Food Industry | Production of Fruit Yogurt | Measurement of Fruit Content in Yogurt

The fructose content of processed fruit naturally fluctuates depending on the variety and the state of ripeness. The composition of the fruit preparation can also change with longer storage. Process-related factors such as the changing of containers or stopping and restarting of the pumps can furthermore influence the mixing ratio of yogurt to fruit.

Whether the stirred yogurt contains the required fruit content must therefore be checked again before filling. Due to the lack of a spectroscopic model for fruit yogurt until now, the fruit content is traditionally determined via the refractive index (Brix). However, deriving the fruit content from the Brix value is not reliable and can lead to waste. This method is also very time-consuming, because the Brix value is not performed in the running process, but manually in the laboratory.              

To guarantee reliable, high quality and an optimal taste experience for its various types of fruit yogurt while at the same time ensuring cost-efficiency in production, the Freiburg-based dairy Schwarzwaldmilch analyzes the composition of its fruit yogurt again after adding the fruit preparation to the natural yogurt and before filling. Samples are taken at random from the final blend and the fruit content is determined in the test laboratory by determining the Brix value.

A more detailed description on how this application was realized using online measurement technology can be found in our detailed application report, which you can download from the info column at the top of the page.