Fortified foods texture measurement

Fortified and functional foods are products enhanced with additional nutrients or health-boosting components – such as probiotics, omega-3 oils, or antioxidants – to improve nutrition without changing eating habits.

Examples include:

• Yoghurt and milk enriched with probiotics and omega-3
• Breads and cereals fortified with vitamins and minerals
• Beverages with added antioxidants

Originally aimed at preventing malnutrition, fortification now targets general wellbeing and life-long health benefits, supporting consumers with tailored nutrition through products they already enjoy.

Consumers buying fortified foods want more than nutrition – they expect texture and taste comparable to traditional products.

Common texture challenges include:

• Increased firmness or toughness from added minerals or fibres
• Changes in crispiness and fracturability in bakery and snack products
• Altered mouthfeel or consistency in dairy alternatives and beverages

If texture shifts too much – becoming drier, pastier, or less appealing – consumers may reject the product despite nutritional benefits.

Texture analysis is critical throughout R&D and quality control to ensure product reformulations maintain desirable texture and mouthfeel:

• Measure firmness, stickiness, crispiness, springiness, and more
• Compare fortified formulations to “gold standard” traditional products
• Optimise ingredient types and processing parameters with objective data

Our Texture Analysers support multiple testing modes – compression, tension, extrusion, bending, cutting – to suit any product category and measure their physical or textural properties e.g. firmness, stickiness, crispiness and springiness, to name but a few..

Tools and testing solutions

• Choose from a range of Texture Analysers scaled to your product needs
• Select from a wide array of specialist probes and attachments like Ottawa Cells for cereal crispness, bending rigs for biscuits, and back extrusion for yoghurt texture
• Applications span bakery, snacks, and dairy industries

There have been countless publications of research into the use of fortification using Texture Analysers, in both academic and industrial settings. Some examples of the most recent research are listed below.

Fortification research in the bakery and snack industries

• Sweet corn cob as a functional ingredient in bakery products
• The Effect of Moringa oleifera Leaf Powder on the Physical Quality, Nutritional Composition and Consumer Acceptability of White and Brown Breads (PDF)
• Effect of Taro Enrichment on Physicochemical and Textural Properties of Cake
• Development of a healthy cookie to promote toddlers’ brain development: Brainy Bites
• Protein enrichment of wheat bread with the marine green microalgae Tetraselmis chuii
• Effect of psyllium fiber addition on the quality of Arabic flatbread (Pita) produced in a commercial bakery

Fortification research in the dairy industry

• Yogucheeses – Yoghurts fortified with melted cheese: Microstructural, textural and rheological characterisation
• Value addition to ice cream by fortification with okara and probiotic
• Yoghurt fortification by the addition of microencapsulated stripped weakfish protein hydrolysate
• Green coffee polyphenols in formulations of functional yoghurt and their quality attributes
• Textural characteristics and sensory evaluation of yoghurt fortified with pectin extracted from steeped hawthorn wine pomace
• Effects of mulberry pomace on physicochemical and textural properties of stirred-type flavored yoghurt

To stay competitive, manufacturers must meet consumer taste and texture expectations while delivering enhanced nutrition. Rapid, reliable texture testing is essential for:

• Informing reformulation decisions
• Ensuring consistent batch quality
• Accelerating product innovation

Discover texture testing for low-fat, salt, and sugar formulations on our Low-in foods page