Quantitative analysis of gelato powders using near infrared diffuse reflectance spettroscopy

The products from gelato industry can be synthesized in different type of pastes and mixed powders. Powder mixing is an important process step in the manufacture of gelato products. In order to characterize, optimize and control the mixing process of the powders ingredients, the mixture composition must be monitored. The objective of this experiment is to carry out a method for a quantitative monitoring of powder mixtures compositions using FT-Near Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy. Diffuse reflectance FT-NIR spectroscopy, conduced by means of integrating sphere, appeared to be able to discriminate mixed powders in function of their composition, emerging as a major technique for the mix composition analysis in gelato ingredients industry. This results can be the starting point to improve the application of FT-NIR in the quality control and in the research & development of gelato ingredient industry.