Four samples of product were submitted to Food Technology Corporation for testing to determine if their varying textures could be objectively measured by instrumentation. There were 4 cans of product samples marked as follows:
Sample #1ss 0172-1 02/04/03 fine diced orange peels
Sample #27 1451-1 05/15/02 medium large lemon peels
Sample #2 0243-1 01/24/03 medium orange peels
Sample #58 0293-1 01/29/03 small orange peels
The following system components were used for the testing. A model TMS-Pro with a 2500N load cell and the CS-2 thin blade shear compression test cell. The CS-2 was selected due to the small sizes of some of the individual peel pieces. This cell is used extensively in rice, breadcrumb and small-diced vegetable applications where the individual particle size is small. The 3.5-inch crosshead travel required was programmed with a testing speed of 7 inches per minute. A sample size of 100 grams was used, as this was sufficient to fill the test cell about ½ of the way by volume. The following results were recorded.
Sample #1ss Sample #27 Sample #2 Sample #58
81 176 229 283
81 147 214 286
83 184 254 298
86 143 265 298
Ave. 82.75 162.5 240.5 291.25
The results showed that the system was able to measure the various degrees of texture in the product. The higher the number, the greater the force required to compress, shear and extrude the product through the test cell. This type of deforming action correlates very well to “mouth feel” or the perceived texture of the product during the chewing process.
The average difference between the various samples was significant enough to allow for decision making to be warranted on the data and indicates a successful methodology to measure the texture of this product.
The only result of any concern of the tests was that sample #27 and 2 had a much larger range of readings (standard deviation) than the other 2 samples compared percentage wise to the average. This may come from these two samples being less “homogenous” than the other products so one might need to run 5 or more tests of this product and take the average while only requiring 3 test on the more consistent products.
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