The present invention relates to a method of controlling, by open-loop or closed-loop control, the processing of a liquid food product, comprising the steps of providing data that are obtained from mathematical modeling of the dependency of the viscosity of liquid food products on the shear rate, measuring the viscosity of the liquid food product to be processed at a predetermined shear rate at a measuring point, and controlling, by open-loop or closed-loop control, the processing of the liquid food product at a working device downstream of the measuring point in response to the viscosity measured at the measuring point and on the basis of the provided data.