STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF SAMPLES’ DIMENSIONS ON THE ANALYSIS OF SMOKED CHEESE TEXTURE PROPERTIES

Abstract

One of the main objectives of this study is to determine the optimal geometry of the probe in order to provide an advanced sensitivity of testing and also to ensure a high reproducibility of data and to establish the influence of the sample’s dimensions on the analysis results of texture parameters. In the study on the modification of the texture parameters values depending on the sample dimension, the force-displacement curves were plotted for smoked cheese, which was kept refrigerated at the temperatures between 6-8°C. Regarding the type of  texture profiling test the penetration test was carried on utilizing probes with different geometries and sizes, and the cheese samples were of different sizes. Six different types of penetrating devices were used: artificial finger, cone, ball, compression disk, V-knife and blunt knife. The cheese samples were cut into a parallelepiped shape with sides varying from 20 mm, 25 mm, 30 mm, 35 mm to 40 mm and different thicknesses: 7 mm, 9 mm, 11 mm, 13 mm, 15 mm, 17 mm. The samples were mechanically tested with the penetrating devices resulting force-displacement curves.