Rapidly Analyzing Fat Content Throughout the Chocolate Manufacturing Process

Introduction

The production of chocolate, from cocoa bean to final product, requires many steps and is subject to strict quality control. The one common feature of each step is the need for accurate fat analysis. The fat profile of chocolate has the greatest influence on its quality, determining texture, stability, spreadability, and mouthfeel. Both cocoa butter and milk fat are the main sources of fat used by manufactures to achieve ideal properties. With cocoa butter being the highest cost raw material for production, it is imperative to tightly control fat content. Fat content is also an important parameter to measure as a way of ensuring optimal tempering, cooling, and formulation, confirming machinery is working properly, and aiding in avoiding fat bloom.

The ORACLE^TM is a rapid time domain NMR (TD-NMR) instrument incorporating proprietary technology that allows for direct determination of fat in any food sample. Unlike other rapid techniques, the ORACLE is able to completely isolate the detection of fat in complex matrices, eliminating the need for calibration. To achieve both rapid moisture/solids and fat testing, the ORACLE can be coupled with a SMART 6^TM moisture/solids analyzer.

To demonstrate the ability of the SMART 6 and ORACLE to accurately and reliably determine the fat and moisture content throughout the chocolate manufacturing process, an assortment of five samples were obtained and analyzed.