A SCREENING METHOD FOR RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF MILK GEL

摘要

The present invention relates to the field of dairy technology, in particular it relates to a method for assessing rheological properties of acidified milk gels (milk gels), including determination of shear stress, gel firmness and water-holding capacity. The method can be used to determine rheological properties of acidified milk, e.g. yoghurt and fresh cheese, in a fast and reliable way. The present invention also relates to a method of screening for microbial cultures resulting in fermented milk with desired rheological properties. By using an automated microtiter-plate pipetting station equipped with a pressure sensor inside the air displacement barrel of each pipette, it is possible to monitor real-time changes in pressure, when aspirating and dispensing milk gels, and then correlate the pressure versus time data obtained with milk gel rheological properties such as shear stress, gel firmness and water-holding capacity.