Snack product texture measurement

Measure a multitude of textures from raw ingredients to finished product.

Snack foods such as tortilla chips, potato crisps, corn puffs and prawn crackers have many features in common, both in their manufacturing processes, their raw ingredients and in their product characteristics. Although the final products are distinctly different in their appearance, they all tend to have low residual moisture contents and similar brittle crispy textures.

Snack foods tend to be eaten in the dry form, so that they feel brittle and crunchy in the mouth, but incorrect processing, change of ingredients/formulation and bad control of moisture control both during and after processing (e.g. during storage) will affect the product texture and may subsequently result in a loss of those sensory qualities in snack foods which consumers find to be desirable.

Texture is becoming a leading driver for taste perception in food, particularly snack products. Creating an amazing texture in your snack food will provide enormous interest to the consumer but one thing is for sure, if you’ve created a signature texture in your product you’ll want to make sure that it remains consistent.

A wide range of SNACK PRODUCT test methods is built into Exponent Texture Analyser software and will automatically load at the click of a button. We help make your testing quicker to access and the analysis of your product properties already prepared for you.

Typical measurements include: • Crispness / Fracturability • Spreadability • Toughness / Tensile Strength • Firmness • Extensibility/Elasticity • Hinge Strength • Consistency •

Over the years we’ve worked with top scientists and companies in the field to develop such fixtures as the Ice Cream Cone Support Rig, the Pizza Tensile Rig and the Acoustic Envelope Detector for the extra dimension of sound measurement.

No one knows more about the texture analysis of snack products – but don’t just take our word for it, read an example of what our customers have to say.

Any of the Texture Analyser range can be used for the product tests listed.

A selection of special attachments and typical measurements which are commonly used in this application area are shown below, although this does not necessarily include the complete range available for the testing of snack products. Test procedures include: compression, puncture / penetration, tension, fracture / bending, extrusion, cutting / shearing.