Bulk mechanical behavior of commercial particle food foams

The texture of 10 commercial cereal foam products, of different composition and shape, has been evaluated through the measurement of its bulk mechanical properties using a Kramer shear cell. Force-displacement curves led to repeatable measurements, characterized by low standard deviations. Discrimination among samples and relevant mechanical variables were determined by the PCA of these curves. Most of the variability in the force-displacement curves (97%) and mechanical variables (93%) were contained in the two PC1s, and the mechanical behavior of this large variety of cereal foams texture could be explained by two variables: the energy needed for crushing (area under the force-displacement curve) and the slope ratio of the curve. These variables were then respectively related to bulk density, which increased with sugar content, and to the shape factor, evaluated through geometric approximation.