In the food and drink industry, non-destructive dynamic mechanical properties can be tested with controlled strain and stress rheometers.

More information:
	More information on the Mastersizer 2000
	Application note: Measurement of diary and food emulsions
	Application note: Measurement of chocolate
	Application note: Measurement of coffee
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Particle size typically above 1µm

Flavor Emulsions case study

Case Study: Flavor Emulsions

Flavor emulsions are oil and water emulsions which are normally prepared as a concentrate and can be diluted to form a final product.

There are two types of flavor emulsion which are used in the food industry. One is a high concentration oil emulsion which is essentially essential oil stabilized with emulsifiers stabilizers and other additives, the other is a flavored oil emulsion with added vegetable oil which is formulated to give a cloudy appearance. The emulsions must be stable over time (both in their concentrated and diluted forms). Sedimentation of flocculated material at the bottom of the container, or creaming of oil to the top of the container are both undesirable. The system is often stabilized by the addition of hydrocolloids such as xanthan gum, gum Arabic, alginates and carageenans. These will absorb to the oil water interface and can impart both electrostatic and steric (electrosteric) stability to the emulsion. The optimal particle size is often considered to be < 3 microns (especially if caramel color is used as an emulsifier). The concentrate also will consist of sugar and preservatives. By monitoring the change in particle size upon storage or upon dilution, laser diffraction can be used to screen new formulations so that unstable formulations can be rejected.

Problems can also occur with the crystallization of sugar within flavor emulsions which can lead to batch to batch problems. Figure 9 shows two different flavor emulsions of similar sizes, one of which had a stability problem. There is a peak of large particles (could be coalesced oil droplets or sugar crystals) in the 10 – 100 um region seen on the particle size distribution of the unstable formulation.

Laser diffraction used to detect outsize particles in flavor emulsions


	Help for existing users:

	Guide to dry method development This application note aims to provide users with an idea of the important parameters that should be considered as part of method development when defining a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for measuring dry powders using laser diffraction.


	Guide to wet method development The development of a wet measurement method requires the user to explore and understand the way in which the material is sampled, the choice of dispersant and how the sample reacts to the application of ultrasound. By controlling each of these a robust method can be developed, ensuring good batch-to-batch reproducibility. This, in turn, increases the sensitivity of the size measurement to changes in the material properties.


	Web seminars available for play back :

	Web Seminar: Optical property determination for laser diffraction particle sizing - 14th April 2005 Fundamental to the performance of the laser diffraction technique is the need to select an appropriate optical model to calculate a products size distribution from the collected light scattering data. In this presentation guidance will be provided as to which optical models should be used, following the recommendations of ISO13320 - the international standard for laser diffraction measurements. The techniques available for measuring the optical properties required for accurate size analysis will also be discussed.
	$Web Seminar: Optical property determination for laser diffraction particle sizing$