A size exclusion HPLC method for evaluating the individual impacts of sugars and organic acids on beverage global taste by means of calculated dose-over-threshold values

In this work, the main organic acids (citric, malic and ascorbic acids) and sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) present in commercial fruit beverages (fruit carbonated soft-drinks, fruit nectars and fruit juices) were determined. A novel size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography isocratic green method, with ultraviolet and refractive index detectors coupled in series, was developed. This methodology enabled the simultaneous quantification of sugars and organic acids without any sample pre-treatment, even when peak interferences occurred. The method was in-house validated, showing a good linearity (R > 0.999), adequate detection and quantification limits (20 and 280 mg L−1, respectively), satisfactory instrumental and method precisions (relative standard deviations lower than 6%) and acceptable method accuracy (relative error lower than 5%). Sugars and organic acids profiles were used to calculate dose-over-threshold values, aiming to evaluate their individual sensory impact on beverage global taste perception. The results demonstrated that sucrose, fructose, ascorbic acid, citric acid and malic acid have the greater individual sensory impact in the overall taste of a specific beverage. Furthermore, although organic acids were present in lower concentrations than sugars, their taste influence was significant and, in some cases, higher than the sugars’ contribution towards the global sensory perception

Evaluation of Fresh-market Potential of Arkansas-grown Fruit: Blackberries, Peaches, Table Grapes, and Muscadine Grapes

Fresh-market produce is a major component of commercial market sales. However, shelf-life of fresh-market produce is limited, so evaluating postharvest potential (time from harvest to consumption) is critical. Fresh-market fruit can be impacted by many factors that deteriorate the quality of the fruit. Understanding the postharvest physiology of fruit can lead to better handling and storage conditions for extended shelf life and enhanced quality for the consumer. This research project was a collaborative effort within the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture between the Food Science and Horticulture Departments to evaluate the fresh-market potential of Arkansas-grown fruit. Physiochemical and marketability attributes of fresh-market blackberries, peaches/nectarines, table grapes, and muscadine grapes were evaluated at harvest and during postharvest storage. Additionally, the peaches/nectarines and muscadine grapes were evaluated by a descriptive sensory panel at harvest. Genotype played a critical role in the fresh-market fruit evaluated in this study. Storage day and storage temperature also had an impact on postharvest quality of the nine fresh-market blackberry genotypes evaluated, but harvest time had minimal impact. Blackberries stored at a lower temperature (2 °C) retained marketable attributes longer than fruit stored at 10 °C. Descriptive sensory analysis of harvest attributes of nine peach/nectarine genotypes were correlated to many physiochemical attributes. The peaches/nectarines had strong fresh-market potential after 21 d storage at 2 °C. The table grape production method (four high tunnel grown cultivars and six traditionally-grown genotypes) did not impact physiochemical attributes, but had a greater impact on marketability attributes. Grapes grown in the high tunnel had more marketable berries and longer shelf life. Descriptive sensory analysis of six muscadine grape genotypes described appearance and basic taste attributes and correlated to many physiochemical attributes. The six muscadine grape genotypes had good retention of composition and marketability attributes indicating potential for fresh-market after 21 d storage at 2 °C. The fresh-market attributes evaluated for these fruits will assist in fruit breeding efforts at the University of Arkansas, as well as provide insight into the commercial potential for growers for these advanced selections and cultivars

Combine nicely, consume wisely : The role of single food properties in oral processing behavior, intake and sensory perception of composite foods

Consumers frequently combine two or more single foods within one bite; for example bread with spread or vegetables with dressing. Such food pairings are called composite foods. This research investigates the effects of food properties on oral processing behavior, intake and sensory perception of composite foods. Results show that eating behavior of composite foods can be modified by relatively small changes in single food properties. In addition, sensory perception of composite foods is complex, as interactions between foods in mouth imply significant changes in sensory perception. Consequently, consumer sensitivity to discriminate between foods is reduced when a food is assessed together with an accompanying food. This thesis provides new insights into how structural transitions of foods contribute to intake and perception of composite foods. This is of particular interest in the design of healthy or environmentally friendly foods, in which assuring excellent sensory quality still poses a challenge

Encouraging vegetable intake in children : the role of parental strategies, cognitive development and properties of food

Background Despite the health benefits, children’s fruit and vegetable intake is below that recommended. This thesis focuses on the role of parental strategies, children’s cognitive development and properties of food in order to develop new approaches to increase fruit and vegetable preferences and intake in 4 to 12-year-old children. Methods First, we conducted a qualitative study (N=28) with three age groups representing different cognitive developmental stages, and a parental survey study (N=242). These studies indicated that texture was more important for 4-5-year-old children’s food preferences than for 11-12-year olds and that the parental strategy of ‘Choice’ was positively related to both children’s fruit and vegetable intake. Subsequently, in three intervention studies, the focus was on vegetables only, because previous approaches have been less effective for vegetable intake than for fruit intake. We investigated three approaches for their effectiveness in increasing children’s vegetable acceptance: 1. Varying the preparation method (4-12y; N=94): Carrots and French beans were prepared in six ways: mashed, boiled, steamed, grilled, stir-fried and deep-fried. 2. Flavour-nutrient learning (7-8y; N=19): During a 14-day learning period, vegetable flavours were combined with energy (maltodextrin) or without energy in a drink. 3. Choice-offering (4-6y; N=303): Children had no choice, a choice before a meal, or a choice during a meal regarding which vegetable out of two they were going to eat. Results Varying the preparation method demonstrated that steamed and boiled were preferred over the other preparations (p liking were a uniform surface, the typical vegetable taste and crunchiness, whereas brown colouring and a granular texture negatively predicted liking. Due to insufficient consumption of the vegetable drinks (≈3 grams of 150 grams), flavour-nutrient learning could not take place. The pure vegetable taste was too intense. In the choice-offering study, the children appreciated a choice before the meal, but the three conditions did not differ for vegetable liking (p=0.43) or intake (≈52 gram; p=0.54). In the no-choice condition, high reactant children consumed less vegetables than low reactant children (Δ=28 grams; p=0.04). Conclusion To encourage children’s vegetable liking and intake, the following approaches may be most promising: 1) serve vegetables as crunchy as possible without brown colouring or a granular texture; 2) provide children with choice during vegetable eating; 3) stimulate a positive vegetable-eating context. Finally, serving vegetables in mixed dishes is a good way to facilitate flavour-flavour and flavournutrient learning, but the effectiveness of flavour-nutrient learning for increasing children’s vegetable acceptance needs to be determined in future research. <br/

Beef Flavor Audit

Consumer acceptability in meat flavor is one of the driving factors of consumer acceptability. Many factors have been found that affect beef flavor, but little is known about variability of major beef cuts in the retail meat case. In this study four beef cuts (chuck roast = 50, top sirloin steaks = 49, top loin steaks =50, and 80% lean ground beef = 50) were obtained from various retail stores in Miami, Los Angeles, Portland, New York, and Denver during a two-month period. No specific requirements such as quality grade, grain fed, or grass fed were used when purchasing cuts except ground beef was standardize to a 20 % fat level. A wide variety of samples that were from different production systems or contained claims that would be available to a customer during a shopping trip were documented. Two types of cooking methods were utilized; food service grill for top loin, top sirloin, and ground beef and oven roasting for chuck roast. Beef was cooked to an internal temperature of 71˚C. An expert, trained descriptive flavor and texture sensory panel evaluated beef flavor, aroma and texture attributes. Principal component and partial least square biplots were conducted to relate flavor attributes and aromatic volatile compounds. Ground beef was more intense (P < 0.0001) levels of beef flavor identity, brown, and roasted flavor aromatic and salt and umami basic tastes. Chuck roasts were closely associated with volatile compounds such as hexanal, 1- pentanol, 1-octen-3-ol, and 2-octenal, lipid degradation products. Top sirloin steaks were lowest (P< 0.0001) in fat- like flavor aromatics, and more intense (P< 0.0001) in burnt and cardboardy flavor aromatics and bitter and sour basic tastes. Top sirloin steaks and chuck roasts were more intense in metallic and liver-like (P< 0.0001) flavor aromatics. Top sirloin steaks were clustered near thiobis methane, ethyl ester acetic acid, and methyl ester butanoic acid. Top loin steaks were intermediate in flavor attributes, but possessed volatile products found from the Maillard reaction. Chuck roasts were closely associated with bloody/serumy flavor aromatics. Ground beef patties were clustered with fat-like, overall sweet, green hay, and buttery flavor aromatics. Top sirloin steaks were more highly associated with off-flavors, such as liver-like, cardboardy, and sour flavor aromatics. Top loin steaks were clustered with more positive attributes such as umami, beef flavor identity, brown, and roasted flavor aromatics. Therefore, flavor descriptive attributes of four beef cuts differed. Chuck roasts and top sirloin steaks were more closely associated with negative flavor attributes. Ground beef tended to contain more of the sweet, fatlike flavor attributes. Volatiles clustered around ground beef helped to explain the presence of green hay like flavor. Top loin steaks were associated with more positive beef flavor attributes

Postharvest Technologies of Fresh Citrus Fruit: Advances and Recent Developments for the Loss Reduction during Handling and Storage

Citrus spp. are spread mainly in the Mediterranean basin and represent the largest fruit source for human consumption. Postharvest losses, mainly due to diseases and metabolic disorders of fruits, can cause severe wastage, reaching 30 to 50% of the total production. Preserving quality and extending shelf life are essential objectives for postharvest technological innovation, determined by the proper handling, treatment, storage and transport of harvested produce. Moreover, the application of novel sustainable strategies is critical for the reduction of synthetic fungicide residues on fruit surfaces and the impact on the environment caused by waste disposal of fungicides. In this article, the current knowledge about the safest and more sustainable strategies, as well as advanced postharvest handling and storage technologies, will be critically reviewed

Ability, repeatability, and reproducibility of rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry to predict beef quality attributes

Includes bibliographical references.2022 Fall.Tenderness, juiciness, and flavor are beef quality attributes that influence consumer satisfaction eating beef. Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) is a novel technique that provides chemical information of biological tissues with the potential to predict beef quality attributes. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the ability of REIMS to predict quality attributes of beef (study I) and to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of REIMS in a beef matrix (study II). In study I, USDA Select or upper two-thirds Choice (n = 42, N=84) striploins and tenderloins were collected approximately 36h post-mortem from a commercial beef abattoir. Slivers of the longissimus dorsi muscle between the 12-13th rib were collected during grading (GR, 36h post-mortem) and analyzed using REIMS. Striploins (LM) and tenderloins (PM) were cut into portions and assigned to 6 aging periods (3, 14, 28, 42, 56, and 70 days). However, only samples aged 3, 14, and 28 days were used to represent industry practices in study I. After aging, portions were cut into 2.54-cm steaks to analyze juiciness, tenderness, and 10 flavor attributes with a trained sensory panel. In addition, tenderness measures were performed using slice shear force (SSF) and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBF). Samples were categorized by SSF, WBF, and sensory panel tenderness (PT) into "tough" and "tender"; by juiciness into "dry" and "juicy"; and by flavor into "acceptable" and "unacceptable" classes using a composite score of all flavor descriptors. Combinations of three dimensionality reduction methods (principal component analysis [PCA], feature selection, [FS], and a combination of both [PCA-FS]) with 13 machine learning algorithms were used to create classification models based on REIMS data for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor classes at the three aging periods. The predictive ability of the models was assessed with the overall accuracy resulting from 10-fold cross-validation. Among all machine learning algorithms evaluated, the maximum classification accuracies for days 3, 14, and 28 were 94, 87, and 83% for PT; 86, 85, 92% for SSF; 87, 82, and 95 for WBF; 85, 84, and 86% for juiciness; and 87, 89, and 81% for flavor classes, respectively. FS performed the best as a dimensionality reduction method for all PT, juiciness, flavor, and SSF on day 3 and WBF on days 3 and 14. PCA-FS was the best dimensionality reduction method for SSF on days 14 and 28, and WBF on day 28. Extreme gradient boosting machine learning algorithm was the highest performing algorithm for all juiciness models, flavor model on day 28, PT on days 3 and 14, SSF on days 14 and 28, and WBF on days 3. Partial least squared discriminant analysis (PLSDA) performed better for PT day 28 and flavor day 14, while elastic-net regularized generalized linear model, random forest, and support vector machine were the highest performing algorithms for SSF day 3, and WBF days 14 and 28, respectively. Results demonstrated that the chemical fingerprints obtained with REIMS could potentially be used as in situ and real-time technique to sort carcasses by flavor, juiciness, and tenderness. However, overlaps between classes affected REIMS results, and unbalanced data negatively affected model accuracies. Therefore, exploring the full potential of REIMS will require increasing the sample size and developing a sampling method that allows increased separation between sensory evaluations. Study II was performed with REIMS data from all LM and PM samples from the six aging periods (n=1008), two sets of GR samples (n=168, N=84), and quality control (QC) samples (n=29) made from homogenized ground beef. Except for the second set of GR samples, REIMS analysis of all samples was performed at Colorado State University (CSU) using a meat probe as the sampling device. Analysis of all samples was performed over 5 days, including two batches per day. GR samples were evaluated on the first day, and LM and PM data were randomly analyzed on the remaining days. QC samples were analyzed at the beginning, middle, and end of each batch. The second set of GR samples was analyzed at Texas Tech University (TTU) using different mass spectrometry (MS) instruments, technicians, and an iKnife as the sampling device. The stability of REIMS data between burns, batches, and days was evaluated with QC data. Day effect and robustness of REIMS data were evaluated with data from LM and PM samples, and interlab reproducibility was evaluated with data from GR samples. Multiple classification models of muscle type and aging were built with LM and PM data to evaluate the robustness of REIMS and day-to-day variability. Models to predict sensory attributes of beef were used to assess the robustness of REIMS with respect to interlab variability. Coefficients of variation (CV) between burns of the mass bins representing 90% of the total ion current were between 0.7 to 0.98, while the most relevant mass bins showed CV less than 0.3. Variances between batches and collection days were not significant (P < 0.05). PCA of LM and PM showed that data variability by collection day was stronger than muscle type and aging time variability. However, data could classify samples into muscle types and two distant aging times with accuracies higher than 95.6% and 91.0%, respectively. PCA of GR samples showed that data collected in both labs differed, and the predictive models developed with the CSU data did not appropriately predict the quality classes with the TTU data. REIMS collected with the meat probe provides a chemometric profile of beef samples with good repeatability and interday reproducibility but low interlab reproducibility. Consequently, optimization and standardization of sampling methods will be required to improve the interlab reproducibility of REIMS

Improving Osmo-convective Dehydration as a Processing Technique to Food Preservation, Quality Enhancement, and New Product Development

Improving Osmo-convective Dehydration as a Processing Technique to Food Preservation, Quality Enhancement, and New Product Development Felix Umaizimede Akharume This thesis is organized into five chapters. Chapter 1 contains a contains background information review of literature on osmo-convective drying of fruits, as well and nutrition, microbiology, and sensory attributes, Chapters 2 through 4 are three journal articles presented in the manuscript style. While chapter 2 is already published chapters 3 and 4 are prepared for submission to scientific journals. The chapter 2 addresses the use of apple juice concentrate as an alternative to the conventionally use of sugar solution in osmotic dehydration(OD) and convective drying of blueberries (fresh and frozen). OD was carried out at 50 °C, atmospheric pressure and 50 rpm. Follow up convective drying was set to 70 °C. Sugar gain, water loss, solid gain and OD yield were the parameters measured to compare the effect of these treatments. Additionally, desorption isotherm of fresh and frozen blueberries was measured to ascertain the role of freezing prior to OD and from these data the effective diffusion coefficient was estimated. The key points from the experiments reveal that fresh blueberries are not effective in OD. The use of apple juice experimentally did reflect a gain in solid, water loss and yield and as such can be used as an alternative. However, cost implication is not considered here.;Chapter 3, explored the use of sucrose with or without addition of food grade refined liquid smoke (RLS) in osmotic dehydration of apple cubes. Osmo-dehydration kinetics of solid gain, water loss, dry matter content, solid soluble content as well as effective diffusion coefficient of water loss or solid gain were measured or estimated. The methodology was similar to experiment reported in chapter 2 with slight modification, but detailed in this report. The results showed that sampled osmosed in sucrose solution with 1%w/w RLS significant recorded a higher solid gain water loss, dry matter, and solid soluble content. Again, average effective diffusion coefficient on water loss was the same for both samples, but average effective coefficient on solid gain was higher in samples osmosed in sugar solution without 1% w/w RLS.;Chapter 4 expanded on the methodology and data from chapter 3. Here dried apple slices were using experimental procedure described in chapter 3. The apple slices were analyzed for microbial growth, texture, and color quality to ascertain the effect of the addition of 1%w/w RLS on these sensory attributes. Results showed that dried apple slices pretreated in pure sugar solution retain the color of fruit better than untreated dried samples, while samples infused with RLS showed a characteristic brown coloration. Additionally, RLS infused dried apples showed the highest textural properties and control showed the lowest. In all samples, significant microbial reduction (below 5 log CFU/g) was recorded throughout storage period. However, RLS infused dried apples showed the highest microbial growth reduction and the control showed the lowest microbial growth reduction in a non-vacuum package.;The last chapter, chapter 5, summarizes the major finding in these studies and recommends area of future expansion. In addition, raw data and statistical analysis of experimental data are presented in the appendix

Physicochemical and Sensory Evaluation of Grain-Based Food

Consumers are increasingly demanding more sources of plant-based nutrition, and the food industry is responding by developing novel foods with grain-based ingredients. These products include dairy, egg and meat alternatives. Notably, in order for the production of these foods to be viable, the sustainability of the supply chain must improve and the product price must be lowered. Therefore, upcycling of grains by-products has been considered. However, the functionality and acceptability of functional foods made with upcycled ingredients from legumes and grains must be tested to ensure consumer compliance. This Special Issue of Foods aims to present the latest research on the physicochemical and sensory evaluation of plant-based alternatives to dairy, eggs and meat made with grains. Product categories include beverages, fermented beverages, dressings, bakery items and plant-based meats. Ingredients considered include, but are not limited to, protein concentrates and isolates, fibres, starches and enzymes. Particular emphasis will be given to potential applications of upcycled ingredients such as legume water (Aquafaba, Liluva), by-products of the starch industry (protein, fibre) and protein isolation (starches). Physicochemical evaluation encompasses determination of the functionality of ingredients (foaming, emulsifying and thickening), texture analysis, rheology (viscosity, pasting properties), thermal properties (thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry), water mobility (nuclear magnetic resonance) and image analysis. Sensory evaluation includes both trained panels and consumer preference