Examination of Stress Distribution Measurement Conditions for Root Crops

Abstract

Effective food texture control technologies are needed to meet the increasing demand for nursing care and alternative food products. Detailed information, including that on the textures of different food parts, is necessary to develop such technologies. Therefore, we consider to examine the surface stress distribution in different food products. In this article, we describe our findings on the pressure distribution measurement conditions for burdock root and carrot. Thickness should be uniform in all samples as differences in thickness affect the stress distribution measurements. A microtome blade or similar tool with a sharp thin blade was used to cut the samples. It is possible to evaluate the stress distribution for each part even when the food thickness is 5 mm or less.Thickness was set to 2.5 mm to evaluate the stress distribution in the burdock root microstructures with different textures. It is suggested that comparison of stress distribution in samples with different cutting directions may provide important information on the three-dimensional structure of food.