Developing a novel method to measure texture changes of semi-solid food during a continuous compressive motion with high deformation using repeatable dual extrusion cell (RDEC).

Mechanical changes during mastication are difficult to evaluate without using a novel method because the size of the sample is continuously and randomly reduced. The repeatable dual extrusion cell (RDEC) has been developed to measure the breakdown characteristics of a semi-solid food (i.e., minced pork gel) from initial solid states to a small particle size during repeated high deformation compressive motions. The force-time curve of RDEC was recorded, followed by a calculation of work values for each cycle and fitted by Peleg's model. The decrease of k1 (1.7-1.19) and k2 (1.56-1.42) values in Peleg's model with an increase of moisture content (56.5-62.5 %) indicated the easily deformable characteristics of soft food. During RDEC measurement, as long as the characteristic length of the sample was larger than the diameter of RDEC probe hole (>4.5 mm), the initial sample size showed no significant influence (p < 0.05) on the measurements. RDEC demonstrated similar ratios of particulate size with human subjects up till 20 cycles of processing. The equilibrium force value from RDEC and SEM images demonstrate that the connective tissue in pork gel mainly contributed to the end-product texture properties after continuous mastication. This study provided an application of the novel RDEC device to estimate the texture and structural changes of minced pork gel under a continuous high deformation compressive motion.

Evaluating the Mechanical Response of Agarose-Xanthan Mixture Gels Using Tensile Testing, Numerical Simulation, and a Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) Approach.

Large deformation stress response characteristics of hydrocolloid mixture gel systems were investigated based on texture and rheological measurements. Agarose and xanthan mixtures at different ratios (1:0, 0.75:0.25, and 0.5:0.5) were chosen as the model systems. A decrease in failure stress from 2.65 to 1.82 MPa and an increase in failure strain from 0.08 to 0.13 with higher xanthan ratios were obtained based on the ring tensile test, indicating that xanthan molecules could improve the flexibility of the agarose network. The gels showed severe water loss by compression, particularly for the pure agarose gel (6.74%). Compared to the compression test, the gels presented low water loss after the ring tensile test (<1.3%) indicating that the ring tensile test could calculate the correct stress−strain relationship. Digital image correlation (DIC) and numerical simulation revealed that agarose-xanthan gel systems possess a deformation behavior with homogeneous strain distribution before failure. Elastic and viscous Lissajous−Bowditch curves from the large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) measurement at different strains and frequencies elucidated that the agarose-xanthan gel was dominated by the agarose structure with a similar magnitude of elasticity at a low frequency. The large deformation approach from this study has great potential for elucidating and understanding the structure of food and biopolymer gels.

Stress and Strain Characteristics under the Large Deformation of Surimi Gel during Penetration and Extension Tests Using Digital Image Correlation and the Numerical Simulation Method.

The stress and strain properties of surimi gels (72.49% moisture content) under large deformation were analyzed during penetration (cylindrical, conical, and spherical puncture) and extension (ring tensile) tests. Mechanical measurements were compared and validated using digital image correlation (DIC) and numerical simulations. The DIC and the finite element method reflected the influence of the probe shape and the surface area in contact with the gel during the measurements. In puncture tests, a larger probe surface increased the strain concentration at the puncture point. In the extension test, the strain distribution was symmetrical. The strain values observed during penetration tests were comparable in both the DIC and numerical simulation. The tensile failure characteristics observed in DIC and numerical simulations are similar to those found in the experiment. The study demonstrated that the extension method with the ring tensile device did not show a stress concentration during the measurement, and DIC and numerical simulation can be effective tools in analyzing the textural properties of surimi gel during the puncture and ring tensile tests.

Effects of Potato Protein Isolated Using Ethanol on the Gelation and Anti-Proteolytic Properties in Pacific Whiting Surimi.

Pacific whiting is a primary species utilized for surimi processing in the Pacific Northwest of the US. However, endogenous protease in Pacific whiting surimi deteriorates the quality during slow cooking. The demand for clean-labeled and economically competitive protease inhibitors has been increasing. In the present study, the anti-proteolytic effect of potato protein isolate (PPI), a by-product from the potato starch industry, prepared using 20% ethanol on the endogenous protease activity of Pacific whiting (PW) surimi was investigated. The ohmic heating method was carried out for a better assessment of the anti-proteolytic activity of inhibitors. A factorial design was carried out in which the independent variables were the four types of inhibitors and their concentration (0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3% w/w) at two heating conditions. The heating condition was used as a blocking factor. All experiments were randomized within each block. The addition of 2% PPI which demonstrated the highest anti-proteolytic activity among five different concentrations significantly increased the breaking force, penetration distance, and water retention ability of PW surimi gel as the endogenous proteases were effectively inhibited when heated ohmically at 60 °C for 30 min prior to heating up to 90 °C. In addition, SDS-PAGE disclosed that PPI successfully retained the intensity of myofibrillar heavy chain (MHC) protein of PW surimi gels even under the condition at which proteases could be activated at 60 °C. The whiteness of gels was not negatively affected by the addition of PPI. Comparing all samples, a denser and more ordered microstructure was obtained when PPI was added. A similar trend was found from the fractal dimension (Df) of the PPI-added gel's microstructure. Therefore, PPI could be an effective and non-allergenic protease inhibitor in PW surimi leading to retaining the integrity of high gel quality.

The effect of intermittent drying on the cracking ratio of soybeans (Glycine max) at different relative humidity using reaction engineering approach modeling.

Intermittent drying (ID) was applied to reduce soybean cracking because of the low moisture gradient and little thermal stress on soybeans during their tempering period. The drying temperature and relative humidity (RH) for the drying and tempering periods were 35°C and 20% and 25°C and 43%, respectively. The intermittency (α) of the drying was defined as the ratio of the drying period to the duration of the drying and tempering periods, and it varied at α = 1, 0.5, 0.4, and 0.25 to evaluate the drying characteristics and the soybeans' quality. Intermittency processes redistributed the moisture in the soybean so that the low thermal stress was applied to the soybeans. The percentage of cracked grains increased with increasing the duration of drying period and decreasing tempering period. The moisture content and temperature changes during drying of soybeans were well fitted by reaction engineering approach (REA) modeling. Additionally, the physics that describe the soybeans' drying behavior during ID were explained by the model parameters obtained from the REA modeling, such as the surface relative humidity and the surface water vapor concentration. ID showed the highest drying efficiency at α = 0.25 regarding the total drying time (13,800 s, i.e., the shortest drying time) and the lowest cracking ratio (<2.18%).

Multifractal Approaches of the Ring Tensile Rupture Patterns of Dried Laver (Porphyra) as Affected by the Relative Humidity.

The effect of water activity (aw ) or the relative humidity (RH) on the tensile rupture properties of dried laver (DL) associated with structures formed with phycocolloids was investigated. The morphological characteristics of tensile ruptured DL samples at various relative humidities were evaluated by multifractal analysis. The RH of the microclimate was controlled from 10% to 90% at 25 °C using supersaturated salt solutions. The sorption isotherm of DL was experimentally obtained and quantitatively analyzed using mathematical models. The monolayer moisture contents from the Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) model was 5.92% (w.b.). An increase in the RH resulted in increasing ring tensile stress and maintaining constant ring tensile strain up to 58% to 75% RH, whereas the ring tensile stress and the ring tensile strain rapidly decreased and increased, respectively, when the RH was higher than 75%. The general fractal dimensions and the multifractal spectra f(α) manifested that the patterns of the lowest and the highest moisture content of dried laver showed high irregularity. The different multifractal parameters obtained from the DL at various RHs well-represented the transient moment of the structures from the monolayer moisture to texture changes associated with RH. Overall, the ring tensile test and the multifractal analysis were useful tools to analyze the change of crispness of DL from its structural characteristics. In addition, the results of this study revealed that the integration and disintegration properties of DL occurred through the networks of phycocolloids at various moisture contents. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Texture properties are the most important quality attributes for commercial dried laver (DL) products. The relative humidity influences the texture properties of DL during production, storage, shipping, and consuming. This study well characterized the effect of the relative humidity on the texture properties of DL using the tensile tests under microclimate conditions. This information is very practical and can be immediately applied to control the relative humidity of the packaging and the storage room for DL.

Mathematical models of pretreatment processes to utilize purple-fleshed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) peels for anthocyanin extraction.

The effect of particle size on the extraction rate of anthocyanin from Solanum tuberosum L. (purple-fleshed potato) peels (PFPPs) using the stagnant single-stage batch extraction system was investigated. Core pretreatment processes such as drying and grinding were quantitatively evaluated using mathematical models. The drying behavior of PFPP was successfully described using thin layer models (Page model and Midilli-Kucuk model). The effective diffusion coefficient of drying temperature at 40°C was determined to be 1.67x10-12 m2/s. The grinding time to obtain particles of a specific size was accurately estimated using the grinding kinetic model (R 2=0.97). The extraction rate of anthocyanin increased as the particle size decreased; however, when the particle size was 0.15mm, the anthocyanin content decreased. Our study demonstrated that the grinding kinetic model is useful to estimate the grinding time to produce an optimum particle size for anthocyanin extraction from PFPP.