Meat replacer? No thanks! The clash between naturalness and processing: An explorative study of the perception of plant-based foods

A shift towards a plant-based diet is desired to promote sustainability, improve health, and minimize animal suffering. However, many consumers are not willing to make such a transition, because of attachment to meat and unwillingness to change habits. The present work explored the perception of Norwegian and French consumers' attitudes, barriers and opportunities to increase the likelihood of a shift in diet. Three creative focus groups (CFGs), using interactive tasks such as photo-collage, projective mapping, story completion and third person technique, were run with omnivorous adult consumers in each country. CFGs gathers undirected feedback, providing less biased responses than other exploration methods, related to e.g. social norms. In both countries, results were in general lines comparable. Nutritional knowledge was low regarding vegetable proteins; familiar sources of protein were mostly animal. There is a strong gap between respondents’ desired behaviour (balancing nutrition, eating less meat) and their actual behaviour: meat is very important, and the menu is often organized around it. Consumers are curious about vegetable sources of protein, but major constraints were hedonics in France, and convenience in Norway. The main barrier to a shift in diet is the lack of knowledge on how to prepare plant-based meals. Many participants find a conflict between health & sustainability in industrial products, perceiving them as highly processed and suggesting that meat replacers might not be a straightforward way to drive omnivorous consumers to shift to a more plant-based diet.publishedVersio

Effect of sugar and acid composition, aroma release and assessment conditions on aroma enhancement by taste in model wines

Context: When congruent taste and retronasal aroma are perceived simultaneously, aroma can be enhanced by taste. Different explanations have been proposed: (i) physico-chemical interactions between tastants and aroma compounds, inducing a change of the aroma stimulus before it reaches the receptors, (ii) a contextual bias during sensory tests (dumping), when at least one relevant attribute is not proposed to the panelists to assess a product, (iii) a misunderstanding of the conceptual difference between aroma and taste, or (iv) a perceptual incapability of panelists to distinguish between two congruent percepts. This study was undertaken to better understand aroma enhancement by taste in model wines containing different sugar and acid concentrations but the same volatile composition. Method: We used a twofold approach: model wine retronasal aroma intensity was assessed twice by trained panelists. During the first session, panelists only assessed aroma intensity. During the second session, taste intensity was assessed before aroma intensity, to reduce dumping effects. In-mouth release of volatile compounds was measured by nosespace analysis with the same panelists. Results: Acid concentration influenced aroma compounds release, but it did not impact perceived aroma intensity. Increasing sugar concentration delayed ethyl octanoate (EO) release after swallowing. When taste was not assessed, perceived aroma intensity was not explained by aroma compounds release, but it increased with sugar concentration, probably because of a dumping effect. When taste was assessed, aroma intensity also depended on sugar concentration, but it was significantly correlated to the time of release of EO. Our hypothesis is that when taste declined, late aroma was more easily individualized, and thus assessed with a higher intensity. This entails that panelists focused on aroma to individualize it from taste. We concluded that trained panelists understand the conceptual difference between taste and aroma, but are not completely able to distinguish congruent and simultaneous taste and aroma percepts

Conocimiento y percepción de los consumidores europeos sobre el logotipo ecológico

El logotipo ecológico de la Unión Europea (UE) ayuda a identificar de forma fácil e inequívoca los productos ecológicos. Con el fin de estimular su uso y su reconocimiento, se identificaron tres segmentos de consumidores europeos. Uno de esos segmentos mostró un escaso conocimiento y una peor percepción de dicho logotipo y es por ese motivo que debería ser el objetivo principal de las futuras campañas de comunicación y promoción.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Protéines végétales, ces mal-aimées: Communiqué de presse publié le 6 novembre 2019 sur le site inra.fr

Dossier de presse "Les racines d’une alimentation durable : quand les protéines végétales s’invitent à table" à télécharger sur le site INRA.Dans une autre expérience, les chercheurs de l’Inra ont demandé à 120 participants adultes d’imaginer des repas à partir d’images de différents produits. Ils devaient ainsi proposer un menu pour diverses occasions : un repas à la maison, un repas au restaurant, un repas chic, un repas pour un invité végétarien... Les scientifiques ont alors remarqué que la viande était le premier produit alimentaire choisi, ce qui indique que la construction du repas par des consommateurs non-végétariens se fait autour de cet aliment. Le choix le plus commun était l’association viande, féculents, légumes. Les légumes secs étaient très rarement choisis et lorsqu’ils l’étaient, c’était le plus souvent associé avec de la viande. À l’aide d’un questionnaire, il a été possible de connaître les raisons de ce peu d’enthousiasme : les légumes secs ne sont pas appréciés, les consommateurs les trouvent difficiles à préparer, ou les considèrent comme des aliments pour végétariens... La plupart des consommateurs étaient conscients de leurs bénéfices santé mais cette connaissance ne suffisait pas à influencer leurs choix. Pourtant, tout n’est pas si noir pour les légumes secs. Les chercheurs ont révélé que les consommateurs de moins de quarante ans choisissaient plus souvent haricots rouges, lentilles et pois chiches que leurs aînés. Ces légumes secs semblent avoir une meilleure image parmi les jeunes. Si ces consommateurs ne s’imaginent que très rarement en train de préparer des légumes secs à la maison, ils ne les excluent pas complètement lorsqu’il s’agit d’aller au restaurant ou d’un déjeuner à la cafétéria. Voilà quelques leviers pour remettre les légumineuses au goût du jour..

Emballage bois et contact alimentaire. Nature du bois et humidité, deux facteurs influençant la migration de composés du bois vers l’aliment

International audienceLa migration de composés volatils à partir de différents matériaux d’emballage (bois, verre) vers un aliment modèle (gels d’agar- agar) en contact direct a été étudiée. Les transferts des composés volatils issus du Pin maritime brut et du Peuplier brut, à deux taux d’humidité (20% et 40%), vers l’aliment modèle ont été comparés. Le verre, en tant que matériau inerte, a été choisi comme témoin. La diffusion la plus importante a été relevée pour le Pin à 40% d’humidité. En revanche, concernant le Peuplier, le taux d’humidité n’influence pas la diffusion de composés volatils vers l’aliment modèle. Les tests sensoriels réalisés sur les gels ont permis de distinguer ceux mis en contact avec le Pin (20 et 40% d’humidité) et le Peuplier à 40% d’humidité. En revanche, l’odeur des gels en contact avec le verre ou le Pin à 20% d’humidité n’a pu être distinguée

Influence of aroma compounds on large deformation properties of starch-based systems during aging

International audienceThe effect of aroma compounds on the texture of gelled aqueous corn starch systems was studied by uniaxial compression during aging for 18 days. Three different types of behavior were observed, depending on the nature of the added aroma compound. Isoamyl acetate did not modify the measured parameters, compared with nonflavored products. Linalool, known for its ability to form inclusion complexes with amylose, modified the parameters which are usually considered to be governed by the rearrangement of amylose chains. Ethyl hexanoate modified the parameters depending mostly on amylopectin. These results suggest that the nature of the aroma compound may play a major role in interactions with starch. These interactions can be different from inclusion complexes involving amylose chains only, the latter being widely described by different authors

La valise du chercheur : les légumes secs autour du monde. La Nuit européenne des chercheurs

Produit destiné au grand public : débats science et sociét

Tests descriptifs traditionnels

International audienc