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Monitoring Yogurt Culture Fermentation And Predicting Fermentation Endpoint With Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Timothey P. Mains, Frederick Alan Payne, Michael P. Sama

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Determination of the endpoint of yogurt culture fermentation is a process parameter that could benefit from automation. The feasibility of using a fluorescence sensor technology based on 280 nm excitation and 350 nm emission to predict the endpoint of yogurt culture fermentation was investigated and compared with the endpoint prediction from a near-infrared (880 nm) light backscatter sensor. Yogurt cultures with three levels of milk solids (8%, 10%, and 12%) and three temperatures (40°C, 43°C, and 46°C) were tested with three replications in a 3 x 3 factorial design (n = 27). Prediction models were developed for each optical measurement …