The viscosities of hydrocolloids systems are affected by many factors and listed ten factors that cause variations in the viscosities of hydrophilic systems:
*Concentration
*Temperature
*Degree of dispersion
*Solvation
*Electrical charge
*Previous thermal treatment
*Previous mechanical treatment
*Presence or absence of other lyophilic colloids
*Age of the lyophilic sol
*Presnce do both electrolytes and non-electrolytes
Proteins are hydrocolloids, and in aqueous solution they exhibit pseudoplastic flow characteristics. Since true viscosity of a protein in food systems is difficult to determine, the term apparent viscosity, defined as shear stress divided by shear rate is commonly used to describe the flow behavior.
Viscosity of protein suspensions is important because it influences consistency and fluidity of liquid and semiliquid foods such as soups, spreads, muscle minces and meat batters.
Many vegetable products have high-viscosity components such as vegetable stew, beans in tomato sauce, and sauce with hydrocolloids - and therefore, require agitation to ensure better heat transfer and sterilization temperature at the center of the can.
Food viscosity
