Visualizing and Quantifying Food Texture
Texture is a key factor in enjoying food—at times more important than color and even flavor—yet texture is an elusive element that is difficult to analyze. Here's how one company is striving to unravel texture's true nature.
Edited by EE Staff
Cool Stuff
Sep 8, 2026
Food
Texture is considered the core pillar of food quality because it dictates how food feels inside the mouth, which can change the perceived flavor. Texture also acts as a primary sign of freshness, and proper cooking, and effects our overall enjoyment of eating. Every food comes with its own sense of texture. No one wants to eat a mushy potato chip or a crispy Twinkie™. It can be said that texture is essential to the deliciousness of food.
Tsukishima Food Industries Co., Ltd is striving to scientifically unravel texture’s true nature. The company is a B2B food ingredients manufacturer that has been producing processed oil and fat products such as margarine and cream for over 50 years and was the first company in the food industry to introduce industrial X-ray CT equipment.
By scanning the entire food item, including its interior, and analyzing its structure using specialized software, the company has succeeded in visualizing and quantifying differences in texture and structure that could not be identified through conventional taste testing (sensory evaluation) or physical property assessment.
At the company’s research institute, food is evaluated and analyzed using a variety of analytical methods for product quality control and development. Until recently, the only way to observe the interior of food was to cut it open. Yet with soft foods, the internal structure collapses the moment it’s cut.
An electron microscope can reveal fine (microscopic) structures, there remained a challenge in understanding how specific features related to overall food properties such as texture. Mr. Mizobe, a technical expert at the company, has considered X-ray CT as a possible tool as he searched for technology capable of capturing the overall structure (macro) non-destructively and quantifying its characteristics. However, conventional X-ray CT systems required protective shielding to block the X-rays, which increased the equipment’s size and weight. These limitations meant restrictions on the size of samples that could be imaged, which proved to be a major obstacle to adoption. The turning point came when Shimadzu Corporation offered a machine where the weight and price were about a tenth of the equipment the company had previously considered. Moreover, the size of the samples that could be imaged had increased tenfold.
When Mr. Mizobe actually scanned a sample using the demonstration unit, he was astonished by its speed and clarity. “I had expected it would take between three and six minutes to capture an image with high precision, but I was able to obtain a very clear image in just about two minutes. I felt strongly that this would allow us to explain differences in texture.” The company decided on the purchase immediately.
3D Visualization
A factor that drove the decision to adopt the X-ray CT system was the availability of Hexagon’s VG STUDIOMAX software, which enables the three-dimensional visualization and analysis of scanned data. The software offers AI-enhanced to provide a number of industrial detection capabilities including multi-material and composite analysis, defect detection, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, and high-performance 3D visualization for quality assurance and manufacturing. Other uses include calculating fiber orientations, distribution tensors, and matrix statistics for reinforced materials. These capabilities were easily adjusted to the needs of the food industry and is what made advanced analysis of foods possible, when previously it had been impossible by visual inspection alone.
Mr. Fukuda from the institute emphasized the importance of ‘visual appeal’ in modern analysis, saying, “X-ray CT images possess a persuasive power perfectly suited to the needs of today’s era, where visuals are highly valued.”
During a recent development aimed at bringing a prototype closer to the target product (benchmark item)— even though sensory evaluation suggested it was close—there was a lack of decisive evidence to convince the client. After showing the client data from CT analysis of the internal cavity structure and quantified volume measurements, the client was surprised to be able to see so clearly. This ability to supplement sensory evaluation—which tended to rely on individual subjective judgement—with objective evidence in the form of ‘photographs and numerical data’ has become a major strength for the company.
Translating Instinct into Science
Tsukishima Food Industries’ strength lies not merely in selling ingredients, but in providing comprehensive support that extends to the customer’s manufacturing process. For example, when making choux pastry, they used CT scans to analyze how the timing and quantity of egg addition affected the volume. Images and numerical data revealed that the factors responsible for the puffing up of choux pastry—previously attributed to the artisan’s experience, actually stem from differences in the formation of air bubbles. “Being able to scientifically substantiate the transmission of these techniques is a major achievement,” says Mr. Mizobe.
Initially, they struggled with analyzing ‘food’—which has an uneven structure—and the process sometimes took up to three hours. However, by utilizing the training and technical support included in the premium support package for the image analysis software VGSTUDIO MAX and acquiring specialist operational know-how, they are now able to complete analyses in around 30 minutes. Furthermore, advancements in the software itself, such as the shape extraction function, have also contributed significantly to this increase in speed. “To fully harness the performance of the CT scanner, the use of VGSTUDIO MAX and the support services are indispensable,” says Mr. Mizobe.
The company is currently accelerating the accumulation of insights through CT analysis. As this data accumulates, the causal relationship regarding how to achieve the intended structure (texture) will gradually become apparent. This will lead to being able to dramatically reduce the needed number of trial-and-error prototyping iterations, leading to a significant improvement in product development speed. By converting aspects that previously relied on intuition into objective, quantitative data in the form of images and numerical values, the company is on the verge of enabling for more logical and rapid product development.
Research into the relationship between texture and structure is still in its pioneering stages, with many unknown areas remaining. Tsukishima Food Industries has acquired the scientific eye of X-ray CT to learn the true nature of food textures so that they can deliver greater experiences to the public.
*Lead image courtesy of Depositephotos.com.
For information: