INSTRUMENTAL TEXTURE EVALUATION OF EXTRUDED SNACK FOODS: A REVIEW EVALUACI????N INSTRUMENTAL DE TEXTURA EN ALIMENTOS EXTRUIDOS: UNA REVISI????N

摘要

Resumen Extrusion cooking technology is the most used technique for the production of snack foods. In such foods, texture is of major importance, with crispness being often a desirable attribute. Due to the high costs involved in sensory analysis, instrumental assessment of end-product texture, by fundamental and empirical techniques, has been a useful tool for food researchers and manufactures as it has been related to sensory evaluation. Among other tests, the texture analysis of expanded snacks has been performed through compression, penetration, acoustic procedures and texture profile analysis. Although this review has focused in instrumental techniques, texture evaluation of extruded snacks is a complex subject, where the combination of techniques involving sensory, instrumental and microstructure analysis would certainly be the best practice. From a practical perspective, empirical methods are suggested as an alternative to fundamental techniques, especially to food scientists and food manufactures interested in predict consumer perception of texture. La tecnologia de cocimiento por extrusi???3n es la t????cnica mas utilizada para la producci???3n de alimentos extruidos donde la textura es de especial importancia, siendo frecuentemente la crujibilidad el atributo m????s deseable. Debido a los altos costos del an????lisis sensorial, la evaluaci???3n instrumental de la textura en el producto final, utilizando t????cnicas fundamentales y emp???-ricas, ha sido una herramienta ???otil para la investigaci???3n en alimentos y para la industria manufacturera ya que se ha correlacionado con la evaluaci???3n sensorial. Entre otras pruebas, el an????lisis de textura de alimentos extruidos se ha llevado a cabo por compresi???3n, penetraci???3n, m????todos ac???osticos y an????lisis de perfil de textura. Aunque esta revisi???3n se enfoca a t????cnicas instrumentales, la evaluaci???3n de textura en alimentos extruidos es un problema complejo, donde la combinaci???3n de t????cnicas incluyendo an????lisis sensorial, instrumental y de microestructura podr???-a ser la mejor forma de resolverlo. Desde un punto de vista pr????ctico, los m????todos emp???-ricos se sugieren como una alternativa a las t????cnicas fundamentales, especialmente para cient???-ficos y productores de alimentos interesados en predecir la percepci???3n de la textura por parte del consumidor. Palabras clave: Textura, extrusion, alimentos extruidos