Editor’s Note: Prepared Foods held its annual R&D Applications Seminar in August 2017 and among the industry supplier presenter was Ashland Specialty Ingredients. Specifically, Mary Jean Cash, R&D, Food & Beverage Applications, presented a session titled “Use of Instrumental Analysis in Evaluation of the Texture of Beverages.” Here is a recap of Cash’s presentation.
Correlation of sensory data with instrumental analysis can be a useful tool and is achieved through oral processing of food or beverages, in conjunction with texture, viscosity, particle size and rheological analysis. The International Standards Organization defines texture as “all of the mechanical, geometrical and surface attributes of a product perceptible by means of mechanical, tactile and—where appropriate—visual and auditory receptors.”