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Rheological, thermal and dielectric properties of pureed baby foods Jasim Ahmed Polymer Source Inc., 124 Avro Street, Dorval, Montreal, Canada Abstract Purpose of the review: Consumption of weaning food has increased significantly throughout the world. Weaning foods are commonly manufactured from starch and protein sources to substitute or incorporate breast milk. Rheological, thermal and dielectric properties are important parameters for processing, quality control and reheating of pureed baby foods. This article reviews the technological need and recent available data on thermal, rheological and dielectric properties of pureed baby foods. Recent findings: Rheological properties of baby foods provide information on quality, transport and handling of pureed foods. Changes in food ingredients during processing and storage of baby foods have been characterised by thermal analysis. Extensive use of microwave heating to reheat baby foods have resulted in a better understanding of the dielectric properties of the ingredients and has led to a requirement for the dielectric data of food ingredients. Directions for future research: Weaning food is part of modern society and the demand has increased many fold with the increase in the number of working women. Food product development in the weaning food sector needs technological data. Ironically, technological data related to baby foods are not readily available as most of the studies on product development are kept secret by individual food processors or patented. Data related to rheology, calorimetry and dielectric measurements are vital for product development or designing food equipments. Keywords: rheology; differential scanning calorimetry; starch gelatinisation; protein denaturation; dielectric constant; loss factor Correspondence to: Jasim Ahmed, Polymer Source Inc., 124 Avro Street, Dorval, Montreal, H9P 2X8, PQ, Canada. Tel: +1 514 426 4427; email: jahmed2k@yahoo.com; jasim@polymersource.com Stewart Postharvest Review 2007, 5:2 Published online 01 October 2007 doi: 10.2212/spr.2007.5.2 |