Application of an inline particle size device to microgel particles during post-processing of fresh cheese

The aim was to apply a mechanical treatment to tempered fresh cheese and study the inline particle size by 3-fold dynamical optical reflectance measurement (3D ORM). Particle size measured in a beaker using 3D ORM correlated well with static laser light scattering (R2 = 0.8250). Differences may arise from different measuring principles and sample preparation. Consistently, particle size increased by tempering (45–54 °C, 1–300 min) due to particle rearrangement and decreased by shearing with a rotor/stator device (250–500 L h−1, 300–3000 rpm), which showed that shear conditions need to be adapted to the sample, e.g., amount, size, and voluminosity of particle clusters. An experimental set-up was constructed to analyse particle size using 3D ORM inline that correlated well with the beaker values (R2 = 0.9659). A proposed production line combines shearing and inline analysis and may enable manufacturers to adjust particle size and properties with shorter response time giving potential to reduce product losses.