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Characterisation of potato crisp effective porosity using micro‐ CT
Author(s) -
Renshaw Ryan C,
Robinson John P,
Dimitrakis Georgios A,
Bows John R,
Kingman Samuel W
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.7655
Subject(s) - porosity , food science , chemistry , materials science , composite material
Abstract BACKGROUND The effective porosity is an important quantitative parameter for food products that has a significant effect on taste and quality. It is challenging to quantify the apparent porosity of fried potato crisps as they have a thin irregularly shaped cross section containing oil and water. This study uses a novel micro‐ CT technique to determine the solid volume fraction and hence the effective porosity of three types of potato crisps: standard continuously fried crisps, microwaved crisps, and continuously fried ‘kettle’ crisps. RESULTS It was found that continuously fried kettle crisps had the lowest effective porosity at 0.54, providing the desired crunchy taste and lower oil contents. Crisps produced using a microwave process designed to mimic the dehydration process of standard continuous fried crisps had an effective porosity of 0.65, which was very similar to the effective porosity of 0.63 for standard continuously fried crisps. The results were supported by the findings of a forced preference consumer test. CONCLUSION The effective porosity affects the product taste and is therefore a critical parameter. This study shows that micro‐ CT analysis can be used to characterise the change in effective porosity of a thin irregularly shaped food product, caused by a change of cooking procedure. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry