Viscoelastic properties of tomato juice

Abstract

Tomato is one of the most important vegetables for the food industry. Rheological characterization of tomato products is important for products, equipments and unit operations design and evaluation. It is necessary for process optimization and high quality products assurance. However, the works in literature present variable data, and some rheological characterization, as viscoelastic properties are still scarce. The present work has evaluated the viscoelastic properties of tomato juice, as well as the applicability of the Cox-Merz rule. The obtained data are potentially useful for future studies on food properties and process design.