The 57th ”AG Schokoladentechnologie der Industrievereinigung für Lebensmitteltechnologie und Verpackung (IVLV)” conference gave attendees many new insights into the different areas of chocolate manufacture. The presentations on the topics of chocolate bloom, flavour and measuring techniques repeatedly kicked off intense discussions in the auditorium.
By Alfons Strohmaier
Under the new title “Future Days”, the 57th meeting of the IVLV chocolate technology workgroup was held with 100 participants in Freising/Germany. Tobias Voigt, CEO of IVLV, expressed his happiness in his opening speech that the event could finally be held again in person after a two-year break. “Finally meeting people in person again in-stead of just communicating digitally” was also a special point for Oliver Stricker from August Storck KG and Marc Lutz from Migros Industrie AG. The two IVLV representatives were reconfirmed in their positions for another two years. Then, they did an expert job of guiding attendees through the programme containing many current findings and projects, as well as the latest research results and remaining open questions on the thematic complex of chocolate bloom, flavour, measuring technology and application. IVLV short projects were also presented, including the oleogels project (see article on page 32).
Along with current contributions such as the overview about different ZDS seminars provided by Christa Schuster-Salas in the chocolate bloom session and the examination on the topic of “Forced Storage Tests – When does the first chocolate bloom appear?” by Barbara Schütz from the Fraunhofer IVV, Dr Gottfried Ziegleder provided the biggest surprise with a new view of the importance of water in conching and flavour transfer. Dr Ziegleder worked in chocolate research at Fraunhofer IVV for more than 30 years. He began his presentation by saying: “But we never paid special attention to the influence of water on flavour formation”.
Steam has a variety of physical effects in this regard, including a carrier effect for the release of flavour, diffusion, desorption and much more. Accordingly then, can humidity, temperature, energy input and shearing forces, etc. possibly force the transfer of flavour in the conche, both with dark and whole milk chocolate? With this question, the “Grand Old Man” of chocolate research sought to open up a new perspective for more research projects.
Corresponding projects were presented during the conference by Isabell Rothkopf, Scientific Supervisor of the workgroup, and Yvonne Guckenbiehl from Fraunhofer IVV with the respective themes “Chocolate Humid – Water Content Determination in Chocolate Raw Materials and the Influence of this on the Flavour Output in Conching Dark Chocolate”, as well as “Chocolate Sorption: The Influence of Water Sorption on Flavour Transfer”.
The issue is ultimately also how the water content is influenced by different raw materials during chocolate production and how flavour development can be controlled by the specific selection of the conching parameters. As Yvonne Guckenbiehl demonstrated, this data could lead to the development of a model and software which could be applied both in the laboratory and in industrial dimensions. Romy Ries from the Technical University of Munich’s brewing and beverage technology faculty stressed that the data from individual machines and system parts could be even better in the future.
The faculty developed Weihenstephaner Standards (WS) that are already known worldwide throughout the brewing and food sector. Now, WS Sweets can currently provide future-security standards for efficient machinery integration in confectionery production.
Another important focus of the conference with numerous new approaches was the theme block of analysis, measuring technology and application. One of the many project ideas that were presented was “Hyperspectral Camera Measurement of Fat Migration”. As an IVLV project recommendation from the workgroups, this project will kick off with direct funding via IVLV resources in 2023. Using hyperspectral cameras makes it possible to depict chemical information in the form of images.
Other new technologies that generally also triggered intense discussion in the plenum included measurement via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Closed Cavity Rheometer (CCR). On this topic, Hilke Schacht from the Fraunhofer IVV compared the conventional methods for measuring oil mobility with the NMR technology, with some initial findings able to be made regarding different influence variables on the mobile fat. Quantification of the mobile fat is, however, not yet possible with the help of NMR, according to Hilke Schacht. This will require the further development of the methods in conjunction with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), particularly in regard to High-Field NMR.
Isabell Rothkopf researches the use of CCR as a potential method for the rheological characterization of highly viscous masses, in which there is a decisive advantage in CCR monitoring of the intermediary products in chocolate manufacture. This kind of oscillation rheology enables the assessment of two additional measurement parameters, the storage and loss modules, which both provide extra information on the structural character of the probe. The results on the effects of the individual process steps on the final rheological properties of the chocolate can be of great benefit in controlling and optimizing the process efficiently, and, above all, in the capacity to more accurately predict the quality of the final product.
Andrea Strube and Dr Andreas Grasskamp from Fraunhofer IVV portrayed how software-controlled concepts can support sensory work based on the principle of gas chromatographic olfactometry (GC-O). Whisky SOdA (Smart Odor Analytics) can now be used to automatically identify and assess whisky. SOdA is based on the exchange and consolidation of expertise as data material for additional analyses, and it represents the future of efficient flavour analysis.
In contrast, at the whisky tasting session during the evening event, it was all about the personal sensory skills and taste preferences of those in attendance. In any case, the tasting session with the whisky and flavour expert Helen Haug from IVV certainly perked things up at the event, and the guests’ unanimous view was that this should also continue to be a part of the future conferences.
The next “IVLV Future Days” conference will be held in Freising again on 27 and 28 June 2023.
