Assessing juice quality: Advances in the determination of rheological properties of fruit juices and derivatives

Abstract

Consumer demand for fruit products is growing, creating the need for a better understanding of their processing and properties. Rheology is the science that studies the flow and deformation of solids and fluids under the influence of mechanical forces. The rheological characterization of food is important for the design of unit operations, process optimization, and high-quality product assurance (Ibarz and Barbosa-Cánovas, 2003; Rao, 1999).