The Relationship between Penetration, Tension, and Torsion for the Fracture of Surimi Gels: Application of Digital Image Correlation (DIC)

Abstract

A standardized method to evaluate the material properties of surimi gels has to be updated because of the lack of accuracy and the repeatability of data obtained from conventional ways. To investigate the relationships between the different texture measurement methods used in surimi gels, 250 batches of different surimi gels were used. The textural properties of surimi gels made with or without whey protein concentrate (SG-WP), potato starch (SG-PS), or dried egg white (SG-EW) were measured under torsion, tensile, and penetration tests. The correlation between the textural properties related to the deformation and hardness of surimi gels without any added ingredients (SG) was linear (R2 > 0.85). However, the R2 values of the shear strain and tensile strain of SG-WP and SG-EW were significantly lower than that of SG. The strain distributions of surimi gels with and without added ingredients were estimated by digital image correlation (DIC) analysis. The results showed that the local strain concentration in SG-WP and SG-EW was significantly higher than that of SG in the failure ring tensile test and the torsion test (p < 0.05). DIC analysis was an effective tool for evaluating the strain distribution characteristics of surimi gels upon fracture from torsion, penetration, and tension.

Advanced tensile testing as a new tool to quantify properties of food

“…The interfaces between the continuous and dispersed phase in the anisotropic products are relatively weak areas that are more prone to cracking. Previous research found that addition of egg white or whey protein to surimi gels led to higher local strain concentrations in tensile tests ( Park et al, 2023 ). They suggested that an increase in particle-particle interactions decreased the water-particle interactions, thereby decreasing the elasticity of the samples.…”

“…Previously, it was proven that DIC correlated excellently with LVDT measurements in human tendons ( Luyckx et al, 2014 ). However, the application of DIC for food materials is unexplored, except for one study on surimi gels ( Park et al, 2023 ).…”

Shaping meat analogues : Ingredients & texture

“…The interfaces between the continuous and dispersed phase in the anisotropic products are relatively weak areas that are more prone to cracking. Previous research found that addition of egg white or whey protein to surimi gels led to higher local strain concentrations in tensile tests (Park et al, 2023). They suggested that an increase in particle-particle interactions decreased the waterparticle interactions, thereby decreasing the elasticity of the samples.…”

“…Previously, it was proven that DIC correlated excellently with LVDT measurements in human tendons (Luyckx et al, 2014). However, the application of DIC for food materials is unexplored, except for one study on surimi gels (Park, Park, & Yoon, 2023).…”

3D food printing: monitoring, quality assessment and adaptation with machine vision

“…Previous studies applied the DIC analysis as a complementary method to mechanical texture analysis of surimi and plant-based meat analogue (Park et al, 2023;Schlangen et al, 2023).…”