How to substantiate your snack crunch claims

The “crunch” factor featured strongly in the latest Frito-Lay US Trend Index as an important component in the perfect snack. Consumers were polled on their snacking preference, showing that 70% of snackers would reach for food with a crunch. It’s not surprising then that there’s an entire industry dedicated to making foods crispy.

Whether it’s a heaping pile of pita chips, a crisp apple, or a fresh cucumber salad, people can’t seem to get enough of that crispy, crunchy texture. It turns out, texture and sound play an underrated role —gastrophysicist Charles Spence and a psychiatrist explain the unique kick many of us get out of crunchy food in particular and that there’s a direct correlation between crunchiness and how a food is perceived. Read more

Crispy is everywhere according to this article from Bon Appetit. And, ‘Auditory inputs contribute to food enjoyment’ according to a Food Ingredients First article: Eat with your eyes and ears: Sensory innovation beyond taste.

When it comes to crisp baked goods such as wafers, the sound emitted while eating is key to consumer acceptance. That’s because the perception of product quality, and even taste, are closely connected to acoustics. If consumers perceive a crisp that crunches louder as tasting fresher, manufacturers turning the volume on product crunchiness might be more likely to attract loyal consumers. And if you want to make your textural claims on your packaging e.g. 50% more crunch, you’ll need to substantiate your claims using objective and quantitative measurements.

See, for example, how Omya used their Texture Analyser and Acoustic Envelope Detector in the development of their crispier creations.

Selling 'texture' of your product

A number of the world’s largest food producers are now starting to commercialise the crunch of their product. Kellogg’s believes that the crunchiness of the grain (what the consumer hears and feels in the mouth) is a key driver of the success of their cornflakes. Cheetos uses the slogan “The cheese that goes crunch!” A Doritos ad rolled out in 1989 featured Jay Leno revealing the secret ingredient: crunch.’ Once upon a time, Frito-Lay even conducted research to show that Doritos chips give off the loudest crack.

If a product developer wanted to make their product crunch louder, they would simply put the product under the texture analyser on an appropriate fixture – so, for a biscuit, they would use a three-point-bending rig. They would then position the microphone 1 centimetre from where the biscuits were going to fracture. The acoustic data would then be captured throughout the breaking of the biscuit and would be presented graphically, as a jagged line with some taller peaks.

So, if consumers perceive a crisp that crunches louder as being better, this presumably means that if manufacturers can turn up the volume on product crunchiness, they are more likely to attract loyal consumers.

But how do you know when you’ve hit the ideal crunch volume? One way is to use a trained tasting panel to determine whether the crunch is loud enough. Another, more repeatable, reliable and scientific approach is to use a Texture Analyser - an instrument which measures sensory attributes of a product by capturing force, distance and time data at a rate of up to 500 points per second.

To make a louder product you would be looking for the product that generates the highest ‘peaks’ or decibel values, so tall peaks rather than lots of little ones. If a manufacturer wants to compare how crispy different products are, they can count the number of peaks generated and divide this by the number of seconds over which they occur. This will tell how many fractures are produced in a second – and the more there are, the crispier the product.

These examples will help you understand how the product is measured and how the sound is collected:

Acoustic data can be measured and displayed in Exponent Connect software (as shown above) in real time alongside mechanical measurements (force, distance and time) to identify certain events during a test and provide the 4th dimension in texture analysis. You can measure the popping sound when a beverage can is opened or the fizz of a bath bomb as it disintegrates. This sound measurement provides another level of quantitative data on fractures or audible events that occur when a sample is deformed during testing.

So, what’s new in sound measurement?

The latest improvement is that Exponent Connect software can now process audio and synchronise this data as .wav files. These audio files greatly aid comprehension when analysing test results. Being able to hear the audio while seeing the audio data and Acoustic Envelope data helps you understand the nature of the data they are analysing.

In the academic world, these papers have been recently published that use the Texture Analyser and Acoustic Envelope Detector in the snack food field.

Acoustic settings combination as a sensory crispness indicator of dry crispy food

Acoustic, mechanical and microstructural properties of extruded crisp bread

Quick assessment of the potato chip crispness using the mechanical-acoustic measurement method

Assessment of acoustic-mechanical measurements for texture of French fries: Comparison of deep-fat frying and air frying

Texture of extruded breakfast cereals: Effects of adding milk on the texture properties and on the correlations between instrumental and sensory analyses

Who’s been using the Acoustic Envelope Detector already?

The Texture Analyser is already a known tool in Quality Control and Assurance in the Snack Food Industry. The Acoustic Envelope Detector has been around since 2009 and in this time has been used in several patents (including one by Intercontinental Great Brands for designing confectionery having two kinds of texture) and extensively in published papers as a valuable addition to characterising products in this novel way.

Get a run through of all Google Scholar articles that include the use of this product

Read our blog article about measuring the sound of popping candy

Want to know more about measuring sound?

To get the competitive edge, you’ll need the tools to measure the results of your crispy/crunchy product development – a Texture Analyser attached to an Acoustic Envelope Detector is the solution when you’re ready to quantify your claims.

Visit the Acoustic Envelope Detector page for more detailed product information

Request an Acoustic Envelope Detector brochure

For more information on how to measure texture, please visit the Texture Analysis Properties section on our website.

The TA.XTplus texture analyser is part of a family of texture analysis instruments and equipment from Stable Micro Systems. An extensive portfolio of specialist attachments is available to measure and analyse the textural properties of a huge range of food products. Our technical experts can also custom design instrument fixtures according to individual specifications.

No-one understands texture analysis like we do!

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