Food Industries - Tim's Top Tips Explanation & Evaluation of Processability

Processability is related to the amount of energy required to perform the relevant production steps for a food product. The food can be liquid, semi-solid or solid and elements of processability can be measured relative to the various physical properties of the food in deformation and flow. They can be measured in absolute or relative terms.

Traditionally, Processability has been measured on a large scale, using full scale mixers, extruders etc for relative processing data, and using flow cups, Brookfield-type viscometers etc for smaller scale (but still relative) data. Increasingly sophisticated and sensitive measurement techniques and equipment now allow much of this work to be conducted using scientific instruments, which can allow direct comparison of material behaviour for mixing and extrusion in the laboratory, reducing the requirement for expensive full-scale trials. Additionally, newer generation rheometers and viscometers can allow the direct measurement of fundamental physical properties of the materials, for proper equipment design and sizing. In the case of the relationship between processability and liquid (and semi-solid) flow properties, the important variables may include some, or all, of extensional viscosity, the elastic and viscous moduli, the complex viscosity, shear viscosity, thixotropy etc.

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