The Dynamic Texture Analysis of Mozzarella Cheese: Effect of Chewing Rate and Dwell Time
Annual Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists, Book of Abstracts, 12, (1997)

J.C. CONTI, E.R. Strope, D.J. Rohde, L.D. Spence, E. Jones

Dynatek Dalta Scientific Instruments, PO Box 254, Galena, MO 65656

The texture of mozzarella cheese has become important to food technologists since the increase in mozzarella cheese consumption over the past several years has necessitated the development of new formulations and processes to fulfill this ever increasing demand. To address the issue of sensory panel vs. mechanical test data correlation an instrument and series of protocols were developed to evaluate the dynamic texture properties of commercially available mozzarella cheese.

In this study, samples of whole and part skim mozzarella cheese were tested at room temperature using a mock chewing apparatus described at last years IFT annual meeting. There were two variables introduced into the protocol which included the number of chews per minute (chew rate) and the assymetry of the tooth position vs. time (dwell time). Dwell time is associated with the number of milliseconds that the chewing surfaces are held in their closest position before the surfaces are pulled away from each other.

It was found that the textural properties become stiffer and more elastic as the cycle rate increases. These results agreed with our own in-house sensory panels responses. It was also found that there was a tendency to increase springiness and adhesiveness with increase in dwell time, a phenomenon that suggests a time dependent increase in the nature of the interfacial region between the cheese and the testing surface.

A detailed analysis of this testing should lead us to a greater understanding of the nature of dynamic texture analysis and will hopefully result in mechanical tests that will assist food technologists in the development of new food products.

KEY WORDS--Texture analysis, dynamic