Food Texture Analysis - Shear Testing 

What is food texture analysis? 

The texture of food is critical in not only the enjoyment when eating but also for other mechanical reasons. Food and food items are tested during various stages of production and quality checked post production. Analysis are critical to ensure quality and uniformity as well as determining the required force for shearing, cutting or bite. 

Why measure texture? 

Food and food items are tested just like any other materials. This can include tensile testing, compressive testing, shear testing, flexural etc. In the case of food texture analysis we see many applications such as testing the chewiness or hardness of meats and the outter membranes of sausages or testing the hardness and brittleness of animal food products. Some tests recently are more focused on the cutting forces required as food automation is becomming more and more widely used. Food texture analysis is a very easy to understand practical test that is often used in education as it is easy for students learning material property to understand.

Warner Bratzler Shear Test

The Warner Bratzler shear test is often used for testing the bite force of meats. It is one of the most widely accepted and recognized food texture tests. Foods like sausages have outter casings or membranes that are often tested for optimal texture. Food like meats are often cut down to size and tested for analysis as well.

Graphs of sausage tests show initial bite force required to "break through" the outter casing and shows tenderness of bite throughout the test.

Food cutting jig

This food cutting jig was designed to measure the cutting force required for vegetables. The blade is interchangeable to test different blades and probes.

Blade cutting force video