Applicability of the foodtexture puff device for rheological characterization of viscous food products

The Foodtexture Puff Device (FPD) is a non-contact rheological measurement device, which applies an air pulse on the sample and measures the subsequent deformation of the sample surface with a laser distance sensor. The deformation behavior is considered as a measure for the rheological properties of the sample. The applicability of this device was studied for use on viscous food products with a broad range of rheological characteristics. In this study, sugar and fat based systems with a viscosity range of respectively 0.001 Pa.s to 6.1 Pa.s and 0.01 Pa.s to 5.9 Pa.s were tested. Comparison of the FPD with classical rheological analyses showed that the maximum deformation created by the FPD is strongly correlated to the viscosity. Hence, the FPD is well suited for measurements on sugar based and fat based systems. It is capable of providing accurate, non-contact, fast, easy and non-destructive rheological measurements on food products.