Rheological behavior of biopolymer suspensions

Fluid foods are often composite materials of fluid and solid constituents and their rheological behavior originates from the combination of the individual components’ rheological response, in addition to effects resulting from interactions between these constituents. The spatial distribution and orientation of suspended particles, as well as the morphology of composed systems are strongly dependent on the rheological properties of the components. On the other hand, rheological properties are also affected by these factors, in an interdependent manner. Analysis of food materials’ rheology focuses on the interaction between its constituents, which might exhibit complex rheological responses, and the influence of processing on the food structure and its properties. Knowledge of rheological properties help elucidating the phenomena observed and structural changes occurring along processing operations. These data are also required to define constitutive equations needed for designing equipments and processes. Rheological analysis may be an important tool to establish relationships between structure, formulation, processing, and design (Carreau et al. 1999; Fischer et al. 2009). The relevance of evaluating rheological properties of food biopolymer suspensions may also be attributed to the possibility of using them as a tool for improving quality control in the food industry and the possibility of correlating sensorial analysis with more objective and reproducible rheological tests (Fischer and Windhab 2011).