The importance of rheology of food

By definition, rheology is the deformation and flow of matter and rheological properties are based on the flow and deformation responses of a substance when subjected to stress.

Rheology is important to the food researcher because it has many applications in the three major categories of food acceptability:
*Appearance – certain structural and mechanical properties of some foods can be determined by appearance.
*Flavor – food breakdown in the mouth can affect the rate of release of flavor compounds
*Touch

Rheological data are required in product quality evaluation, engineering calculations, and process design.

An understanding of flow behavior is necessary to determine the size of the pump and pipe and the energy requirements.

The microstructure of a product can be correlated with its rheological behavior, allowing development of new materials.

Rheometry permits attainment of rheological equations applied in process engineering, particular unit operations that involved heat and momentum transfer.

Rheology has become a routine research and quality control tool for companies around the world. Rheology has also found many applications in the sensory evaluation of texture.

With the availability of reliable psychological models rheology is being successfully and reliably used for texture design.
The importance of rheology of food