Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology offer
- POD Reference
- TOES20240404007
- Term of Validity
- 4 April 2024 - 4 April 2025
- Company's Country
- Spain
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreementCommercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- A Spanish technology center offers metrology of food texture parameters. For food companies it’s essential to determine texture parameters in foods to characterize products, evaluate their shelf life, etc. These measurements are carried out with the help of a texture analyzer, a versatile equipment allowing to adapt the tests according to the foods and/or raw materials to be analyzed. They seek research and development cooperation agreement and/or commercial agreements with technical assistance.
- Full Description
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The research center, based in Palencia (Spain), specializes in providing solutions for food quality analysis. They have extensive experience in developing innovative technologies tailored to the needs of food producers and manufacturers. Their expertise lies in optimizing processes for assessing key parameters in food products, ensuring quality and consistency.
The research center, based in Palencia (Spain), specializes in providing solutions for food quality analysis. They have extensive experience in developing innovative technologies tailored to the needs of food producers and manufacturers. Their expertise lies in optimizing processes for assessing key parameters in food products, ensuring quality and consistency.
Measuring the texture of food allows us to mechanically characterize how hard or tender a food is, or how crunchy it is. It also enables us to compare various products with similar characteristics or with changes in their compositions. Thanks to this equipment, we are also able to monitor its evolution throughout its shelf life, determining when the results are no longer analytically suitable for consumption.
Sometimes, products intended for animal consumption that lack complementary sensory data rely solely on the results obtained from this equipment to decide when the product does not meet the optimal qualities for consumption.
The principle of this equipment is based on applying a certain force to a sample with a specific probe, depending on the food being measured, which mimics the action of teeth, and extracting a force-time curve from which the texture parameters are calculated. In some products, the analysis aims to measure the force or resistance it opposes to deformation; in others, crunchiness is quantified, or in the case presented below, analytically imitating human chewing is desired.
This test is known as 'Texture Profile Analysis' and provides information on the following properties: fracturability, hardness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness, elasticity, gumminess, and chewiness.
- Hardness: Force required to achieve a specific deformation. Force required to compress a food between molars.
- Cohesiveness: Deformation undergone by the food before breaking. Resistance of the food's internal structure.
- Elasticity: Difference between time 4 and time 5 / difference between time 1 and time 2. Rate at which a material returns to its initial condition after removing the deforming force.
- Chewiness: Energy required to chew a food until it is ready to swallow.
- Adhesiveness: Work required to overcome the attraction forces between the surface of the food and other materials it meets.
- Fracturability: Force 3. First peak compression force. Force required for the material to break.
- Gumminess: Energy required to disintegrate a semi-solid food before swallowing it.
Thanks to these determinations, food companies can make decisions about their products and understand their behavior, which helps them stay ahead of market competition or improve existing products through formulation or processing modifications.
The technology center is open to research and development cooperation agreements and/or commercial agreements with technical assistance. - Advantages and Innovations
- Measuring the texture of food products and raw materials allows to understand their key characteristics and use this knowledge to improve their quality compared to competing products or those already existing in the market. It also enables to re-evaluate the shelf lives of foods when modifications have been made, which could involve changes in formulation, processing, or packaging.
- Stage of Development
- Already on the market
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-beingGoal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
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Prominent sectors are Agriculture and Food, encompassing products ranging from bakery goods, pastries, pasta, biscuits, confectionery, ice cream, creams, desserts to animal feed. They analyze everything from raw materials to finished products.
The most comprehensive information to be obtained by companies seeking this service will be associated with the information provided by them, based on their needs. - Type and Size of Partner
- Big companySME 11-49R&D InstitutionSME 50 - 249University
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreementCommercial agreement with technical assistance
Call details
- Coordinator required
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Yes
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 08002001 - Detection and Analysis methods08002002 - Food Microbiology / Toxicology / Quality Control08001002 - Food Additives/Ingredients/Functional Food08001005 - Food Technology
- Market keywords
- 05008002 - Food and feed ingredients09005 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Animal Husbandry & Related Products05009004 - Plant health05009001 - Food & feed ingredients
- Sector Groups Involved
- Agri-Food
- Targeted countries
- All countries