With the increasing health awareness, these days consumers are more conscious about their diet to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Usually, they follow a diet that eliminates the excessive intake of fats, sugar, and salt. This has a significant impact on the dairy sector in the food industry. In order to keep up with the expectations of consumers as well as to sustain in the market, dairy products manufacturers are modifying their existing food products into low-in foods. However, fat is one of the main constituents in dairy foods that affect the consistency of the product. This means that reducing the overall fat content of the food by removing or replacing the ingredients alters the taste as well as the textural properties of the food.
While many consumers are following a low-fat diet, some proportions of consumers are still resistant to changes in smoothness or texture of food. As mentioned above when the food recipes are modified or a new product is developed the addition or replacement of ingredients affects the texture of the food. These products can have varying textures, which depend on the milk source, the microflora used, and the presence or absence of sweeteners or fruit. Therefore, while revising the food recipe, the manufacturers must ensure that the texture of the food matches the expectations of the consumers.
Researchers have found that the taste and texture of food are indelibly linked, changing the ingredients of food product affects both the taste as well as the sensory experience of the food. Manufacturers have to find the right combination of ingredients to avoid compromising the taste of dairy foods. Here, texture analysis helps manufacturers to understand the effect of the addition or removal of ingredients on the properties of food during the R&D phase. It allows to measure properties such as smoothness, firmness, creaminess, consistency, and viscosity of the improved or newly developed product.
Texture analysers are material tester that can be used with special jigs and fixtures used in the food industry for measuring the physical properties of food. For example, texture analysis is done to assess the quality of different types of cheese, to measure the spoonability and flowability of yoghurt, etc. These are designed for bulk shearing, compression, extrusion, penetration, puncture, and many sorts of tests on dairy products. The sample is placed on the texture analyser test bench and the arm of the analyzer contains the loadcell, to which a probe or fixture is attached. The arm then moves in either an up or down direction at a defined rate of speed in order to compress or extend the food sample. Depending on the type of food product to test, an appropriate probe/fixture is selected.
In this way, the manufacturers can compare the properties of the altered product with the original product to ensure they match the consumer’s expectations.
