Geometrical characteristics of food

Geometrical characteristics are related to the arrangement of the physical constituents of the food product such as size,, shape, orientation of particles within food and surface roughness.

Geometrical characteristics may include two general classes:
*Those related to size and shape of the particles such as gritty, grainy
*Those related to shape and orientation such fibrous and flaky

This classification system was developed in order to serve as the basis for sensory and instrumental measurements of food texture.

The first group can be scaled in the same manner as the mechanical characteristics. For example, chalky, gritty, grainy and coarse comprise a scale do increasing particles size.

Characteristics related to shape and orientation represent highly organized structure of different geometrical arrangements within each product.

Geometrical characteristics are perceived mainly by the tongue, mouth cavity, throat and on the hard palate. The dimensional shape of a food is important in packaging, filling by weight and heat processing.

Foods with regular geometry are best suited for high speed mechanical processes such as cleaning, peeling of skins, size reduction, sorting, grading, filling into containers, packaging and heat processing.
Geometrical characteristics of food