Measure the texture of cereal products

The measurement of texture in cereal products serves as a critical tool for scientifically assessing and optimising the quality, consumer appeal, and manufacturing processes of these staple food items.

Texture analysis provides quantifiable data that aids in evaluating attributes like crispness, crunchiness, chewiness, and firmness, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of cereal product properties. This analytical approach not only enables the fine-tuning of product formulations and processing methods but also contributes to enhancing the overall sensory experience for consumers.

Consequently, the scientific measurement of texture in cereal products from raw ingredients to finished processed products plays a pivotal role in advancing both product development and quality assurance within the food industry.

Cereal products, encompassing breakfast cereals, cereal bars, and related grain-based foods, possess distinct textural attributes that influence consumer preferences. Utilising a Texture Analyser in their manufacture and development provides essential insights:

• New product development: Texture Analysers support R&D efforts when launching new cereal variants, ensuring they meet targeted textural profiles.
• Optimising formulations/reformulations: As ingredients or their ratios are adjusted or recipes are altered, for instance, to reduce sugar, salt, or fat, it's vital to understand how these changes affect texture. As demand for whole grain, high fibre, or protein-enhanced cereals grows, understanding the textural implications of these formulations is also crucial.
• New ingredient assessment: When introducing a new ingredient, it's vital to understand its impact on the overall texture of the cereal. The Texture Analyser can quantify these changes.
• Milk interaction: For breakfast cereals, understanding how they interact with milk or other liquids in terms of textural changes (like sogginess) is pivotal for product positioning.
• Shelf life studies: Over time, cereals can become stale or change in texture. Regular texture analysis during shelf life studies can help determine when these changes occur and help in formulating to extend the product's life.
• Optimising processing conditions: Different processing methods (extrusion, baking, puffing, etc.) can alter the texture of the cereal product. By using a Texture Analyser, manufacturers can optimise these conditions to achieve the desired texture.
• Quality assurance and control: To maintain consistent quality, routine texture testing is vital. This ensures every batch of cereal or cereal product aligns with the brand's standards, solidifying consumer loyalty.
• Consumer preference testing: Along with taste tests, understanding texture preferences can be crucial. By correlating consumer feedback with objective texture analysis data, manufacturers can develop products that better cater to consumer preferences.
• Packaging influences: Packaging can affect the texture of cereals, especially concerning moisture migration. Texture analysis can inform packaging decisions to maintain product integrity.
• Competitor benchmarking: By analysing the texture of competitor products, companies can understand where their product stands in the market and if there are texture gaps they might want to fill.
• Product claim validation: If a cereal product is marketed with specific texture claims like "crunchy clusters" or "soft-filled centres," texture analysis provides empirical evidence to support these claims.

A Texture Analyser can measure various textural properties of cereal products, depending on the type of product and its intended use.

Here are the key texture properties that can be measured:

Ensuring the right texture in cereal products is vital for product success, as texture plays a significant role in consumer preference. A Texture Analyser allows for objective, repeatable measurements of these properties, helping manufacturers ensure product consistency and optimise formulations and processing.

Whether its providing the solution for Tianjin University of Science and Technology to file a patent for a buckwheat grain shelling method, allowing Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman to development and optimise a flaked breakfast cereal using upcycled ingredients or offering a tool for Campden BRI to measure texture of cereal based products, a Texture Analyser is adaptable and flexible in its application to measure the bespoke texture of your product and then enable its quality to be controlled in your manufacturing to guarantee consistency and customer satisfaction.

Through our active involvement in industry events such as AACC, ICC and IFT meetings, as well as being members of Campden BRI's Cereals, Milling & Baking Panel, we remain closely aligned with the evolving needs of the cereals sector – just ask our customers.

A wide range of probes and attachments can be integrated with our instruments, allowing testing to be precisely adapted to the material or product under evaluation. Applications include Kramer Shear Cells to compare cereal bar firmness, bending tests used to assess cereal bar fracturability or Ottawa Cells to measure bowl life of cereal flakes, once milk has been added. 

The examples provided illustrate a selection of specialised attachments and commonly performed measurements within this application area. This list is not exhaustive; a wide range of additional options are available for the testing of cereal products. All instruments in the Texture Analyser range can be used to perform the tests described.

A wide range of cereal product test methods (including AACC and AIB Standards) is built into Exponent Texture Analyser software and will automatically load at the click of a button. We help make your texture testing methods quicker to access and the files for analysis of your product properties are ready to go.

The food and cereal industry had been evolving rapidly with increasing consumer demand for healthier, sustainable, and more diverse products.

Here are some of the newer ingredient and product ideas in cereal product research, development, and production and a typical academic reference to show how the Texture Analyser has already being applied: