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Viscosity in Food & Beverage Industries

The impact of viscosity on mouthfeel

What makes a food or beverage, good?

The global food and beverage market is vast and competitive; success depends on getting the product experience right every time. Consumers form opinions instantly, guided by smell, taste, and especially texture. To win and keep loyalty, recipes, formulations, and manufacturing processes must deliver the same enjoyable mouthfeel and performance regardless of where or when the product is purchased. Texture and flow behavior aren’t subjective guesses—they can be defined, measured, and optimized through rheology and specifically viscosity.

Why does viscosity matter?

Viscosity is a critical parameter because it directly dictates consumer sensory experience, ensuring that products like honey, yogurt, or sauces have the exact "mouthfeel," thickness, and pourability customers expect. 

What Parameters Impact Electrospinning?

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Solution Viscosity Icon Solution Viscosity
Solution Viscosity
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Evaporation Icons Solvent Volatility
Solvent Volatility
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Solution Conductivity Solution Conductivity
Solution Conductivity
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Solution Concentration & Molecular Weight Concentration & Molecular Weight
Concentration & Molecular Weight
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Beyond texture, it is essential for manufacturing efficiency and consistency, as it determines how easily a liquid can be pumped through factory pipelines, how well containers are filled, and whether ingredients remain properly blended or separate over time.
Many food products exhibit non-Newtonian behavior, meaning their viscosity changes under applied stress. Identifying this behavior early is essential before scaling to production or selecting packaging, as non-Newtonian formulations may interact unpredictably with pumps, fillers, nozzles, or containers. 
Understanding viscosity behavior upfront helps prevent processing issues and ensures consistent performance from manufacturing through consumption.

Viscosity testing helps with:

Liquid pouring from bottle
Delivery
Packaging and equipment compatibility, ensuring products flow and dispense as intended.
Stress Tests -time-temp-shear
Stress Testing

Stress evaluation across time, temperature, and shear, reflecting real processing, transport, and use conditions.
grocery bag or ingredients
Changes
Assessment of formulation and ingredient changes, allowing teams to detect and control impacts on texture, stability, and performance before launch.

Taste is Impacted by Viscosity

One of the first parts of taste is mouthfeel. The texture of your food can be impacted by the process of mastication, changing viscosity as chewing and swallowing progress.

This change of texture can be measured through extensional viscosity.

 

 

Learn More
Mouthfeel Diagram

Find non-Newtonian Behavior

Many food products display non-Newtonian behaviors when pushed. 

This graph shows the difference in viscosity between both milk and yogurt at different temperatures when measured at a variety of shear rates. You can see in the data that, while whole milk maintains Newtonian behavior, yogurt displays non-Newtonian behavior.

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The Milky Way, Viscosity of Dairy Products Fig 2

Why VROC for Food & Beverage Measurements?

Food and beverage products are an incredibly varied category, so any measurement tools must be flexible and provide multiple measurement types.

RheoSense viscometers offers an advanced solution improving data quality and productivity for any samples.

  • One system to test a variety of parameters
  • Intrinsic viscosity & Extensional viscosity
  • Can handle Newtonian and non-Newtonian sample types 
  • Quick, accurate results 
  • Built-in and fast temperature control 
  • High shear capabilities
  • Wide viscosity range 
  • Closed system (no evaporation) 
  • Easy to use 

Fast Actionable Data

Accurate data provides actionable information for faster adjustments during R&D or for batch testing prior to manufacturing. 

The graph to the right shows the change in viscosity of guar gum solution with increasing shear rates during a sweep.

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viscosity as a function of shear guar gum solution

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