Texture analysis of milk protein acid gels by image digital analysis from conventional inverted and confocal microscopy

COSTA, JUAN PABLO; CASTELLINI, HORACIO; RISSO, PATRICIA; RIQUELME, BIBIANA

BIOINFORMATICS 2011 - Proceedings of International Conference on Bioinformatics Models, Methods and Algorithms

The Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication (INSTICC)

Año: 2011 p. 322 - 325

Q4 según Scimago a la fecha de publicaciónSodium caseinate (NaCAS) is a very useful ingredient in food industry because of its nutritional and functional properties. Acidification produces a gel structure as a result of the dissociation and aggregation of caseinic fractions. Formation of this protein gels can be made by the slow reduction of pH, by the addition of glucono-delta-lactone (GDL). Depending on its concentration and temperature, hydrolysis speed of GDL can affect the grade of hardness and elasticity of the formed gel. This study evaluated the effect onthe formation and structure of protein gels induced by different relations of GDL through digital analysis of images obtained in an inverted conventional microscope and a confocal microscope. The entropy, softness and variance decrease with the added GDL quantity, but the uniformity increase. Results confirm that texture depends on gelification speed, which is directly related to the amount of added GDL. This image digital analysis technique using a conventional microscopy is, therefore, suitable and very useful for the texture analysis of acid gels formed by different GDL/NaCAS rates.