Effect of high pressure homogenization (HPH) on the rheological properties of tomato juice: Time-dependent and steady-state shear Original Research Article

High pressure homogenization (HPH) is a non-thermal technology that has been widely studied as a partial or total substitute for the thermal processing of food. Although microbial inactivation has been widely studied, there are only a few works in the literature reporting the physicochemical changes caused in fruit products due to HPH, especially those regarding the rheological properties. The present work evaluated the effect of HPH (up to 150 MPa) on the time-dependent and steady-state shear rheological properties of tomato juice. HPH reduced the mean particle diameter and particle size distribution (PSD), and increased its consistency and thixotropy. The rheological results were in accordance with the PSD observed. The rheological properties of the juice were evaluated by the Herschel–Bulkley and Falguera–Ibarz models (steady-state shear) and Figoni–Shoemaker and Weltman models (time-dependent). The parameters of these equations were modelled as a function of the homogenization pressure. The models obtained described the experimental values well, and contributed to future studies on product and process development.