FTI REPORT R-11:

OPTIMIZING FOOD TEXTURE
AND RHEOLOGY

New Technologies to Improve Product Texture and Rheology

How important is crispness, crunchiness or spreadability to your products? Such characteristics and properties play an important role in attracting consumers to your product, getting them to try it again and making it a winner. The sooner we realize the roles that texture, rheology and mouthfeel play in making a food appealing to consumers, the sooner we’ll create more appealing products.

We use texture as an important criteria when determining a product’s quality—whether it’s fresh or not. When a food produces a hard, soft, crisp or moist feeling in the mouth, we find a basis for measuring its quality. Although organoleptic properties may be significant, they may be one of the least understood properties—often neglected by product developers.

When creating a new food product or redesigning an existing one, researchers need to pay close attention to textural as well as rheological properties. With this in mind Food Technology Intelligence, Inc., publisher of the international newsletter, Emerging Food R&D Report, has published a new report analyzing technical advances aimed at improving food product texture and rheology. This report, Optimizing Food Texture and Rheology, gives you a first-hand look at new techniques and processes that will help you improve the mouthfeel and other characteristics of your products. For example, in its pages you’ll learn that:

• You can control lipid crystallization during texturization of dairy spreads;

• Starch-lipid composites improve texture and flavor;

• Encapsulation and structure-modifying enzymes lead to novel properties; and

• Hydraulic pressure rapidly tenderizes meat.

The processes discussed in the report are under development and have commercial potential. In some cases, researchers have completed development and are looking to license their technology or collaborate in other ways to commercialize a product or technique. Or companies may be looking for partners to help expand applications and markets.

The Challenge

Consumers are demanding more appealing products that taste great, function correctly and look appetizing. They have sent a strong message that they aren’t willing to trade off any of their most desired food attributes. Moreover, they are expecting more from their favorite brands. With the myriad of new product introductions each year—many of which are not successful—often it is the more appealing products that overcome marketplace hurdles.

For these reasons, product developers must consider the impact that organoleptic attributes have on consumer acceptance. This may not be easy. Texture is a composite property related to other physical properties—viscosity and elasticity. Describing texture or mouthfeel in a single value obtained from an instrument or sensory panel is quite difficult. Mouthfeel is difficult to define because it involves a product’s physical and chemical interaction in the mouth from initial perception on the palate, to first bite, through mastication to swallowing.

This new report from Food Technology Intelligence will give product developers insight into techniques that improve a product’s texture, rheology and mouthfeel.

Learn about several developments, including:

• Ice-modifying proteins that may help ice cream stay smooth and creamy;

• Enzymatically modified gluten with better foaming properties;

• An extruded whey protein meat extender; and

• A biomechanical compression technique that predicts cooked beef tenderness.

Optimizing Food Texture and Rheology reviews significant developments in the field, discussing potential applications and the status of research. You’ll also learn how to take advantage of new techniques through licensing or other collaborations. Contact information is provided for the key researchers involved. This report will help you track new developments and contact experts with whom you can collaborate on innovative research. Order Optimizing Food Texture and Rheology and tap into innovations that will help you meet your product development goals.

Optimizing Food Texture and Rheology, Report R-11, 2002, 96 pp., $250/copy; outside North America add $20/copy for postage and handling. New Jersey orders add 6% sales tax. Also available electronically; contact publisher for details.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction

Texture and Rheology Impact the Product
Instrumental Techniques
Texture's Role
Structural Components
Molecular Structure
Triggering Taste Buds
A Function of Moisture, Glass Transition

2 Dairy

Dairy Product Texture
Nonfat Dry Milk
Analyze Texturization
Wheat Proteins
Enzyme Crosslinks Protein

3 Doughs and Starches

Strong Doughs
Fungal Amylases
Argentinian Corn Starch
Computer Modeling
Starch-Lipid Composites
Tapioca Starch
Starch, Pectin, Calcium

4 Cereals and Breads

Extrusion Processing
Textural Changes
Predict Breadmaking Performance
Enzymatically Modify Gluten

5 Meats

High Pressure Enhances Texture
Hydraulic Pressure
Predict Meat Quality
Reduced-Fat Burger Acceptability
Meat Extender
Mycoprotein Alternative
Functionality of Meat Proteins
Lactic Acid
Cooked Beef

6 Fiber

Add Fiber Without Changing Texture
Boost Dietary Fiber Without Impacting Texture

7 Fruits and Vegetables

Vacuum Infusion
Structure, Functional Properties of Produce
Pawpaw Offers Appealing Texture
Cell Wall Toughness
Flow Properties
Calcium Salts

8 Polymers, Stabilizers, Gelling Agents

Biopolymers
Fat Mimetics
Oxidized Polysaccharide Derivatives
Exopolysaccharides
Patented Stabilizer
Protein Aggregation

 

9 Patents

10 Bibliography

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