Texture testing

Terms commonly used across different food sectors to describe food attributes include hardness, tenderness, firmness, cohesiveness, springiness, stickiness etc.

The particular methods employed to measure the textural properties of foods can differ significantly from one food group to another, so it is important to select the best method to obtain the most successful accurate food texture measurements.

Animal feed and pet foods plus cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals may also be tested for physical properties correlating to sensory terms: richness, oiliness, greasiness, etc.

The same principles apply to measure their texture, but often with less well-defined texture terms than foods, which have longer established analysis of their texture definitions based on sensory feel in the mouth as opposed to on the skin.