Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

A fracture mechanics analysis of the texture of fried potato crust

Kelly A. Ross 1, Martin G. Scanlon *

Department of Food Science, The University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada
Received 4 October 2002; received in revised form 12 June 2003; accepted 24 June 2003

Abstract
Texture is critical to french fry quality. Because french fries possess a composite structure, textural optimization during pro-
cessing must focus on adjusting the texture of both the interior and the crust. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of fry
time on the mechanical properties of the fried potato crust. Slabs of processed potatoes were fried for varying lengths of time,
frozen, and thawed. Fracture stress, fracture strain, elastic modulus, and fracture toughness values were obtained from excised crust
specimens using a tensile test. Generally, elastic modulus increased as fry time increased while fracture strain and fracture toughness
decreased. Fracture stress and elastic modulus were in the range of 100 kN m
2 and 2 MN m
2 , respectively, while fracture strain
was low for a food material (2–7% strain). Two techniques were used to measure fracture toughness: a brittle fracture technique and
Andrews’ generalized fracture mechanics approach. Fracture toughness measured by the former technique was of the order of 10
J m
2 . As length of fry time increased the crust material changed from a ductile or pliant material to a more brittle material, in line
with reported sensory studies on the development of crispness during frying.
Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Mechanical properties; French fries; Potato processing; Elastic modulus; Texture; Frying; Fracture

1. Introduction the emergence of a market for coated french fry products

The potato is the world’s root and tuber crop grown in
the greatest quantities (FAO, 1999). Recent trends in the
worldwide consumption of potatoes show that frozen
french fries have contributed to enormous expansion of
international trade in this commodity (a 16-fold increase
between 1980 and 2001 (FAO, 2003)), and much of
Canada’s export production is being increasingly centred
in Manitoba. In Manitoba, french fry production con-
sumes nearly 80% of all potatoes grown in the province,
and, in 2001, they contributed $128 in export revenue for
every individual in the province (Manitoba Agriculture,
2003). In spite of their economic importance, the potato
processing industry has had difficulty in evaluating and
controlling one of the french fry’s most important
quality attributes––fry texture (Ross & Porter, 1971;
Singh, 2000). Fundamental characterizations of fry tex-
ture and crust properties are additionally motivated by
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-204-474-6480; fax: +1-204-474-
7630.
E-mail address: scanlon@cc.umanitoba.ca (M.G. Scanlon).
1
Present address: Department of Agricultural and Biological
Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2093, USA.
0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0260-8774(03)00274-7
(Friedman, Shinsato, & Kerfin, 1999).
The method of french fry texture evaluation is sen-
sory analyses, usually performed by experienced indus-
try personnel. However, sensory evaluation of a finished
product is labour intensive, and is considered by food
processors to be an inefficient means of texture evalua-
tion for quality assurance purposes (Finney, 1969;
Kamyab, Chakrabarti, & Williams, 1998; Ross & Por-
ter, 1969). In contrast, Mohsenin (1970) has advocated
objective fundamental engineering definitions of the
mechanical attributes associated with texture in food
products. These fundamental mechanical parameters
include fracture stress and strain, yield stress, elastic
modulus, Poisson’s ratio, coefficient of friction and
fracture toughness; Kamyab et al. (1998) particularly
emphasised toughness evaluations, although viscoelastic
parameters (Krokida, Oreopoulou, Maroulis, & Mari-
nos-Kouris, 2001; Lima & Singh, 2001b) are also of use
for food material characterization.
With regards to fracture toughness, a generalized
theory of fracture mechanics (Andrews, 1974) permits
measurement of fracture properties without the limiting
assumptions of linearity, elasticity and infinitesimal
strain (Holt & Schoorl, 1983): desirable attributes when
418 K.A. Ross, M.G. Scanlon / Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423
Nomenclature
c crack (notch) length (mm)
E elastic modulus (MN m
2 )

0 strain, measured at points remote from the
crack
Fc=w function relating crack length to specimen
width (geometric correction factor)
k1 dimensionless function of strain (or input
energy density)
Kc stress intensity factor in the critical case
(MN m
3=2 )
v Poisson’s ratio
r0 stress, measured at points remote from the
crack (kN m
2 )
determining the fracture properties of food materials,
since considerable inelastic deformation can occur dur-
ing fracture development (Fahloul & Scanlon, 1996).
The applicability of the generalized theory of fracture
mechanics to characterize failure in biological materials
has been demonstrated (Fahloul & Scanlon, 1996; Holt
& Schoorl, 1983; Scanlon, Sapirstein, & Fahloul, 2000).
Other researchers have used Gurney’s work area method
(Gurney & Hunt, 1967) to characterize fracture in bio-
logical materials (Dobraszczyk, 1994; Dobraszczyk,
Atkins, Jeronimidis, & Purslow, 1987; Purslow, 1985).
Gurney’s work area method makes the assumption that
any inelastic deformation associated with fracture is
confined to a small region contiguous with new crack
surface area. It discounts global energy losses, which are
included in the generalized fracture mechanics analysis
method. Linear elastic fracture mechanics techniques
(Williams, 1984) have also been used to study fracture in
biological specimens (Lucas, Choong, Tan, Turner, &
Berrick, 1991; Vincent, 1982). In this case, only linear
elastic deformations are assumed to operate.
This study was an investigation of the fracture
properties of the crust of fried potato. As stated by Lima
and Singh (2001a), there is a paucity of information on
the mechanical properties of this component of a very
popular processed food. Well defined measurements of
mechanical properties are especially important for en-
gineering modelling of the effect of given unit operations
on the texture of individual regions of the fry (Farkas,
Singh, & Rumsey, 1996; Pedreschi, Aguilera, & Pyle,
2001; Scanlon & Ross, 2000).
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Potatoes
Potatoes of the cultivar Russet Burbank were used as
the experimental material. The crop was obtained from
rf fracture stress (strength) (kN m
2 )
TB strain energy release rate (brittle fracture
toughness) (J m
2 )
TG apparent critical energy release rate (gener-
alized fracture toughness) (J m
2 )
w specimen width (mm)
W0 input energy density associated with un-
cracked specimen (J m
3 )
W0c input energy density when crack propagation
occurs (J m
3 )
a commercial crop grown on a site near Carberry,
Manitoba. Potatoes delivered from commercial storage
in January 1997 were stored at the Horticultural Storage
Research facility at the University of Manitoba. The
potatoes were held at 8  1 °C and at a minimum rela-
tive humidity of 90% until used for processing. Potato
processing was performed in May 1997 so that the total
average storage time of the raw potatoes prior to pro-
cessing was seven months.
2.2. Potato processing
All tubers were removed from storage just prior to
processing and were randomly assigned into one of five
groups processed according to fry times of 1, 2, 4, 7 or
10 min. Slices (slabs) of thickness 1 cm were sliced
lengthwise off potatoes from the stem end to the bud
end. These potato slabs were processed according to
procedures followed in the commercial potato process-
ing industry as described by Agblor and Scanlon (2000).
Immediately after blanching and drying the potato slabs
were placed in a wire frying basket and fried for the
specified length of time in a thermostat-controlled deep
fat fryer (Garland Model 80-03, Mississauga, ON) set at
185  2 °C. The frying oil was hydrogenated canola oil
with the trade name of Crisco Professional Frying Oil
(Procter and Gamble, Toronto, ON). The fried potato
slabs were placed on a metal tray in a single layer and
frozen. For freezing, the trays were placed in a walk-in
air freezer (Model WTD, Coldstream Refrigerator Mfg.
Ltd, Winnipeg, MB) at )20 °C. The freezer temperature
was set and maintained at )20 °C although temperature
fluctuations (if they occurred) were not recorded. The
fried potato slabs were placed close to a fan to simulate
conditions in a blast freezer (Agblor & Scanlon, 1998)
and frozen overnight before being transferred to pre-
labelled ziploc freezer bags and stored at )20 °C. All
 K.A. Ross, M.G. Scanlon / Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423
testing of mechanical properties took place within a
week of freezing.
2.3. Crust removal
The crusts of the potato slabs were removed by slicing
the frozen potato slabs with a Hobart slicer (Model 410,
Hobart Manufacturing Co., Cincinnati, OH). Crusts
were removed from the frozen potato slabs for two
reasons. The first reason was a practical one––slicing the
frozen potato slabs facilitated the procurement of crusts
with less potato core adhering to them. The second
reason was that this helped eliminate moisture migration
from core to crust. Each batch of potato slabs fried for a
certain fry time had a different crust thickness. The slicer
was calibrated for each fry time by initial trial and error
experiments in order to cut off a crust slice from the slab
with a minimum of inner core adhering to the crust.
Crust slices were placed on paper towels and stored in
plastic freezer bags to prevent moisture loss. Crust slices
were allowed to thaw for 10 min before being tested.
2.4. Crust specimen preparation
Specimens (length of 80 mm and width of 10 mm)
were excised from the crust slices so as to prevent in-
corporation of the pith in the specimen. The dimensions
were such that they complied with those recommended
by ASTM-E8-93 (ASTM, 1993). Specimen thickness
was dependent upon fry time, and was measured with a
set of digital calipers. For some specimens, single not-
ches (i.e., cracks) were cut into one side of the specimen
(as shown in Fahloul & Scanlon, 1996). Notch lengths
were 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 mm.
2.5. Mechanical testing
Fried crust specimens were tested in tension on a
Lloyd L1000 universal testing machine equipped with a
20N load cell (Lloyd Instruments Ltd, Fareham, En-
gland). A crosshead speed of 1 mm min
1 was used for
testing. All testing was performed at room temperature.
The specimens were attached to aluminum grips with
cyanoacrylate adhesive (Viachem, St. Laurent, PQ) and
allowed to set for 1 min before testing was performed.
Preliminary experiments were performed to determine
Table 1
Effect of frying time on the mechanical properties of the crust of processed and fried potato (means  standard deviation)
Fry time (min) Crust thickness (mm) Elastic modulus (MN m
2 )
1 0.69  0.03 1.61  0.97
2 0.79  0.23 2.05  0.30
4 1.21  0.11 1.75  0.30
7 1.48  0.43 2.69  1.60
10 1.98  0.27 3.72  1.05
419
the effect of gluing orientation by gluing the specimens
to the grips with either the core or the crust side. This
was performed in a completely random order and the
data recorded from the load–displacement curves (not
presented in this paper) indicated that gluing orientation
had no effect.
The experimental plan for generating the load–dis-
placement curves for this study was that each fry time
with a specific crack length was to be replicated five
times in completely random order. However, some
specimens tore at the grips. The data from these defec-
tive trials were discarded, and the same fry time/crack
length combination was retested. Therefore, more than
125 load–displacement curves were generated yet the
data in this study were obtained from 125 load–dis-
placement curves (i.e., data from the samples that did
not tear at the grips).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mechanical response of the fried potato crust
The original load–displacement curves were con-
verted into engineering stress (r0 )–strain (
0 ) curves.
Both stress and strain were measured from points re-
mote from the experimentally imposed crack, indicated
by the 0 subscript. The mechanical parameters of frac-
ture stress, fracture strain and elastic modulus were
obtained from the individual stress–strain curves for
each potato crust fried for varying times with no ex-
perimental cracks (i.e., c ¼ 0). The fracture stress and
fracture strain values were taken from the point on each
of the stress–strains curve where fracture was observed
to occur. For fry times of 4 min or longer, the generation
of a brittle fracture meant that the load declined pre-
cipitously. The elastic modulus values were obtained
from the initial linear elastic region of each of the stress–
strain curves. For some curves, an initial compliance
was apparent, and so the modulus was obtained on
average in the 1–4% strain level. Values for the me-
chanical properties are shown in Table 1, as well as crust
thicknesses. Although it is not possible to directly
compare values with those of other researchers (because
of different specimen preparation techniques and dif-
ferent testing methods), trends of increasing modulus
Fracture stress (kN m
2 ) Fracture strain
96.7  13.3 0.069  0.011
98.3  21.6 0.049  0.010
80.9  5.8 0.051  0.006
79.6  33.9 0.033  0.006
92.3  21.2 0.026  0.006
420 K.A. Ross, M.G. Scanlon / Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423

with increase in fry time concur with studies of Lima

and Singh (2001a, 2001b), and an increase in fracture
strength with fry time for the crust fried for the longer
times concurs with the studies of Lima and Singh
(2001a), Pedreschi et al. (2001) and Pinthus, Weinberg,
and Saguy (1995b). The growth of crust thickness with
frying time is corroborated by the work of Du Pont,
Kirby, and Smith (1992) and that of Rice and Gamble
(1989). In the latter study it was stated that the growth
of the crust corresponds to a major increase in oil con-
tent resulting from increased exposure to the frying
medium. The concomitant dessication of the cellular
assembly within the crust (Aguilera, Cadoche, L
opez, &
Gutierrez, 2001) would be expected to cause the
observed stiffening of the crust.

3.2. Fracture toughness of french fry crust

The mean stress–strain curves for the specimens

containing cracks of different lengths for the extremes of
fry times are shown in Fig. 1 to illustrate how crust
specimen compliance increased as cracks of increasing
length were cut into the specimens, as has been observed
for fresh potato tuber tissue (Fahloul & Scanlon, 1996).
Error bars for the c ¼ 0 curve at various strain incre-
ments have been calculated with a 95% confidence in-
terval (n ¼ 5); the error bars for curves with cracks in
them were considerably smaller. It should be noted that
each curve was terminated when the crack was observed
to propagate.
The fracture toughness of the crusts were evaluated
using two different techniques––the generalized fracture
mechanics theory (Andrews, 1974), which takes into
account all non-elastic work expended to propagate a
crack in the crust specimen, and a technique which as-
sumes that brittle fracture has occurred (Williams,
1984). The linear nature of the stress–strain curves in
Fig. 1, and the brittle behaviour of french fry crust at-
tests to the validity of using the latter approach in ad-
dition to the generalized fracture mechanics approach
which is appropriate for biological materials (Andrews,
1980; Holt & Schoorl, 1983).
3.2.1. Generalized fracture mechanics theory
The generalized fracture mechanics theory (Andrews,
1974) gives the following equation for fracture propa-
gation from an edge crack in a tensile specimen:
TG ¼ k1 ð
0 ÞcW0c
or alternatively:
TG ¼ k1 ðW0 ÞcW0c
The input energy density is associated with the un-
cracked specimen. Upon evaluation of k1 , the apparent
critical energy release rate (generalized fracture tough-
ness) may be obtained from the value, W0c , where crack
Fig. 1. Mean (n ¼ 5) stress–strain curves for processed and fried potato
crusts of (A) 1 min fry time, and (B) 10 min fry time, in which cracks
(c) of various lengths were cut into the specimens. Error bars for c ¼ 0
curves indicate 95% confidence intervals.
propagation occurs (Andrews & Bhatty, 1982; Fahloul
& Scanlon, 1996). Just as Fahloul and Scanlon (1996)
determined the function k1 as a function of the input
energy density (W0 ) from the mean stress–strain curves,
k1 was determined in the same manner for this study
(Ross, 1999).
After determining k1 ðW0 Þ, the critical energy release
rate for the crusts of each of the fry times was evaluated
from a rearrangement of Eq. (2) to plot k1 ðW0 ÞW0c versus
c
1 . A plot of k1 ðW0 ÞW0c against c
1 will give a straight
line with a slope equal to the apparent critical energy
ð1Þ release rate (TG ) providing the critical energy release rate
is constant and independent of c and W0 (Andrews &
Bhatty, 1982). Such a plot is shown in Fig. 2 for the
ð2Þ
three longer fry times (the ordinate values for the 1 and
2 min fry times were much larger, r2 ¼ 0:95 and 0.99,
respectively). The generalized fracture toughness values
of the fried potato crusts determined in this way are
given in the second column of Table 2.
 K.A. Ross, M.G. Scanlon / Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423 421

Fig. 2. Evaluation of the apparent critical energy release rate (gener- Fig. 3. Evaluation of the critical stress intensity factor for processed
alized fracture toughness) for processed and fried potato crusts of three and fried potato crusts of 2 and 7 min fry time from plots of the square
fry times from slopes of k1 ðW0 ÞW0c plotted against the reciprocal of of crust strength against a function of the reciprocal of crack length (c).
crack length (c). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.

Table 2
in Fig. 3 for crusts of 2 and 7 min fry time; r2 values
Comparison of the fracture toughness of processed and fried potato
crust using different methods of evaluation for all fry times ranged from 0.59 to 0.997.
In order to determine the fracture toughness values
Fry time (min) Fracture toughness (J m
2 )
from the critical stress intensity factors obtained from
Generalized fracture Brittle fracture these plots, a value for Poisson’s ratio is needed (Wil-
1 39.3 13.2 liams, 1984). Attempts to measure this on the 2 min fried
2 50.0 12.8 crust specimens were unsuccessful (experimental error
4 29.3 10.2 large, value of 0.55 obtained). To obtain a qualitative
7 35.3 6.5
10 21.3 6.1 estimate of Poisson’s ratio, microscopic examination of
the fry crust specimens was performed for specimens of
the 1, 2, and 7 min fry times. The hexagonal micro-
3.2.2. Assumption of brittle fracture structure of the cells in the crust was very similar to the
The fracture toughness for a linear elastic material is microstructure of cork cells taken perpendicular to the
given by the following equation, assuming that the state radial direction (Ross, 1999). Compression or tension of
of strain at the crack tip is that of plane strain: cork specimens taken from the non-radial direction gave
a Poisson’s ratio of 0.5 (Gibson, Easterling, & Ashby,
TB ¼ Kc2 ð1
v2 Þ=E ð3Þ 1981). It was therefore postulated that the Poisson’s
The stress intensity factor in the critical case, i.e., where ratio of the fried potato crust specimens, when subjec-
the crack propagates in a specimen of given crack length ted to tension, as in these experiments, would be 0.5.
can be related to the strength (or fracture stress) of the Since the elastic moduli and the critical stress inten-
fried crust by: sity factors of the fried potato crusts were experimen-
tally obtained, and the Poisson’s ratio was qualitatively
r2f ¼ Kc2 ð1=½cFc=w
2
Þ ð4Þ evaluated, the fracture toughness values could be ob-
tained from Eq. (3) (third column of Table 2). The
where Fc=w is a function relating crack length to the
fracture toughness values determined by both methods
width of the specimen (Vincent, 1982). This geometric
generally show similar trends: as fry time increased, the
correction factor for a single-edged notch in the speci-
fracture toughness decreased. It has been noted that at
men is given by (Hashemi & Williams, 1984):
longer frying times, more dehydration of the crust re-
Fc=w ¼ 1:99
0:41ðc=wÞ þ 18:7ðc=wÞ2
38:48ðc=wÞ3 gion occurs (Costa, Oliveira, Delaney, & Gekas, 1999;
4 Saguy & Pinthus, 1995), while its porosity increases
þ 53:85ðc=wÞ ð5Þ
(Pinthus, Weinberg, & Saguy, 1995a). Both these factors
By plotting the square of the fracture stress against the will decrease the energy required for fracture (Do-
product of the reciprocals of crack length and the geo- braszczyk, 1994). Interestingly, the brittle fracture ap-
metric correction factor squared, a straight line is gene- proach yielded fracture toughness values that were
rated of slope Kc2 (Vincent, 1982). These plots are shown about 2–5 times lower than those from the generalized
422 K.A. Ross, M.G. Scanlon / Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423
fracture mechanics approach. This indicated that the
fried potato crust was not completely brittle and that
some strain energy dissipation remote from the crack
surfaces had occurred. Therefore, any assignment of
solely linear elastic behaviour to the crust of a fried
potato would not be entirely justifiable, meriting as-
sessments of viscoelastic parameters for fried crusts
(Lima & Singh, 2001b). Nevertheless, the low values for
fracture toughness attest to the significance of fracture
in french fry texture (Du Pont et al., 1992; Ross &
Porter, 1968, 1971).
4. Conclusions
As frying time increased, elastic modulus of fried
potato crust increased while fracture strain and fracture
toughness decreased. The generalized fracture mechan-
ics approach yielded ‘‘fracture toughness’’ values 2–5
times larger than those from a brittle fracture approach.
Further study of fundamental mechanical properties of
processed potato products could serve to quantify tex-
tural changes that are technologically important to the
potato processing industry.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for
funding this work, to the Association of Universities
and Colleges of Canada for an Agriculture and Agri-
Food Canada scholarship, and to the Canadian Dairy
and Food Industries Supply Association for a Fred
Thompson Scholarship award. We also thank Midwest
Food Products Inc. for supplying us with commercially
grown tubers.
References
Agblor, A., & Scanlon, M. G. (1998). Effects of blanching conditions
on the mechanical properties of french fry strips. American Journal
of Potato Research, 75, 245–255.
Agblor, A., & Scanlon, M. G. (2000). Processing conditions influenc-
ing the physical properties of French fried potatoes. Potato
Research, 43, 163–178.
Aguilera, J. M., Cadoche, L., L
opez, C., & Gutierrez, G. (2001).
Microstructural changes of potato cells and starch granules heated
in oil. Food Research International, 34, 939–947.
Andrews, E. H. (1974). A generalized theory of fracture mechanics.
Journal of Materials Science, 9, 887–894.
Andrews, E. H. (1980). Fracture. In J. F. V. Vincent, & J. D. Currey
(Eds.), The mechanical properties of biological materials (34th
Symposium of the Society for Experimental Biology) (pp. 13–35).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Andrews, E. H., & Bhatty, J. I. (1982). Generalized fracture mechanics
of ductile steels. International Journal of Fracture, 20, 65–77.
ASTM (1993). Standard test methods for tension testing of metallic
materials. Annual book of ASTM standards (ASTM-E8-93, Vol.
03.01, pp. 130–149). Philadelphia: American Society for Testing
and Materials.
Costa, R. M., Oliveira, F. A. R., Delaney, O., & Gekas, V. (1999).
Analysis of the heat transfer coefficient during potato frying.
Journal of Food Engineering, 39, 293–299.
Dobraszczyk, B. J. (1994). Fracture mechanics of vitreous and mealy
wheat endosperm. Journal of Cereal Science, 19, 273–282.
Dobraszczyk, B. J., Atkins, A. G., Jeronimidis, G., & Purslow, P. P.
(1987). Fracture toughness of frozen meat. Meat Science, 21, 25–49.
Du Pont, M. S., Kirby, A. R., & Smith, A. C. (1992). Instrumental and
sensory tests of texture of cooked frozen french fries. International
Journal of Food Science and Technology, 27, 285–295.
Fahloul, D., & Scanlon, M. G. (1996). A fracture mechanics analysis
of the texture of potatoes. Journal of Texture Studies, 27, 545–557.
FAO (1999). FAO yearbook 1998 production: Vol. 52 (pp. 80–90).
Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
FAO (2003). FAOSTAT agriculture data. Available: http://apps.-
fao.org/page/collections. Accessed 8 June, 2003.
Farkas, B. E., Singh, R. P., & Rumsey, T. R. (1996). Modeling heat
and mass transfer in immersion frying. II, Model solution and
verification. Journal of Food Engineering, 29, 227–248.
Finney, E. E., Jr. (1969). Objective measurements for texture in foods.
Journal of Texture Studies, 1, 19–37.
Friedman, R., Shinsato, E., & Kerfin, R. (1999). Clear coat compo-
sition for potato products and method of making. US Patent,
5,928,693.
Gibson, L. J., Easterling, K. E., & Ashby, M. F. (1981). The structure
and mechanics of cork. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,
A, 377, 99–117.
Gurney, C., & Hunt, J. (1967). Quasi-static crack propagation.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, A, 299, 508–524.
Hashemi, S., & Williams, J. G. (1984). Size and loading mode effects in
fracture toughness testing of polymers. Journal of Materials
Science, 19, 3746–3759.
Holt, J. E., & Schoorl, D. (1983). Fracture in potatoes and apples.
Journal of Materials Science, 18, 2017–2028.
Kamyab, I., Chakrabarti, S., & Williams, J. G. (1998). Cutting cheese
with wire. Journal of Materials Science, 33, 2763–2770.
Krokida, M. K., Oreopoulou, V., Maroulis, Z. B., & Marinos-Kouris,
D. (2001). Viscoelastic behaviour of potato strips during deep fat
frying. Journal of Food Engineering, 48, 213–218.
Lima, I., & Singh, R. P. (2001a). Mechanical properties of a fried crust.
Journal of Texture Studies, 32, 31–40.
Lima, I., & Singh, R. P. (2001b). Viscoelastic behavior of fried potato
crust. Journal of Texture Studies, 32, 131–141.
Lucas, P. W., Choong, M. F., Tan, H. T. W., Turner, I. M., & Berrick,
A. J. (1991). The fracture toughness of the leaf of the dicotyledon
Calophyllum inophyllum L. (Guttiferae). Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society of London, B, 334, 95–106.
Manitoba Agriculture (2003). Manitoba potatoes & other vegetables:
industry profiles 2001, potato sector profile. Available: http://
www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/statistics/aac08s01.html. Accessed 8
June, 2003.
Mohsenin, N. N. (1970). Application of engineering techniques to
evaluation of texture of solid food materials. Journal of Texture
Studies, 1, 133–154.
Pedreschi, F., Aguilera, J. M., & Pyle, L. (2001). Textural character-
ization and kinetics of potato strips during frying. Journal of Food
Science, 66, 314–318.
Pinthus, E. J., Weinberg, P., & Saguy, I. S. (1995a). Oil uptake in deep
fat frying as affected by porosity. Journal of Food Science, 60, 767–
769.
Pinthus, E. J., Weinberg, P., & Saguy, I. S. (1995b). Deep-fat fried
potato product oil uptake as affected by crust physical properties.
Journal of Food Science, 60, 770–772.
 K.A. Ross, M.G. Scanlon / Journal of Food Engineering 62 (2004) 417–423
Purslow, P. P. (1985). The physical basis of meat texture: observations
on the fracture behaviour of cooked bovine M. semitendinosus.
Meat Science, 12, 39–60.
Rice, P., & Gamble, M. H. (1989). Modelling moisture loss during
potato slice frying. International Journal of Food Science and
Technology, 24, 183–187.
Ross, K. A. (1999). A fundamental mechanical analysis of the texture of
French fries. M.Sc. Thesis. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.
Ross, L. R., & Porter, W. L. (1968). Interpretation of multiple-peak
shear force curves obtained with french fried potatoes. American
Potato Journal, 45, 461–471.
Ross, L. R., & Porter, W. L. (1969). Objective measurements of french
fried potato quality. Laboratory techniques for research use.
American Potato Journal, 46, 192–201.
Ross, L. R., & Porter, W. L. (1971). Objective measurement of texture
variables in raw and processed french fried potatoes. American
Potato Journal, 48, 329–338.
423
Saguy, I. S., & Pinthus, E. J. (1995). Oil uptake during deep-fat frying:
factors and mechanism. Food Technology, 49(4), 142–145, 152.
Scanlon, M. G., & Ross, K. A. (2000). A mechanical model to
characterize crust development during french fry processing. In P.
Fischer, I. Marti, & E. J. Windhab (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd
international symposium on food rheology and structure (pp. 277–
282). Z€ urich: Laboratory of Food Process Engineering, ETH
Z€urich.
Scanlon, M. G., Sapirstein, H. D., & Fahloul, D. (2000). Mechanical
properties of bread crumb prepared from flours of different dough
strength. Journal of Cereal Science, 32, 235–243.
Singh, R. P. (2000). Moving boundaries in food engineering. Food
Technology, 54(2), 44–53.
Vincent, J. F. V. (1982). The mechanical design of grass. Journal of
Materials Science, 17, 856–860.
Williams, J. G. (1984). Fracture mechanics of polymers. Chichester:
Ellis Horwood.