Influence of Secondary Homogenisation and Final Thermal Treatment on the Evolution of the Rheological Properties of Model Puddings for Dysphagia Nutritional Support

摘要

Management of dysphagia is commonly done by the prescription of texture-controlled products (i.e. puddings). This research deals with the influence of different processing variables (i.e. final thermal treatment, and secondary homogenization step) on the evolution of the rheological properties and microstructural characteristics of a MODEL pudding, with similar composition to that of commercially available products for dysphagia nutritional support, during storage at different temperatures. From the experimental results obtained, it is apparent that pudding ageing favours the development of protein aggregates, mainly at high storage temperature. These results correlate fairly well with the evolution of the linear viscoelasticity functions during ageing at different storage temperatures. A longer final thermal treatment benefits the development (and density) of the above-mentioned aggregates, as well as an increase in pudding mean particle size and in the linear viscoelasticity functions. Finally, an increase in the number of steps during pudding secondary homogenization produces a decrease in mean particle size and an increase in the values of the linear viscoelasticity functions.