Texture Analysis in the Nailcare Industry: 2: Nail polish drying time

Nail polish has been developed to have a faster drying time with brands claiming “dry in 60 seconds” or “quickdry”. 

However, smudging a manicure is still a common complaint. There are also difficulties accelerating the drying time of more natural polishes containing fewer volatile solvents. New products must be tested for this in a consistent way.

Texture Analysis in the Nailcare Industry: 1: Introduction

The way we look and feel is more important than ever in the age of constant selfie-taking and the abundance of cameras at every social gathering.

This is not to mention the impossible beauty standards set by photoshopped billboards and magazine shoots that ordinary people feel they have to live up to. 

It is no surprise that cosmetics are more popular than ever, with the global cosmetic market estimated to reach US$675 billion by 2020. 

Application advice - comparing cutting/shearing accessories

We are often asked why there are so many different blade fixture options available from Stable Micro Systems.  

Our range of blades vary considerably in size, material, thickness and sharpness. In general they are used to measure the Bite/Cutting Force of products which in some instances can relate to their ‘Toughness’. The following guidelines may help in clarifying the potential use of each.

Substituting your Meat at mealtimes: Part 8: Sliced meat and Quorn – texture comparison

Sliced meat: how does it hold together?
 
How a sliced meat or meat substitute holds together is an important textural expectation of the consumer. The binding characteristics of the sliced product can be greatly affected by its formulation and processing thus affecting its tensile strength.

Whilst tensile grips or pneumatic grips are the traditional choice for tensile testing there are alternatives for a soft and thin product such as sliced meat. A Film Support Rig (shown in Figure 16) is designed to hold small amounts of thin or film-like material in a drum configuration in order to measure the biextensional properties of the films using a puncture test. 

Substituting your Meat at mealtimes: Part 7: Meatballs and nuggets – texture comparison

Despite the simplicity of penetration tests when faced with a non-homogeneous product, penetration is highly compromised as a smaller surface area for measurement is also more sensitive to variations in sample structure and low reproducibility and misleading data is obtained. 

Results may show a wide variance between maximum and minimum forces depending on whether the probe meets with, for example, internal structure variation such as is usually present in meat products.

Substituting your Meat at mealtimes: Part 6: Paté and pastes – texture comparison

Paté & Pastes: Measuring Paté Firmness
 
More and more often paté is being eaten as a snack spread onto toast, bread or crackers. It is usually made by pre-cooking liver and other meats, mixing them with other ingredients, seasoning and then filling into moulds or casings. 

There are many variations as a result of using different ingredients and nowadays low fat paté is also an option. There are of course vegetarian alternatives which, more often than not, contain vegetables rather than a meat substitute.

Substituting your Meat at mealtimes: Part 5: Chicken tenderness – texture comparison

Chicken Tenderness: Multiple Shearing

Empirical methods of assessing texture are often challenged by lack of homogeneity or uniformity in samples. 

Heterogeneous systems, such as unprocessed meat products can have structural elements that can vary considerably for the same overall chemical composition. Sometimes the sample to be analysed may be of variable configuration or structure from piece to piece such as for chicken strips. 

Substituting your Meat at mealtimes: Part 4: Sausage shearing – texture comparison

Reformed Products:
Sausage Shearing using Warner-Bratzler 
 
For the testing of circular samples, the Warner-Bratzler Blade (as shown in Figure 4) is recommended, as it provides a larger cutting surface around the product at the start of the test by means of its triangular notch in the middle of the blade. 

With a slotted base insert, the knife is able to cut through the entire sausage providing a crude method with little sample preparation which lends itself ideally to quick quality determination. It is the most common biting or shearing system for the assessment of meat and meat products.