Tribology: a measuring tool to support mouth feel optimization
Does your product need optimization in terms of mouth feel? Do your customers experience an astringent mouth feel, dry or rough feeling, not slippery, smooth or creamy enough sensation upon consumption of your products? Objective information on the lubrication properties of your products helps to improve sensory quality of your products.
NIZO can support you with tribology expertise. Tribology has been used in food science for screening potential ingredients for enhancing mouth feel. Our service is independent and confidential and can be expanded to include expert interpretation or in-depth investigation. Choose the option that best fits your needs:
Service Level
At service level we will carry out tribological measurements on your products mixed with artificial saliva following our standard protocol. You will receive a data report with the results. No interpretation is included and no further review meetings or discussions with our experts are included.
Expert level
At expert level we will carry out tribological measurements on your products mixed with artificial saliva following our standard protocol. We will correlate the results with 1 or 2 data sets supplied by you. These data sets can e.g. consist of sensory evaluations or composition of the products. You will receive a report including analysis and interpretation of the results. In addition, we will present the results to you in a (virtual) meeting and discuss the outcomes.
In-depth investigation
The option on in-depth investigation can include various optimizations of the tribological measurement protocol towards your products and research question. It can include e.g. method development for bolus formation of solid products, measurements on spit-out samples, tongue swabs or your products mixed with donated saliva, or optimization of analysis protocols towards different speed or load ranges. It is also possible to combine tribological measurements with other types of measurements, e.g. rheology or microscopy, to broaden the understanding of the behaviour of the products. If you are interested in an in-depth investigation, a customized project will be defined together with you.
Please fill in your Request For Proposal or contact us directly for enquiries on tribology analytics.
