Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 905–911

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Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

The effect of thermosonication of milk on selected physicochemical

and microstructural properties of yoghurt gels during fermentation
Joerg Riener, Francesco Noci, Denis A. Cronin *, Desmond J. Morgan, James G. Lyng
UCD School of Agriculture Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, College of Life Sciences, UCD Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Yoghurt cultures (0.1, 1.5 and 3.5% fat) were prepared from milk which was preheated to 45 °C and sub-
Received 18 April 2008 jected to thermosonication (TS) for 10 min at an ultrasound amplitude of 24 kHz. Compared to conven-
Received in revised form 1 September 2008 tional yoghurts prepared from preheated (90 °C, 10 min) milk, cultures from TS milk at similar fat
Accepted 20 October 2008
contents had higher gelation pH values, greater viscosities and higher water holding capacities (WHC).
On average, yoghurts from TS treated milks with 1.5 or 3.5% fat had almost 2 fold greater WHC and
25% higher G’ values than conventionally produced yoghurt. Electron microscopy showed differences
Keywords:
in the microstructure, with TS yoghurt having a honeycomb like network and exhibiting a more porous
Yoghurt
Thermosonication
nature. These characteristics are absent in conventional yoghurts. In addition, the average particle size in
Viscosity TS yoghurts was smaller (<1 lm) than in conventional yoghurts.
Water holding capacity Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Syneresis
Microstructure

1. Introduction
To satisfy a growing consumer demand for high quality food, a
range of novel technologies have been examined in recent years to
assess their potential for the safe processing and preservation of
foods. One such technology, which could be of benefit in the manu-
facture of cultured milk products such as yoghurt, is ultrasonication,
since it offers the possibility of combining homogenisation and pas-
teurisation of milk in a single operation prior to inoculation with
starter culture. High intensity ultrasound (60.1 MHz, 10–
1000 W cm2) can be applied on its own, in combination with
moderate heat (thermosonication, TS) or combined with heat and
pressure (manothermosonication, MTS) (Mason, Riera, Vercet, & Lo-
pez-Buesa, 2005). Several review articles have been published
describing applications of ultrasound in the food industry including
its antimicrobial potential (Knorr, Zenker, Heinz, & Lee, 2004; Mason,
1999; Mason, Paniwnyk, & Lorimer, 1996; Piyasena, Mohareb, &
McKellar, 2003; Zenker, 2004). Quality improvements in dairy prod-
ucts by employing ultrasound for cleaning of equipment, homogeni-
sation of milk, inactivation of bacteria and enzymes etc were
reported by Villamiel, Van Hamersveld, and De Jong (1999). The
same group described the use of thermosonication to denature cer-
tain enzymes and whey proteins in milk (Villamiel & De Jong, 2000).
Yoghurt is a coagulated milk product obtained by lactic acid fer-
mentation, through the action of microorganisms. All yoghurt
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +353 1 7167709; fax: +353 1 7161147.
E-mail address: denis.cronin@ucd.ie (D.A. Cronin).
manufacturing uses the same basic procedure with the exception
of the fermentation step. There are two types of plain yoghurt,
one which is stirred after fermentation (stirred style) to produce
a semi-liquid consistency, while the other is not stirred and the
end product has a firm gel structure (set style).
Before the milk is inoculated with the starter culture fat glob-
ules are homogenised so as to enhance yoghurt consistency and
prevent serum separation in the final product (Tamime & Robin-
son, 1999). Flavour and a smooth textural consistency in the mouth
during consumption are key aspects of quality in yoghurt. Mouth-
feel and body in the texture in yoghurt gels result from a protein
network formed by casein strings and or clusters which entrap ser-
um and fat globules (Kalab, Allan-Wojtas, & Phipps-Todd, 1983).
Interactions between these components have been reviewed by
Lucey, Teo, Munro, and Singh (1998). To obtain good textural qual-
ity and stability in the commercial production of yoghurt a rela-
tively severe (eg. 90–95 °C for 10 min) pre-inoculation heat
treatment of milk, which will bring about fairly extensive denatur-
ation of whey proteins, is required (Parnell-Clunies, Kakuda, & De-
man, 1986). The potential of ultrasonication to further positively
influence textural and other physiochemical properties of yoghurt
gels has been described in two studies. Wu, Hulbert, and Mount
(2001) showed that compared to non-sonicated controls, yoghurts
prepared from milk subjected to high amplitude ultrasound treat-
ment had significantly improved water holding capacities, viscosi-
ties and reduced syneresis. Vercet, Oria, Marquina, Crelier, and
Lopez-Buesa (2002) found that yoghurts prepared from milk sub-
jected to mild thermosonication (MTS) had stronger structures that

0308-8146/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.10.037
906 J. Riener et al. / Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 905–911
were significantly different to conventionally processed yoghurt. In
both of the above studies the milk samples were subjected to a tra-
ditional thermal treatment (90–95 °C for 6–10 min) prior to soni-
cation, so the textural and other properties of both control and
sonicated yoghurt gels were obviously strongly influenced by the
extensive degree of protein denaturation occurring in the thermal
treatment. The objectives of the present study were two fold: (a) to
compare rheological and other physicochemical properties of yo-
ghurt prepared from conventionally heat treated milk, with yo-
ghurt obtained from thermosonicated milk which was not given
a traditional heat treatment prior to sonication and (b) to examine
the influence of fat content on the above properties in yoghurts
prepared from thermosonicated full, reduced fat and skim milks.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Milk supply
Freshly delivered pasteurised homogenised milk samples with
different fat contents were obtained from a local dairy processor
and processed on the same day. Compositional and other data on
these milks (measured as described in 2.4 and 2.5 below) are shown
in Table 1. A two stage homogenizer (150 bar first stage, 50 bar sec-
ond stage) was used to homogenize the milks giving a mean fat glob-
ule size of 0.4 lm (max. 2 lm for unhomogenised full cream milk)
and milks were pasteurised (72 °C, 15 s) within 12 h of collection.
2.2. Thermosonication
Thermosonication treatments were carried out using an ultra-
sonic processor (UP 400S, Hielscher, Germany) working at a con-
stant frequency of 24 kHz. The processor was fitted with an
ultrasonic probe (Horn H22D) which had a 22 mm diameter tip.
Milk samples (200 ml) of varying fat content were transferred to
a 250 ml beaker fitted with a recirculating water jacket and equil-
ibrated for 5 min at a temperature of 45 °C. The ultrasound probe
was immersed in the centre of the beaker to a depth of 30 mm.
Treatment time was 10 min of a continuous application of ultra-
sound with a power output of 400 W for milk samples. Milk tem-
perature increased to 72 °C over the first 6 min of sonication and
thereafter remained constant. After processing the sample was
cooled and stored at 4 °C for a maximum of 6 h prior to culturing.
2.3. Conventional heat treatment
For preparation of control yoghurts, milk samples with different
fat contents were heated to 90 °C, held for 10 min at this temper-
ature in a water bath and then cooled rapidly to 4 °C. The milks
were inoculated with starter culture within 6 h.
2.4. Yoghurt preparation
Aliquots of the processed milks (200 ml) were equilibrated at
40 °C and inoculated with 1 g of commercial yoghurt starter cul-
Table 1
Characteristics of milks used.
Fat content (%)
0.1 1.5
Total solids (%) 8 9.5
Protein content (%) 3.2 3.1
Fat (%) 0.1 1. 5
Ash (%) 0.8 0.8
Titratable acidity (%)a 0.12 0.12
a
Expressed as lactic acid.
ture (Yogotherm Yogurt Culture 77570, Abasia, St. Hyacinthe, Qué-
bec – Canada). The mixture was stirred for 2 min and then 16 ml of
the mixture was transferred to a rheometer. The remaining 184 ml
was heated separately in a water bath at 40 °C where pH change
was monitored.
2.5. Chemical analysis
The protein, fat, total solids, total acidity and ash content of the
milks were determined according to the association of official
analytical chemists (AOAC) methods (1995). The degree of protein
denaturation in conventionally heated and thermosonicated milks
was determined by measuring the non-casein nitrogen in 20 ml
aliquots of milk after precipitation of the casein fraction at pH
4.2 (IDF Method 29-1 (2004)).
2.6. Determination of size distribution of milk fat globules
Fat-globule size was determined by laser-light scattering using
a Malvern Mastersizer (Malvern Instruments Ltd., UK) fitted with a
small-volume presentation unit (MS1) and a 300RF lens. This al-
lowed the distribution of the fat globules in the range of 0.05–
800 lm diameter in milk to be determined. Laser alignment was
performed in mQ water. Each sample was measured by diluting
(1:1 vol.) with 35 mM EDTA/NaOH, pH 7.0 buffer, to dissociate
casein micelles and aggregates and then dispersing a small volume
in the sample unit containing 100 ml mQ water.
2.7. pH-measurement
The pH change during fermentation was recorded at 10 min
intervals at 40 °C using a pH meter (Model No 9450, Unicam Ltd.,
Cambridge, England). All pH measurements were performed in
triplicate.
2.8. Rheological measurements
Changes in the rheological properties during culturing were
monitored on a Bohlin GEMINI 200 HR NANO rheometer (Bohlin
Instruments UK, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England) using a
cup and bob geometry with a gap size of 15 mm. The cup and
bob were disinfected with ethanol (70% (v/v)) before inoculated
milk was added to the rheometer. An evaporation barrier was used
to prevent moisture loss during the experiment.
Initial measurements involved monitoring gelation as the milk
began to settle. The samples were oscillated at a frequency of
0.1 Hz at 30 °C. Measurements were taken at 10 min intervals for
7 h. Gelation was defined as the point at which the storage modu-
lus (G0 ) was P1 Pa (Lucey & Singh, 1997). After 7 h the effect of the
time scale of the applied strain on the rheological properties of the
set gel was determined by varying the frequency from 0.01 to
10 Hz at 40 °C. The effect of temperature on the rheological prop-
erties of selected samples of the set gels were determined by
reducing the temperature from 40 to 4 °C at a rate of 1 °C min1
while monitoring the rheological properties at approximately
1 °C intervals. The effect of the time scale of the applied strain on
the rheological properties of the set gel at 5 °C was determined
by varying the strain from 0.010 to 0.400.
3.5 2.9. Water holding capacity
11.6
3.0 To measure the water holding capacity (WHC) an adapted ver-
3.5 sion of the centrifuge method described by Parnell-Clunies et al.
0.8 (1986) was used. Samples (2  25 g) from each batch were
0.14
weighed in centrifuge tubes and incubated together at 40 °C, after
which the set gels were stored for two days at 4 °C. The tubes were
 J. Riener et al. / Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 905–911 907

centrifuged at 3000 g for 10 min at 4 °C. The whey was separated
from the pellets by decanting and the latter were then reweighed.
Weight of drained pellet
WHC ¼  100
weight of sample
2.10. Scanning electron microscopy
A Cryo-SEM (JEOL JSM-5410LV Scanning Microscope, JEOL
Instruments, Tokyo, Japan) was used to examine the microstruc-
ture of the yoghurts following preparation in a cryo system (Oxford
Instruments Cryo Preparation System CT 1500, Oxford Instru-
ments, Oxford, England). Specimens were transferred (under vac-
uum at 180 °C) to the cryo chamber. The samples were
sublimed at 85 °C, sputter-coated with gold (3 mA, 2 min) at
180 °C under an Argon rich atmosphere and then introduced to
the microscope chamber where they were examined using an
accelerating voltage of 15 kV, and a spot size of about 9 nm.
2.11. Statistical analysis
Data relating to yoghurt characteristics were analysed as a 2  3
factorial design with treatment and fat content as main factors. All
comparisons between the groups of data were performed using
Genstat (Version 8.1, VSN International, Hemel Hempstead, United
Kingdom). The level of significance was set at 95% and Sigmaplot
(Version 8.2 SYSTAT, Point Richmond, CA, USA) was used for the
graphical representation. All measurements were performed in
triplicate.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Particle size analysis
Although ultrasonication has been reported to inactivate en-
zymes and microorganisms, homogenisation is regarded by some
as the most promising application of this technology in dairy pro-
cessing (Villamiel et al., 1999). Since the main focus of the present
study was to compare physicochemical and microstructural prop-
erties of yoghurts prepared from conventionally heated and TS
treated milks, it was important to first evaluate the degree of par-
ticle size reduction achieved during thermosonication of a range of
milks of differing fat levels. Particle size data on the milk fat glob-
ules are presented in Table 2. Compared to the untreated product,
the fat globule size was unaffected in milk exposed to 90 °C heat
for 10 min, while the TS conditions used produced approximately
a 2.5 fold reduction in globule size, as 90% of the particles were
in the 0.5–0.6 lm diameter range for thermosonicated reduced
and full fat milks compared to 1.4 lm for the commercially
homogenised untreated milks. The globule size dimensions of the
TS samples were in fact quite close to those obtained by Ertugay,
Sengul, and Sengul (2004), who used the same equipment and pro-
cessing times with unhomogenised milk.
3.2. pH-development in cultures
As indicated in Table 3 pH development was somewhat differ-
ent in the cultured thermosonicated milks compared to their con-
ventionally processed counterparts. For the TS milks gelation pH
values of 5.7, 5.9 and 6.3 (mean, 5.96) for skim, reduced and full
fat milks respectively were significantly higher (P > 0.05) than
those of the conventional samples, where the respective values
were 5.3, 5.5 and 5.6 (mean, 5.46).
The data show that while fat level had only a minor effect on
gelation pH in conventionally heated milks, an increase in the gela-
tion pH values with increasing fat content was quite pronounced in
the case of the TS milks. The TS treatment would therefore appear
to have created a somewhat less favourable environment for the
active culture than preheating at 90 °C with the effect being ampli-
fied by the presence of increasing amounts of small (<1 lm) sized
fat particles. In contrast to the present study where thermal effects
on control and sonicated milks were quite different, as discussed
further below, other investigations have indicated variable effects
of sonication on fermentation in cases where both milks had re-
ceived the same relatively severe heat treatment. For example,
an inhibitory effect on culture activity was noted by Vercet et al.
(2002) who found that fermentation of MTS-treated milk took
10–20% longer than that of a control milk. By contrast, Wu et al.
(2001) found fermentation to be accelerated, especially at the later
stages of the process, when sonication was applied without heat
or pressure. Conventional heat treatment of milk for yoghurt

Table 2
Average fat globule diameters as determined using the Malvern Mastersizer.

Particle size (lm) representing specified % of fat globules Conventional fat content (%) Thermosonicated fat content (%) Treatment Fat content
0.1 1.5 3.5 0.1 1.5 3.5 SED Pa SED Pa
90% 0.7 1.4 1.4 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.15 * 0.15 *
50% 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.05 ** 0.05 *

SED: standard error of difference.

a
* and ** refer to P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively.

Table 3
Properties of yoghurts made from milk heated at 90 °C for 10 min or thermosonicated for 10 min at 45 °C.

Conventional fat content (%) Thermosonicated fat content (%) Treatment Fat content Treatment  fat content
0.1 1.5 3.5 0.1 1.5 3.5 SED Pc SED P P
Gelation timea (min) 194 189 194 189 187 189 1.0 NS 1.2 NS NS
Gelationa pH 5.3 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.9 6.3 0.06 * 0.07 * NS
Storage modulusb, G0 , (Pa) 228 230 423 317 385 564 20.1 * 24.6 ** NS
WHC (%) -d 42 42 46 76 89 4.2 ** 5.1 * NS

SED: standard error of difference.

a
Gelation time was defined as the point when gels had a G0 P 1 Pa.
b
G0 , value at 7 h.
c
* and ** refer to P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively.
d
Not measurable.
908 J. Riener et al. / Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 905–911

production leads to extensive denaturation of whey proteins and
can have complex effects on fermentation time. The process may
be either stimulated or inhibited depending on the time and tem-
perature conditions used in the pre-culture thermal treatment of
the milk (Tamime & Robinson, 1999). It is worth noting that US
and TS have been found to reduce fermentation time if applied
during the fermentation process, a phenomenon that has been
ascribed to stimulation of activity of fermentative enzymes
(Sakakibara, Wang, Ikeda, & Suzuki, 1994).
3.3. Rheological properties and microstructure
The rheological properties of the experimental yoghurt gels as a
function of time are shown in Fig. 1 and key gelation parameters
A 600
Storage Moduli, G',G'' [Pa]
are summarised in Table 3. Conventional and TS gels had similar
gelation times of approximately 190 min but, as previously dis-
cussed, the TS cultures had much higher gelation pH values for
both skim and fat containing milks. Further work is required to
establish the reasons for the latter, which could be due to the ef-
fects of TS on the activity of the culture, the buffering ability of
the milk protein system or a combination of both. In measuring
gel firmness the G0 versus time curves had similar shapes, with
an initial period where the G0 was low, then a period of rapid in-
crease followed by a plateau with few subsequent changes
(Fig. 1). Except for yoghurts from conventionally heated skim and
reduced fat milk, which displayed almost identical G0 values, the
latter increased as a function of fat content for all the yoghurt sam-
ples and were significantly higher (P < 0.01) for the TS compared to
the conventionally prepared yoghurts (Fig. 1, Table 3). Lucey
(2004) reported that heat treatments above about 75 °C markedly
increased G0 values and the gelation pH of yoghurt cultures relative
to those from unheated milk. Similarly, gels made from a reconsti-

tuted skim milk had a markedly lower G0 than gels prepared from
500
reconstituted skim powder treated 80 °C for 30 min (Lucey &
400 Singh, 1997).
While the thermal treatment of milk in the present study was
300 similar to that recommended industrially to give a good gel struc-
ture in conventional yoghurt production, it is of interest that the
200 less thermally severe TS treatment produced an even firmer struc-
ture in the resulting yoghurt. The reasons for this are not com-
100 pletely clear. Viscosity is a very important characteristic of
yoghurt and is directly related to its physical structure, which is
0 based on strings or clusters of casein micelles interacting physi-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 cally with each other and with denatured serum proteins entrap-
ping serum and fat globules (Lucey, 2004).
Time [min] While it is common commercial practice to supplement milk
with dairy solids in combination with suitable heat treatments
B 600 and homogenisation to obtain higher viscosity yoghurts, this strat-
egy was not used in the present study. The importance of extensive
Storage Moduli, G',G'' [Pa]

500 thermal denaturation of whey proteins for the attainment of a

good gel structure in conventional yoghurt production is well
400
established (Villamiel et al., 1999). However, a high level of dena-
turation of this type would not appear to be quite as important in
300
relation to the firmness of the TS derived yoghurt gels. In the skim,
200 reduced and full fat milk samples used in this study the level of
whey protein denaturation was 49.1, 49.3 and 52.2%, respectively
100 for the heat treated milk (90 °C, 10 min) while the corresponding
values for milk subjected to TS for 10 min at 400 W were much
0 lower at 26.0, 26.9 and 28.1%, respectively. It is therefore reason-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 able to suggest that the molecular interactions involved in forming
Time [min] and stabilising gel structures in yoghurt from TS treated milks are
somewhat different from those operating in conventionally heated
milk. The higher G0 value of the gels from the TS skim milks
C 600
(317 Pa) compared to their heat treated counterparts (228 Pa) indi-
Storage Moduli, G',G'' [Pa]

500 cated the presence of a significant effect of sonication on the phys-

ical properties of the milk proteins. It is possible that the treatment
400 was able to promote some dissociation of casein micelles into sub-
units which, during culturing, were able to form strong networks
300 by re-aggregating strongly with each other and possibly to some
degree with partially denatured whey proteins. Reinforcement of
200 the coagulated protein aggregates by association with the large
numbers of small (<1 lm) fat globules present in the yoghurts
100 from the TS treated fat containing milks is probably the main factor
responsible for the increased firmness of these products.
0 Differences in rheological properties and pH changes during fer-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
mentation strongly suggested different structural configurations
Time [min] within the gels. Therefore, the microstructure was investigated in
Fig. 1. Dynamic moduli storage, G0 (solid symbols) and loss, G00 (hollow symbols)
yoghurts made from 1.5% fat milk and the SEM micrographs are
for yoghurt during the culturing of conventionally heated (s/d) and thermosoni- presented in Fig. 2. The control yoghurt (A) appeared to have much
cated (4/N) milk with fat contents of 0.1% (A), 1.5% (B) and 3.5% (C). less branching and showed no honeycomb-like network. A dense,
 J. Riener et al. / Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 905–911 909

Fig. 2. Electron micrographs of yoghurts from conventionally (A) heated and (B) thermosonicated milk (1.5% fat). (Magnification: A1, B1  500; A2, B2  5000).

highly cross-linked network structure was apparent with a high le- A10000
vel of interconnections and few pores interspaced throughout the
Storage Modulus, G' [Pa]

structure. The average structural size was around 2 lm. By con-

trast, TS yoghurt (B) showed a honeycomb-like network and exhib-
1000
ited a lot of pores throughout the structure with an average
particle size less than 1 lm.
Final storage modulus G0 values as a function of frequency for
all yoghurts are represented in Fig. 3A. The frequency of the defor- 100
mation has an influence on the rheological properties of yoghurts
and through this provides information on the nature of the gel net-
work (Lee & Lucey, 2006). Logarithm plots of the G0 against fre-
quency produced straight lines with slopes of about 0.12 for all 10
yoghurts at 40 °C which is largely in agreement with the available
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
literature (Bikker, Anema, Li, & Hill, 2000; Lucey & Singh, 1997).
The plots of the frequency on a logarithm scale versus tan d were Frequency [Hz]
slightly curved with a local minimum at 0.3 Hz (Fig. 3B), which
was similar to observations by Bikker et al. (2000). These curves
suggest that the gel has a more viscous character at high and low B 0.28
frequencies and a more elastic character at intermediate 0.26
frequencies. 0.24
The changes of G0 as temperatures were slowly reduced from 40
0.22
to 4 °C were monitored (Fig. 4). In all samples, G0 increased slowly
tan δ

in an essentially linear manner with decreasing temperature until 0.20

around 12 °C when the slope increased rapidly for all yoghurts. At 0.18
4 °C the G0 values were approximately four times higher than those
0.16
at 40 °C.
The storage modulus G0 for the thermosonicated was consis- 0.14
tently lower than for the conventional yoghurts. Using milks 0.12
heated under a variety of conditions (Lucey, Teo, Munro, & Singh,
0.10
2000; Lucey, van Vliet, Grolle, Geurts, & Walstra, 1997a, 1997b)
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
it was found that the G0 of gels prepared by slow acidification of
the milks with d-gluconolactone increased as the temperature Frequency [Hz]
was reduced. It was also suggested that the casein particles might Fig. 3. The effect of frequency on (A) storage modulus (G0 ) and (B) loss tangent
well aggregate at lower temperatures, increasing the contact (tan d) of conventionally heated (hollow symbols) and thermosonicated (solid
surface between particles and thereby contributing to in an symbols) milk with fat contents of 0.1% (s/d), 1.5% (4/N) and 3.5% (}/).
910 J. Riener et al. / Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 905–911

as little as 66% of the energy required by the conventional process

A 2500
to obtain a similar product.
Storage Modulus, G' [Pa]

2000
4. Conclusions

1500 The present study showed clear differences in the measured

rheological and physicochemical properties of yoghurt cultures
1000 prepared from conventionally heated and TS milk. Set type yo-
ghurts manufactured from TS milk showed increased gel firmness
and viscosity as well as markedly improved WHC compared to con-
500 ventionally produced yoghurts. Hence, TS has the advantage of
improving the homogenisation of milk in a single unit operation,
0 and also the potential to facilitate the production of commercial
40 30 20 10 0 set type yoghurt in which supplementation with milk solids can
be substantially reduced.
Temperature [˚C]

Acknowledgement
B 0.28

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the

0.26
Non-Commissioned Food Research Measure, funded by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ireland.
0.24
tan δ

0.22 References

0.20
0.18
0.16
40 30 20 10
Temperature [˚C]
Fig. 4. The effect of temperature on (A) storage modulus (G0 ) and (B) loss tangent
(tan d) of conventionally heated (hollow symbols) and thermosonicated (solid
symbols) milk 0.1% (s/d), 1.5% (4/N) and 3.5% (}/) fat content.
increase in the firmness of the gel. Roefs and van Vliet (1990) also
reported an increase in the G0 of gels as the temperature was
decreased.
3.4. Water holding capacity
The results of the WHC measurements (Table 3) show substan-
tially different behaviour between yoghurts made from TS and
conventionally treated milk. For the latter, WHC was not measure-
able in yoghurt from skim milk while the same value (42%) was ob-
tained for both reduced and full-fat yoghurts. By contrast, even the
WHC value for the TS treated skim milk (46%) yoghurt was higher
(P < 0.001) than that of the reduced and full fat conventional sam-
ples. The WHC was strongly influenced by the fat content as it in-
creased to 76% and 89% for reduced and full-fat milk samples,
respectively. As Table 3 also shows, the increase in WHC with in-
crease in fat level in TS treated yoghurts is in agreement with
the changes in the storage modulus (G0 ) for yoghurts of increasing
fat content. It is likely that the types of protein–protein and pro-
tein–lipid interactions which have been postulated above to be
responsible for the increased firmness of TS over conventional yo-
ghurts, can also promote an enhanced binding of water within the
three dimensional network with a consequent beneficial effect on
WHC.
Finally, with regard to energy consumption, the power required
to heat 200 ml of milk conventionally from storage temperature
(4 °C) to 90 °C under ideal conditions is 0.100 kWh, while sonica-
tion needs only 0.067 kWh. This suggests that TS could consume
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International.
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723–732.
Ertugay, M. F., Sengul, M., & Sengul, M. (2004). Effect of ultrasound treatment on
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(reference method) (Vol. IDF 29–1). Brussels, Belgium: International Dairy
Federation, BRITISH STANDARD (p. 18).
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microstructure in set-style yoghurt-A review. Food Microstructure, 2, 51–66.
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