Vibration-induced particle formation during yogurt fermentation-Effect of frequency and amplitude

Machinery such as pumps used for the commercial production of fermented milk products cause vibrations that can spread to the fermentation tanks. During fermentation, such vibrations can disturb the gelation of milk proteins by causing texture defects including lumpiness and syneresis. To study the effect of vibrations on yogurt structure systematically, an experimental setup was developed consisting of a vibration exciter to generate defined vibrational states and accelerometers for monitoring. During the fermentation of skim milk, vibrations (frequency sweep: 25 to 1,005 Hz) were introduced at different pH (5.7 to 5.1, step width 0.1 units) for 200 s. Physical properties of set gels (syneresis, firmness) and resultant stirred yogurts (visible particles, rheology, laser diffraction) were analyzed. Vibrational treatments at pH 5.5 to 5.2 increased syneresis, gel firmness, and the number of large particles (d > 0.9 mm); hence, this period was considered critical. The particle number increased from 34 ± 5 to 242 ± 16 particles per 100 g of yogurt due to vibrations at pH 5.4. In further experiments, yogurts were excited with fixed frequencies (30, 300, and 1,000 Hz). All treatments increased syneresis, firmness, and particle formation. As the strongest effect was observed by applying 30 Hz, the amplitude was set to vibration accelerations of a = 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 m/s² in the final experiments. The number of large particles was increased due to each treatment and a positive correlation with the amplitude was found. We concluded that vibrations during gelation increase the collision probability of aggregating milk proteins, resulting in a compressed set gel with syneresis. Resultant stirred yogurts exhibit large particles with a compact structure leading to a reduced water-holding capacity and product viscosity.