Automated image analysis method for oil-release test of lipid-based materials

Fabio Valoppi,Petri Lassila,Ari Salmi,Edward Haeggström

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2021.101447

Abstract

We present an automated method to determine oil release from lipid-based materials. Oil-release tests can provide information regarding the ability to retain oil within the structuring network of lipid-based materials. This test provides a first insight into the stability of these materials and their possible applications in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products. The method presented features a simple setup comprising a camera that automatically captures images of the evolution of the oil stain released from lipid-based materials placed on a filter paper. Image postprocessing is performed with two custom-made scripts developed for the freeware application ImageJ. The scripts allow direct calculation of the oil-stain area from all images stored in a folder returning as output numerical values in a table. This method was shown to be:•inexpensive, as the employed tools and equipment are available in most laboratories both in academia and industry,•self-running, as the method automatically captures images at predefined time intervals for a certain time span,•practical, as manual-image analysis is unnecessary (200 images can be automatically analyzed in 3 min).

Highlights

Lipid-based materials (LBM), such as mixtures of structuring molecules and oils are widely used in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products
We developed an automated analysis based on image analysis for determining oil release on filter paper
We used a simple setup featuring a tripod with an opening on top and a camera that captures images at regular intervals of the growing oil stain that migrates from the LBM to the filter paper

Summary

Introduction

Lipid-based materials (LBM), such as mixtures of structuring molecules (including solid fats, emulsifiers, carbohydrates) and oils are widely used in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products. We developed an automated analysis based on image analysis for determining oil release on filter paper. We used a simple setup featuring a tripod with an opening on top and a camera that captures images at regular intervals of the growing oil stain that migrates from the LBM to the filter paper.

Results

Conclusion