Studies on the development of universal-type texture measurement system

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Texture is an attribute that is important to food acceptance. Objective measurement and/or quantification of the texture continue to interest researchers. Various instrumental texture testings, fundamental, empirical and imitative tests, have followed with a view to measure physical and rheological characteristics of texture. However, little has been done related to discrimination of textural features of foods. We conducted to develop instrumental method for food texture measurement. Firstly, a uniaxial compression-decompression tests were carried out using a KES-FB 3 Compression Tester (Kato Tech Co.Ltd., Kyoto, Japan) equipped with a cylindrical plunger. The compression-decompression tests were carried out at different levels of compression, i.e., at small, medium and large compression levels and at rupture. From these tests, compression work, resiliency, compressibility and force at each compression level were determined. The date sets composed of 110 and 120 samples including various types of viscoelastic foods and gels were subjected to factor analysis. The samples were distinguishable from each other in terms of the factor scores for factors 1, 2 and 3 which correspond to textural characteristics of hardness (and toughness), elasticity and fracturability, respectively. This means that textural features and characteristics are distinguishable in a quantified manner. This method includes measurement of mechanical characteristics, factor analysis of instrumental date, and representation of these date in a three-dimensional diagram. Secondly, construction of a new compression tester and preparation of program soft for operating the whole procedure were performed. The compression tester and the program soft were added several functions by which the time for measurement was saved and the operating was made easier and more simple. Thus, the instrumental system for texture measurement was established.