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Fracture occurs when these defects grow and traverse the solid, creating new fracture surfaces. , 1991). , 2000). However, deformation tests applied to carefully prepared food samples have been shown to give improved correlations between instrumentally measured properties and sensory measures. , 1993). , (2002) have proposed physiological models relating to the fragmentation and swallowing of food particles. 3 Analysis and validation of instrumental measurements Statistical methods A physical measurement of textural characteristics can be of practical value only if it is shown to relate to some relevant sensory texture measure.

This is particularly useful for companies that are handling or manufacturing a varied product range. Load cells can be changed to give a high level of accuracy for relatively soft foods through to very hard foods. Probes and sample holders can easily be changed to accommodate measurements on different product types. An additional advantage is that such instruments can often be adapted for fundamental texture measurement. Fundamental methods Fundamental methods involve measuring well-defined physical properties of food, which, if measured properly, are independent of the method of measurement.

1994). In this technique, assessors carried out a profile on a set of texture descriptors at each chew stroke over the mastication period. Such a method has a number of potential advantages: several attributes can be assessed in one session; scaling is reduced to a unidimensional process; and the most important aspects of the shape of a time-intensity curve are retained. 4 Instrumental measurement of texture Sensory methods are, for the foreseeable future, the primary means of measuring the range of textural characteristics of food that are important to consumer acceptance.