As a commonly used ingredient in baking, cooking, and daily application, the quality of margarine directly affects the taste and eating experience of food. The core to determine the quality of margarine lies in the microcosm of lotion - the droplet size distribution (DSD) of emulsion is a key indicator, which is directly related to the physical and chemical stability of the product, such as whether it is easy to delaminate and oxidize, and also affects the microbial safety, taste fineness, texture smoothness and other sensory characteristics. Therefore, accurate measurement of the drop size of margarine lotion is the top priority of the whole process of research, development, production and quality control of food enterprises. However, the limitations of traditional testing methods have made precise detection a pain point in the industry, and the emergence of low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology has provided a scientific solution to this problem.

Before the application of low field nuclear magnetic technology, the industry mostly relied on optical methods such as laser particle size analyzer to test the size of margarine lotion droplets, but these methods had obvious shortcomings in practical applications, which could not meet the needs of fine quality control.

Laser particle size analyzer is a commonly used tool, but it is necessary to perform oil phase dilution treatment on the margarine sample during detection. This process can easily destroy the original stable system of lotion, change the real particle size distribution of droplets, and lead to the disconnection between the test results and the actual state of the product; At the same time, the large amount of fat crystal particles present in margarine can strongly interfere with laser signals, making it difficult for instruments to accurately identify water droplets and greatly reducing the reliability of the final data.

Low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology, with its core advantages of "no need for dilution and non-destructive testing," avoids the shortcomings of traditional methods. Based on the relaxation characteristics of protons in different states, it can directly capture the real state of water droplets in the margarine lotion, accurately quantify the size distribution, and the detection results are more practical. At the same time, this technology can deeply empower the entire production process, playing a core role in process optimization, batch quality control, and storage monitoring, fully adapting to the actual needs of enterprises.

1. Process optimization: Quantitative verification, locking in the optimal production plan

The adjustment of process parameters such as vacuum pressure cycle in the production of margarine will directly affect the dispersion effect of aqueous droplets. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology can provide quantitative basis for process optimization by comparing droplet size data under different processes. Practice has proven that a reasonable pressurization process can significantly improve the uniformity of water phase dispersion - compared to the process without pressurization treatment, the optimized process can significantly reduce the average droplet size, make the distribution more concentrated, and improve the delicate taste and stable quality of margarine from the source, helping enterprises quickly lock in the optimal production parameters and avoid blind trial and error.

2. Batch quality control: precise monitoring, building a stable defense line for mass production

In industrial mass production, quality uniformity between batches is the core competitiveness of enterprises, and droplet size stability is the key to batch consistency. The detection accuracy and repeatability of low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology are extremely strong. When sampling and testing multiple batches of margarine on the same production line, the coefficient of variation of droplet size results can be controlled at a low level, which can timely capture small fluctuations such as temperature and stirring speed during the production process, ensuring the stable droplet state of each batch of products. On the other hand, traditional optical microscopy methods have a high coefficient of variation in detection, which makes it difficult to meet the precision quality control requirements of mass production and effectively avoid quality risks caused by batch differences.

3. Storage monitoring: dynamic tracking, predicting shelf life risks

During the storage process, the droplet size of margarine may gradually increase. If not monitored in a timely manner, it will significantly increase the risk of delamination and oxidation, and shorten the shelf life. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology can achieve non-destructive dynamic monitoring, regularly tracking changes in droplet size without damaging the product. Monitoring has found that adding appropriate stabilizers to margarine results in only slight fluctuations in droplet size during storage, and the emulsion structure is stable; However, if products are not added or added improperly, the droplet size will significantly increase and the risk of stratification will sharply rise. These data can provide reliable basis for enterprises to optimize formulas, scientifically set shelf life, and reduce quality loss in the storage process.

Compared with traditional laser particle size analyzers, low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology has two irreplaceable advantages in the testing of artificial butter droplets:

The first is "original ecological detection", which avoids the destruction of lotion system caused by the dilution process without diluting the sample, and retains the original state of the product to the greatest extent to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the detection results; The second is "strong anti-interference", which can effectively avoid the interference of fat crystal particles and directly measure the real droplet size inside the lotion. The data accuracy is far higher than that of traditional methods, providing a solid support for quality control.

With the continuous improvement of consumers' requirements for food quality, refined quality control of margarine has become an industry trend, and precise testing of droplet size is a key part of it. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance technology not only solves the pain points of "inaccurate and easily distorted" traditional methods, but also empowers the entire process from research and development to storage, shifting the quality control of margarine from "experience judgment" to "data-driven".