Crunchmeter for the quality control and development of crunchy foods

A novel instrument has been developed that is capable of evaluating the crunchiness of food products such as cereals, waffles, snacks, noodles, sugar cubes, croutons, and more. Besides edible materials, it can also be applied to determine the "crunchiness" of other substances, such as biological and synthetic (e.g. packing) materials. The apparatus, which was described by "New Scientist" as an outstanding significant achievement, is based on the crushing of a test substance. The device can be attached to a conventional Universal Testing Machine, which is used to determine mechanical properties of semi-solid and solid foodstuffs as well as other materials. After the crushing has been performed, evaluation is carried out using an appropriate algorithm and a numerical result is obtained. The measurement is performed over a short time period and can be adapted to on-line use. Furthermore, an indication of the degree of humidity in the substance can be obtained.

A. Nussinovitch and E. Mey-Tal (1998). System for measuring the crispiness of material crunchmeter. U.S. patent #5,827,974.