Latest Articles (2022)

Broers-Godschalk, L., Sala, G., Scholten, E., Meat analogues Meat analogues: relating structure to texture and sensory perception, Foods, 2022, 11, 2227

Jarray, A., Feichtinger, A., Scholten, E. Linking intermolecular interactions and rheological behaviour in capillary suspensions, Journal of colloids and interface science, 2022, 627, 415-426.

Lyu, Z., Sala, G., Scholten, E., Water distribution in maize starch-pea protein gels as determined by a novel laser scanning microscopy image analysis method and its effect on structural and mechanical properties of composite gels, Food Hydrocolloids, 2022, 133, 107942.

Rudge, RE.D. Rudge, Scholten, E., Dijksman, J.A, A matter of morphology: The role of asperity characteristics in hydrogel friction, Tribology International, 2022, 107694.

Feichtinger, A., Groot Nibbelink, D., Poppe, S, Bozzo, L, Landman, J, Scholten, E. Protein oleogels prepared by solvent transfer method with varying protein sources, Food Hydrocolloids, 2022, 132, 107821.

Ji, L., Zhang, H.., Cornacchia, L., Sala, G., Scholten, E. Effect of gelatinization and swelling degree on the lubrication behavior of starch suspensions. Carbohydrate polymers, 2022, 291, 119523.

Ji, L., van Wijngaarden, C., Verbeek, G., Cornacchia, L., Sala, G., Scholten, E., Lubrication properties of model dairy beverages: effect of the characteristics of protein dispersions and emulsions. Food Research International, 2022, 157, 111209.

Arita-Merino, N., te Nijenhuis, L., van Valenberg, H., Scholten, E., Multiple phase transitions and microstructural rearrangements shape milk fat crystal networks. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2022, 607, 1050-1060.

Fuhrmann, P., Breunig, S., Sala, G., Sagis, L., Stieger, M., Scholten, E. Rheological behavior of attractive emulsions with tuneable droplet-droplet interactions, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2022, 607, 389-400.

Research area

Food systems are often mixtures of ingredients and should therefore be considered as complex mixtures or complex composites. Foods consist often of a combination of different food structures, like gels, foams and emulsions. The food structures can be created by mixing water, fat/oil and air with food ingredients like proteins, polysaccharides and other bio-based molecules. The interactions between these ingredients determine the assembly of these ingredients (collection of ingredients) into larger building blocks and determine which food structures (emulsion, foam, gel) can be created. These structures then determine the textural features of foods, such as the fracture properties, melting, spreading behavior, elestricity, etc. These textural features will change during food consumption, and at the end determine at the end the sensory perception of those products. To provide knowledge to design new food applications, an understanding of complex composites is therefore desirable.

Main Questions:
- How can we control textural parameters of food by controllng building blocks at different length scales (including protein, fats, and polysaccharides)
- How can we measure textural parameters of food, especially those related to complex textural and sensorial attributes. (including rheology, tribology, XRD, and microscopic techniques)

Overall topics:

• Network formation in gels (both aqueous and oil continuous) 
• Rheological and fracture behavior of gels (both aqueous and oil continuous)   
• Composite foods
• Lubrication / Tribology
• Fat reduction  
• Gastronomy

Involved in courses:

• Food Ingredient Functionality (FCH-30306)
• Advanced Molecular Gastronomy (FPH-31306)
• Product and Process Design (FQD-60312)

Available MSc and BSc projects

• Oil structuring with proteins (Annika Feichtinger)
• Fat and sugar reduction in ice cream (Qi Wang and Xiangyu Liu)
• Tribology of nutritional beverages (Lei Ji)
• Tribology of "soft" systems (Raisa Rudge)
• Crystallization of fat (Naomi Arita)
• Development of vegan cheese (Zhihong Lyu)
• Structure of Halloumi cheese (Bo Yuan)
• Effect of milk composition on properties of cheese (Huifang Cai)

For additional projects within the Food Physics Group see the web-site or contact Elke Scholten (elke.scholten@wur.nl) for more information