricultural sector has been slow; it is only in relatively recent times that various up-to-date techniques have reached the point of practical implementation.

Tuesday 16 November 2021

Texture Analysis in Research: 3D Printing in the Bakery Industry

3D printing food samples
3D printing has made a large impact in many sectors, but its entry into the food industry has not been a simple journey. The first difficulty to overcome is the range of food products that have until now been printable. Additionally, the properties of finished 3D printed products require a large amount of research (texture and rheology as well as colours and general appearance) and development along with the printing conditions to achieve them (such as temperature, speeds and raw materials).

Thursday 11 November 2021

Measuring the Stiffness of Hair

New Hair Stiffness Rig
Analytical technology can help the hair industry substantiate ambitious marketing claims about shampoos and conditioners that claim to leave hair soft and manageable, make hair look more youthful or increase volume. When a hair product is marketed, certain claims are written on the packaging or in adverts with statements regarding its performance and efficacy. These claims must be substantiated with laboratory testing to prevent misleading consumers and going against legislation – manufacturers cannot assert that products have properties they do not have. The test used is determined by the claim being made. E.g. a claim for ‘improved softness’ might be substantiated with a bending test using a newly available Hair Stiffness Rig.

Tuesday 2 November 2021

Texture Analysis in Research: Microneedles

Microneedle (MN) arrays – minimally-invasive devices used to penetrate the skin’s outermost layer
Microneedle (MN) arrays are minimally-invasive devices used to penetrate the skin’s outermost layer, the stratum corneum, the principal barrier to topically-applied drugs. They are widely used in a range of applications including cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Their use involves a simple, cheap, safe, and effective technique requiring minimal training. Microneedles were originally used as a collagen induction therapy for facial scars and skin rejuvenation, and still are, but are also now widely used in the form of patches as a transdermal delivery system for therapeutic drugs and vaccines. 

Tuesday 26 October 2021

Texture Analysis in Research: Incorporation of Insects as Ingredients in the Bakery Industry

Research is happening into a range of insects that can be used in baked products
Back in December 2019, Roberts Bakery in Norwich were the first UK bakery to launch a loaf of bread containing cricket flour. The uptake from other bakeries has been slow in the UK; customers will take some convincing before they overcome their trepidation to eat insects. However, it is likely that insects will become a regular part of our diets in years to come.

Insects such as crickets provide a protein source with a high feed-conversion efficiency rate (an animal's capacity to convert feed into increased body mass). They also require much less water than traditional protein sources such as poultry or cattle. Health benefits of insect consumption include their high antioxidant power and chitinous fibre content, as well as the upside of a higher protein content in whichever food they are added to. The challenge lies in introducing insect protein into the Western diet. This has to begin with ingredient replacement in existing foods, one example of which is bakery products, as these act to familiarise consumers with insect-based food.

Tuesday 19 October 2021

Food Texture: Design by 3D printing

The food industry is experiencing a paradigm shift. People’s growing awareness of the food that they consume and the drive for new customized sensory experiences is pushing for the development of new technologies that can satisfy these new consumers’ standards. One of these novel technologies, 3D Printing, has been around for a while, however, only in 2007 was it applied for the first time in the production of food structures.

This technology has attracted a lot of attention for its versatility and potential application in various production sectors, such as aerospace, electronics, architecture, and medicine but it is becoming more apparent that in the food production sector this technology has the potential to be used to create personalised food products, enabling the creation of food products with specific design characteristics, flavours and colours, geometric structures, textures, and nutritional profiles.

Tuesday 12 October 2021

Enhancing Textures: An Introduction to the Hydrocolloid Universe

With names like Ultra-Tex 3, Methocel F50, and agar agar, hydrocolloids sound like they’re meant for science fiction novels, not our pantries. However, these seemingly mysterious white powders are incredibly valuable in food development and can provide fun new textural experiences. Derived from natural sources (like seaweed, tapioca, and plant matter), hydrocolloids have been used for centuries to thicken foods and enhance textures. From spherification to stabilisation, hydrocolloids can help you make fancy foams, delicious gummy candies, and intriguing fluid gels.

Tuesday 5 October 2021

Confectionery: Texture Geekery

What makes chewy candies so appealing? Texture is a huge part of it. That’s why a lot of professional chefs love making candy—manipulating texture is what chefs do. Professional confectioners, too, are masters of texture, and they’re seriously well schooled in the ingredients that go into our favourite confections.

For every piece of chewy candy, there are a few key elements that dictate texture: Soluble solids control the firmness of a certain product. Gums control the “bite” (supple, snappy, or brittle, for example). And fat and air soften the texture in a way that soluble solids alone cannot. Candies like Starburst, for example, seem hard at first but then yield to your bite. It’s the high concentration of soluble solids that makes them hard; incorporating air and fat, meanwhile, makes the texture soft enough to chew.

Tuesday 28 September 2021

Novel Physical Testing Methods using the Texture Analyser

Our probes and fixtures range has developed due to the need for new ways to hold/support and test samples in ways that haven’t been previously available for traditional texture analysis test methods. For example, instead of using the Texture Analyser in an up and down mode you could support the instrument on its side and measure friction in a horizontal plane. This could be for the measurement of frictional properties of packaging or to assess the grating potential of cheese.

Tuesday 21 September 2021

Adhesion Testing for Texture Analysis & Materials Testing

What is an adhesion test?

Adhesion is the force that resists the separation of two bodies in contact. An adhesion test measures the adhesive characteristics of a product by measuring the forces to separate the product from the test surface which it comes into contact with. Adhesiveness ('Stickiness') is most commonly measured with a cylinder probe, which is pressed (application of compression), onto the surface of the sample after which the force to pull the probe off it is measured. The higher the force to separate these surfaces, the more adhesive is the product. The distance the probe needs to be pulled away from the product before the two surfaces are separated will also indicate its viscoelastic behaviour, and depending upon the product, its ‘tailing’ or ‘stringiness’ characteristic.

Tuesday 14 September 2021

Cutting/Shearing Testing for Texture Analysis and Materials Testing

Example of cutting shearing action used to create imitative testing
What is a cutting/shearing test?

In general, any texture analysis test that involves the use of a type of blade to perform the test, is performing a cutting or shearing action on the sample. A number of empirical fixtures feature a single blade or a number of blades which cut/shear through the sample, under specified conditions. The maximum force required and/or the work necessary to achieve this (i.e. the area under the curve) is taken as an index of firmness, toughness or fibrousness of the sample. Whilst empirical or imitative, shearing tests are very popular, particularly for the assessment of food texture and in particular the measurement of ‘bite force’.

Tuesday 7 September 2021

The Volscan Profiler in Bakery Research

A loaf of bread loaded in to the Volscan Profiler ready for scanning
Loaf volume is of paramount importance to bread quality evaluation. It is a vital aspect of the consumer’s perception of value as in bread and other leavened goods, higher volume for a given weight is invariably associated with a more aerated crumb and superior texture.

For a baker or bread manufacturer, each batch of flour has to be evaluated by test baking to ensure that bread is made to a uniformly high quality. One component of this quality control is measurement of the volume of the bread, which can give information relating to the density of the bread crumb and the strength of the gluten in the flour. This volume information can then be used to modify the dough mix used in bread production to produce bread of the appropriate quality. This procedure is important, not only for the inherent qualities of the bread, but to ensure that the selected dough-piece weight produces a loaf of the correct size for the standard tins used in the baking process.

Tuesday 31 August 2021

Fracture/Bending Testing for Texture Analysis and Materials Testing

Example of bend test on a piece of chewing gum
What is a fracture/bending test?

This type of test can measure the fracture and break strength of hard and brittle products (or their flexibility) by bending the sample, usually until a break occurs. If a break does not occur whilst the sample is flexed then a measure of its flexibility can be performed instead – a degree of flexibility can be desirable or a characteristic to be avoided, depending upon the sample. Stable Micro Systems enables a wide range of tests in this field, using fixtures such as the Three Point Bend Rig which are adaptable to many types of sample, and also specialist attachments like the Crisp Fracture Support Rig or the Spaghetti Flexure Rig.

Tuesday 24 August 2021

Use of by-products for agricultural benefit

Crop protection, including weed management, is a critical issue in agriculture. Mulching, which consists of covering the soil surface with organic or inorganic materials, is used to control soil moisture, soil temperature, nutrient loss, salinity, erosion, soil structure, etc. Its benefits for the growth and yield of annual and perennial crops have long been recognised. Although it is an age-old practice for managing weeds, mulching has largely dwindled since the widespread use of herbicides; however, now it is gaining importance in the context of sustainable agriculture. Different mulching materials have been used in different crops in different climatic environments for weed management, and results vary according to the chosen approach, growing practices, conditions and species. These materials include crop residues, non-degradable plastic films, and also biodegradable films. The lifetime of an agricultural mulch varies considerably (i.e., months to years) depending on the nature of the material, its application, its thickness, and the environmental conditions.

Tuesday 17 August 2021

Extrusion Testing for Texture Analysis and Materials Testing

Example of extrusion from a bottle of body wash
What is an extrusion test?

There are generally two types of extrusion test in texture analysis: backward (or back) and forward. Of the various extrusion techniques the one favoured in recent years is back extrusion. The sample is contained in a strong cell with a solid base and an open top. A rod with a disc is then forced down into the container until the food flows up (backwards) through the space between the disc and the container walls which is called the annulus.

Tuesday 10 August 2021

How Texture Analysis is progressing the development of even better gluten-free products

A selection of breads
The global demand for gluten-free products is expanding and continues to be a significant technological challenge for the bakery industries. One of the principle challenges is producing gluten-free baked goods and pasta with similar textural quality to the gluten-loaded counterparts.

The market demand of gluten-free (GF) baked goods and pasta is expanding. Despite the health halo associated with GF food category, commercially available GF cereal-based foods are often characterised by lower nutritional quality than their gluten-containing counterparts, having lower dietary fibre, protein and resistant starch (RS) contents, along with enhanced starch digestion rates and extents.

Tuesday 3 August 2021

Tensile Testing for Texture Analysis and Materials Testing

What is a tensile test?

A tensile test pulls or stretches a sample and as a result the extensibility/elongation and tensile strength properties are measured in terms of force required to stretch and distance something can be stretched to.

The ultimate tensile strength of a material is defined as the maximum attainable load, acting on a specimen in a tensile test, divided by the original cross-sectional area of the specimen.

A conventional tensile test assumes that the sample fractures almost instantaneously in a plane that is approximately perpendicular to the plane of the applied tension. The maximum force is the tensile strength of the material.

Tuesday 27 July 2021

Compression Testing for Texture Analysis and Materials Testing

Compression testing of contact lenses
What is a compression test?

A compression test is perhaps the most simple and popular test of instrumental texture measurement. In its simplest method, a sample is placed on a flat base/surface and a flat probe/platen is lowered onto the sample to a given force or distance (or the sample is compressed to a percentage of its original height). The sample is deformed and the extent of the deformation and/or the resistance offered by the sample is recorded. Simple compression tests are often termed uniaxial compression which means that the sample is compressed in one direction and is unrestrained in the other two. Either a low or high degree of compression can be chosen but a high degree of compression will usually cause the product to rupture, spread, fracture, or break into pieces.

Monday 19 July 2021

Puncture and Penetration Testing for Texture Analysis and Materials Testing

What is a puncture/penetration test?

In a penetration/puncture test a probe is made to penetrate into the test sample and the force necessary to achieve a certain penetration depth or the depth of penetration in a specified time, under defined conditions, is measured and used as an index of e.g. hardness, firmness, toughness.

Both test principles cause an irreversible change in the sample and assume that the sample being investigated is of larger area than the contact area of the probe in use; a sample smaller than the probe contact area would assume compression principles.

Tuesday 13 July 2021

Texture Analysis in Research: Alternative Proteins

Cutting cooked meat
Across the globe, consumers are increasingly looking for non-meat options when buying protein as part of their diet.  
 
Meat has been the main source of protein in developed markets for years. However, a change in consumer behaviour has led to a growth in the alternative proteins market due to health concerns, environmental reasons and animal welfare awareness. Consequently, producers of animal protein face large risks to their sustainability if they do not join the innovative and fast growing alternative proteins market. Meat alternatives and broader protein alternatives that can act as substitutes for traditional meat products are attracting considerable financial investment.

‘Alternative proteins’ is a general term that covers any substitute to traditional animal protein. These protein sources include plant-based protein, fermented protein, algae, cultured meat, 3D printed meat and insects. The texture of traditional meat has always been the most important factor in determining consumer acceptance, and the same is true for alternative protein sources.

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Texture Analysis in Plant-Based Dairy Product Development

In the nearly 40 years since soy milk was first introduced in the U.S. and Europe, the offerings for plant-based dairy alternatives have expanded significantly to include a wealth of options from nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits, grains and root vegetables. 

In fact, industry experts predict that by 2026, the market for dairy alternative products could reach $41.8 billion growing at a CAGR of 12.2%.

A variety of factors are contributing to the category’s growth, including dairy sensitivity issues, consumer perception that plant-based products are healthier for them, a desire to avoid hormones or antibiotics, and concerns about animal welfare.

Tuesday 29 June 2021

Texture Analysis: A tool for developing new food packaging from byproducts (waste)

Green bulb environmental concept
By-products and waste generation are having an impact on environmental, economic, and social sectors. 
 
To the environment, these contribute to GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Many of these biomaterials are not utilised and end up in municipal landfills where they create serious environmental problems due to microbial decomposition and leachate production. In some cases, the by-products are burned to remove fungi and parasites. From the economic point of view, the adverse impact is due to the costs related to the handling of solid waste in landfills. Moreover, the management of large amounts of different degradable materials poses a challenge.
 
However, there is an increasing need for biodegradable, environmentally friendly and functional food-packaging materials. In this regard, proteins obtained from agri-food industry by-products may become a promising and sustainable (less impact, valorisation) source of such materials.
 

Tuesday 22 June 2021

Measuring the crispness of fried vegetable products

Pile of fried potato chips

Cooking in oil is widely used in the production of snack foods of various kinds, and results in drastic changes to the structure of the food.

Penetration of oil is particularly important for structure development in products such as potato chips, tortilla chips and potato crisps. In products which become totally hard and crisp, the oil first coats the surface and begins to move into the chip. As the heat builds up inside, moisture turns to steam and exits the chip, leaving a sponge-like network of tunnels which fill with oil.

This process occurs within the first 20 seconds of frying. Starch granules gelatinise inside the chip, but not at the surface. The interior becomes smooth and plastic as protein, starch and lipids interact to form a continuous phase which hardens upon dehydration.

Tuesday 15 June 2021

Tofu texture

Block of tofuIn the Far East, tofu is the most popular soybean food whilst in the West, tofu is gaining in popularity.

Tofu is very similar to cheese in appearance, texture, and chemical composition. By controlling the amount of coagulants and pressure applied during moulding, the texture of the tofu may be varied from extra firm, firm, soft, to silken.

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Measuring the consistency of vegetable purées

Jars of puréesPurées are very thick and viscous slurries made from processed vegetables that are often concentrated and include fibrous material or fruit pieces that adds structure. 

They are commonly used in fillings for pies, ketchup or baby food. Additional ingredients are usually added to manipulate consistency and processing properties.

For the measurement of consistency, a Back Extrusion test can be carried out by fixing a suitable diameter disc to the TA.XTplus texture analyser: the disc moves down into the vessel with good clearance between the vessel and disc so as not to produce erroneous increase force readings due to ‘side effects’.

Tuesday 1 June 2021

Testing the overall firmness of a weight or quantity of cooked vegetables

Cans of pulsesProcessed root and tuber products

Thermal treatment is one of the most important processes in the manufacture of storable and ready-to-serve food products of agricultural origin.

During thermal treatment, many desirable and undesirable reactions take place; components such as vitamins and colour components, for example, and also physical properties, such as texture, may be changed.

Cooking just to the point of softness produces vegetables with optimal texture which is where texture analysis plays a major role in determining processing times.

Tuesday 25 May 2021

Testing cooked individual vegetable texture

Girl eating asparagusMost vegetables are cooked before consumption, a process that softens their texture (unless there is a lot of lignification) and gelatinises the starch deposited as food for the plant. 
 
Starch and protein deposits are particularly abundant in beans, peas, and corn picked at maturity. A sugar to starch equilibrium reaction occurs during the storage of some vegetables, and this can affect their texture.

Sweetcorn and sweet peas when picked immature have much sugar and a succulent texture. Within hours the texture of sweetcorn can become tougher and drier due to sugar conversion to starch.

Tuesday 18 May 2021

Testing fresh individual vegetable texture

Girl eating celery
As opposed to fruits, which are generally picked when mature but unripe, many vegetables (apart from legume seeds, tubers, bulbs and roots) are picked and consumed when still immature, tender and succulent.
 
This is largely due to the fact that while fruits generally soften on maturation and storage, young vegetables become tougher when they age. This toughening is due to the lignification of the primary cell wall and formation of the secondary cell wall. When cucumbers are stored below 7°C, their texture breaks down due to excessive softening and exudation of liquid as tissue undergoes a structural collapse. Tomatoes are also susceptible to low-temperature injury.

Many of the form, structure and physiological considerations discussed in connection with fruit texture also apply to vegetable texture. The main difference is that, while on maturation the fruit tissue stops growing and suffers enzymatic degradation, the vegetable tissue proceeds to differentiate and cell growth and enlargement continue. The amount of fibrous tissue increases. Toughening may reach the point where the vegetable is no longer suitable for human consumption.

Tuesday 11 May 2021

Measuring Vegetable Texture and Vegetable Product Quality

Variety of vegetables on forksFrom the point of view of texture, vegetables represent a very diverse group of products. They can be consumed in many different textural forms.

For instance, cooked asparagus is soft, fibrous and pulpy, cucumber is crisp, firm and juicy, raw carrots are hard and crisp, and cooked peas are soft and mealy. The tissue structure in each case determines the texture as received by the consumer.

For many types of vegetables, consumer acceptance of the product is decisively influenced by the vegetable’s texture, along with other qualities such as colour, smell and taste. Texture is a critical quality attribute to all vegetables, whether it is to assess ripeness or functional performance in their processed forms.

Tuesday 4 May 2021

Developing foods containing algae

Alternative protein samples
According to Food Technology magazine, “It’s relatively easy to predict what consumers will be eating within a few years but what about further ahead?

"This is the million-dollar question keeping the food and beverage industry on its toes. Will our diets evolve into the realms of science fiction?

"Based on what we know now, food shortages will be a growing issue, so many will be looking to new sources of nutrition. Because of this, experts believe diets will be based on protein-rich insects and nutrient-dense algae, both of which could offer sustainable alternatives to resource-intensive farming.”

Tuesday 27 April 2021

Food product design serving Generation Z


Selfie girls with ice cream
In the immediate future, it’s time for Millenials to move over. Generation Z is coming of age and is set to become the purchasing powerhouse of the global economy.

Research has shown that Generation Zers (typically born after 1995) to be more health conscious, more open minded and more international in their habits compared to Millenials, meaning we can expect some significant changes in the years ahead.

Generation Z has the potential to reset expectations for health and wellness, increase the reach of international cuisine, and heighten creativity in the kitchen. This means food manufacturers should be looking to produce more healthy formulations based on fruits and vegetables, more internationally diverse ingredients and flavours, as well as more interactive products enabling creative experiences. This is where texture will play a large part in creating those culinary experiences and where texture analysis is equipped to test and measure the result of food manufacturers' new creations.

Tuesday 20 April 2021

Latest Texture Analysis in Research: Acoustics

Fluted crisps

There’s an entire industry dedicated to making foods crispy. Ever wondered why we are so drawn to the snap of a potato chip or the crackle of fried chicken – it’s down to biology, psychology and an incredible amount of engineering.

Crispness is a critical attribute of quality for crispy products, which can be evaluated through both instrumental and sensory analysis.  Here is a round-up of the type of research that is going on around the world into this amazing textural feature.

Monday 12 April 2021

Latest Texture Analysis in Research: Vegetables

Variety of vegetables on forks

Is there a best technique to cook vegetables? A study carried out at the University of Brazil about physical and sensory aspects to stimulate their consumption has attempted to answer this. 

Consumers are becoming more health-conscious and have less time to prepare meals. They are often confused about which time and cooking method are adequate to preserve nutrients in vegetables. All cooking techniques cause changes in the nutrient content and the taste of a vegetable. 

The objective of this study was to determine the best cooking method for different vegetables using sensory evaluation and instrumental analysis of texture and colour. The chosen vegetables for this study were broccoli, carrot and Brazilian zucchini because they are among the most consumed vegetables in Brazil. The cooking methods were boiling, steaming, cooking in the combined oven, microwave, and steaming in the microwave.

Tuesday 6 April 2021

Texture Analysis: A tool in the fight against HIV

Surgical team at workHIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in the immune system and weakens a person’s ability to fight everyday infections and disease.

While AIDS cannot be transmitted from one person to another, the HIV virus can. There is currently no cure for HIV, but there are very effective drug treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life.

In the three decades since the first cases of AIDS were reported, investments in basic, biomedical, behavioural, and social science research have led to numerous HIV prevention interventions and life-saving treatments. Texture Analysis has an important role in this research, specifically in the improvement of drug delivery systems. This blog post contains some examples of Texture Analysis in HIV research in recent years.

Tuesday 30 March 2021

How Texture Analysis is helping save our planet

Girl hugging a globe
In a world that has woken up to the reality of climate change and other environmental matters, a large amount of research goes into developing eco-friendlier approaches to everyday objects and processes. 

Environmental concerns have become more important to consumers, leading many companies to design products around sustainability principles. This can be focussed on reducing energy consumption in manufacturing processes, improving recyclability, using waste products or replacing materials with biodegradable alternatives. 

Texture Analysis plays an important role in ensuring standards are maintained in areas such as material mechanical properties and food texture. A large amount of research in this area occurs in an academic context; this blog post contains some examples of Texture Analysis in Research.

Tuesday 23 March 2021

Texture Analysis in Research: Latest Packaging Innovations

Various packaging items
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology have been investigating 3D printing of grinding and milling fractions of rice husk. 
 
With the aim of sustainability approaches and production of designer 3D food packages, this study examined the effect of printability of rice husk fractions of different size reduction methods. Extrusion tests were performed for both the rice husk fractions, and 3D printing process parameters were optimised for the ‘box’ shaped 3D model. Rheological behaviour and physical characteristics were analysed for all the material supplies. 
 
They used their TA.HDplus Texture Analyser to measure the mechanical strength of the material supply and the effect of the addition of hydrocolloids. The study successfully demonstrated the conversion of non-printable rice husk into a printable form by the addition of guar gum into the milled fraction, which can be further utilised in food packaging, reducing the dependency on non-degradable petroleum-based plastics. Find out more

Monday 15 March 2021

Texture Analysis in the 3D Printing Industry

3D print head
In the 3D printing process, a physical object is produced from a 3D digital model. This generally occurs by the laying down of successive thin layers of material to bring the digital model to life.

The steps involved in this process will vary depending on the type of printer and the raw materials involved, but generally they are as follows:

1: A 3D model is created using a modelling package or 3D scanner, saved as a Computer Aided Design (CAD) file

2: The user slices the CAD file and uploads it to the printer

3: The printer reads and creates each 2D slice to form a 3D object

Tuesday 9 March 2021

Texture Analysis: A tool in the fight against cancer

Hand holding pink cancer ribbon“More than 40 years after the war on cancer was declared, we have spent billions fighting the good fight. The National Cancer Institute has spent some $90 billion on research and treatment during that time.

"Some 260 nonprofit organisations in the United States have dedicated themselves to cancer — more than the number established for heart disease, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke combined. Together, these 260 organisations have budgets that top $2.2 billion.” (Dr Margaret Cuomo, A World Without Cancer)

A large proportion of people donate to the world’s cancer research movement either directly or by running sponsored marathons, holding charity bake sales, charity shopping or by countless other indirect donation routes. However, the average donor gives their money with full trust to cancer research charities that it will be spent wisely. Charities publish their annual expenditure breakdown, but unless a donor regularly reads research articles, it can be difficult to understand the specifics of cancer research.

This blog post gives several examples of recent cancer research from around the world, and the role that Texture Analysis has to play.

Tuesday 2 March 2021

Texture Analysis: A tool to help the development of new food products from byproducts

In a linear economy we ‘take’ raw materials from the environment, ‘make’ something, ‘use’ or don’t use it, and finally ‘dispose’ of it. 
 
Linear / circular economy
For example: in a supermarket, food that is still good but needs to be removed from shelves – often due to inventory or overstock reasons – typically heads to the landfill. We need to adopt a new approach to avoid this wasteful situation that challenges economies across the globe. A circular approach – reuse, recycle, remake, redistribute – aims to ensure zero food waste in the food chain. 
 
Aside from the waste associated with retailers and consumers there is a growing interest in the potential use of food manufacture by-products and how they can be reintroduced into the manufacture of new products. This would not only reduces waste but also provides a nutrient recycling opportunity and establishes a more efficient and sustainable food supply chain.

Monday 22 February 2021

Effect of storage on Texture: Meat

Texture is the main quality characteristic of meat, affecting price and consumer acceptance.

Tenderness and juiciness are the main textural parameters that affect a consumer’s enjoyment in general. 

Tenderness refers to the force needed to yield the meat during chewing, and the energy needed to masticate it to the point of swallowing. Juiciness refers to the type and amount of liquid released during mastication. Some specific meat products have a different textural priority, such as the chewiness exhibited by beef jerky.

A large amount of research has been dedicated to understanding the texture of meat. However, the detailed mechanism of tenderisation is still not fully understood. Tenderness is known to be influenced by properties of the raw material, such as animal breed and age, muscle contraction, amount of connective tissue, ripening and its cooking method.

Tuesday 16 February 2021

Effect of storage on Texture: Vegetables

Huge variety of vegetablesFrom the point of view of texture, vegetables represent a very diverse group of products.
 
They can be consumed in many different textural forms. For instance, cooked asparagus is soft, fibrous and pulpy, cucumber is crisp, firm and juicy, raw carrots are hard and crisp, and cooked peas are soft and mealy. The tissue structure in each case determines the texture as received by the consumer.

Fresh vegetables

As opposed to fruits, which are generally picked when mature but unripe, many vegetables (apart from legume seeds, tubers, bulbs and roots) are picked and consumed when still immature, tender and succulent. This is largely due to the fact that while fruits generally soften on maturation and storage, young vegetables become tougher when they age. This toughening is due to the lignification of the primary cell wall and formation of the secondary cell wall.


Monday 8 February 2021

Why we need controlled failure

We live in a world obsessed by perfection.  Everything is supposed to be better if it’s shiny, defect-free and stronger than a Sherman tank. 

But be careful what you wish for, because a flawless world wouldn’t work nearly as well. Imperfections are tools, and we would be lost without them.  

Of course, flaws are not always convenient.

Imagine bending a long thin object, like a bar of chocolate. If the chocolate has flat surfaces, each side is stretched evenly. It’s hard to break, but if you put a notch in it the section of chocolate just underneath also has to do the job of the bit you’ve taken out. The chocolate will break at the notch. It’s not because it’s thinner at that point but because the sharp point of the notch concentrates the force in a very small area.

In a flawless object the stress you put on a material by pushing, stretching, bending and twisting is relatively evenly spread. Features like notches, voids and tiny cracks make the pattern of stress more complicated, concentrating the stress in some bits and relieving it in others. If you could see stress as colours, every object you pushed on would suddenly light up with bands of colour and the flaws would be tiny pinpoints of dazzlingly bright light. Those pinpoints are vulnerable, overloaded already, they can’t take much more.

Tuesday 2 February 2021

Effect of Storage on Texture: Baked Goods

Bread
Crusty loaf

When bread goes stale, the major factor that puts a consumer off is the change in texture, although flavour changes also occur. 
 
The textural changes during bread staling, and the processes that drive them, have been outlined in detail in a previous series of blog posts. The exact process of staling is not well understood despite a large amount of research into this topic.

Staling begin
Bread compression tests as soon as baking ends, and it becomes detectable to the consumer as early as a few hours after baking. Bread staling presents itself as reduced springiness and reduced crumb softness, both of which can be measured using a firmness measurement with a cylinder probe on a TA.XTplus Texture Analyser.
 
Additionally, the mouthfeel of both dryness and crumbliness increases, and the crust becomes tougher and less crisp. This change occurs due to moisture movement from the crumb to the crust, but changes to the contained starch molecules are also a major cause.

Tuesday 26 January 2021

Effect of storage on texture: Fruit

Fresh and rotten apples
When a food product is stored, its texture will change in any number of ways, almost always decreasing the product’s quality. 
 
A high shelf life is useful in the eyes of the manufacturer, and understanding the processes behind food degradation in storage is key to improving this shelf life, where possible.

Texture has its roots in the structure of food, from the molecular to macroscopic levels, and understanding the changes to the food on each of these levels helps to explain the texture changes that occur during storage.

Monday 18 January 2021

Paper and Cardboard Testing with a Texture Analyser – Part 3

Tensile test
Reliable Testing for Packaging and Print

Tensile Test
Example standard: ASTM D828

Tensile testing is applied to paper products for various reasons to assess strength in use; standards such as ASTM D828 cover the methods required to measure the tensile properties of paper and paperboard. Tensile tests are used for combined corrugated board but not as frequently as bending, compression and puncture.

Monday 11 January 2021

Paper and Cardboard Testing with a Texture Analyser – Part 2

Pin adhesion test
Reliable Testing for Packaging and Print 

Pin Adhesion Test
Example standard: TAPPI T821

Another factor that controls the quality of corrugated board is the strength of adhesion between the corrugating medium and its facings. This adhesion can be measured directly using a ‘pin adhesion test’, where pin adhesion is the force to separate the two components. In this test, pins are inserted between the facing and fluted medium, then attached to rigs connected to the loading arm and base. The rigs are pulled apart at constant speed until the facing is separated from the flute tips. Separation of all bond lines is not necessary. This test assesses the quality of the bond formed when the board was combined, and can be used to detect some manufacturing defects such as poor adhesive penetration and spotty adhesive application.