Abstract
Ice cream is a multiphase frozen dessert that often melts during distribution and upon consumption. The meltdown phenomenon is one of the concerns in the quality preservation of ice cream for consumer convenience in the frozen food industry. In this context, X-ray tomography was used to visualise and quantify 3D ice crystal and air bubble evolution during the meltdown of ice cream. Two ice cream products, namely I and II, with varying air volume fractions, were evaluated for this study. The results indicated a small mean diameter of 66.43 ± 2.07µm at 0min and decreased to 45.74 ± 3.92µm during 10min of the meltdown of ice cream II. A large mean diameter of ice crystals of 75.02 ± 3.14µm was found in ice cream I, at 0min that decreased significantly (p < 0.05) to 54.30 ± 2.63µm during 10min of the meltdown. The air bubbles were also observed to decrease in mean diameter. The 3D datasets on the ice crystals and air bubbles described in this work provide more insight into the 3D microstructural evolution during the meltdown and are useful in controlling the sensory quality attributes of ice cream desserts.
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