Health and sensory motivations in the choice of four light food products for french consumers

International audienc

Influence of label and location of testing on acceptability of cream cheese varying in fat content

International audienc

Equivalence of Electron-Vibration Interaction and Charge-Induced Force Variations: A New O(1) Approach to an Old Problem

Calculating electron-vibration (vibronic) interaction constants is computationally expensive. For molecules containing N nuclei it involves solving the Schrödinger equation for Ο(3N) nuclear configurations in addition to the cost of determining the vibrational modes. We show that quantum vibronic interactions are proportional to the classical atomic forces induced when the total charge of the system is varied. This enables the calculation of vibronic interaction constants from O(1) solutions of the Schrödinger equation. We demonstrate that the O(1) approach produces numerically accurate results by calculating the vibronic interaction constants for several molecules. We investigate the role of molecular vibrations in the Mott transition in κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br

Genetic architecture of apple fruit quality traits following storage and implications for genetic improvement

Accurate prediction of genetic potential and response to selection in breeding requires knowledge of genetic parameters for important selection traits. Data from breeding trials can be used to obtain estimates of these parameters so that predictions are directly relevant to the improvement program. Here, a factor allocation diagram was developed to describe the sampling design used to assess the quality of fresh and post-storage (2 months) fruit from advanced selection trial in an apple breeding program from which models for analyses were developed. Genetic variation was the largest source of variation for the fruit size, red colour type, proportion of red skin colour and lenticels, and instrumentally assessed fruit diameter, mass, puncture force and titratable acidity. In contrast, residual variation was the largest for fruit shape, juiciness, sweetness, aromatic flavour, eating and overall quality, and instrumental crispness. Genetic effects for traits were generally stable over fixed effects, except for a significant interaction with storage duration for firmness. Genetic correlations among traits were generally weak except between fruit mass (and diameter) and sensory size (0.98), titratable acidity and sensory acidity (0.97), puncture force and sensory firmness (0.96–0.90), crispness and juiciness (0.87), sweetness and aromatic flavour (0.84) and instrumental and sensory crispness (0.75). Predictions of the performance for seven commercial cultivars are presented. This study suggests that the Washington State apple production area can be treated as a single target environment and sufficient diversity exists to generate new elite cultivars. In addition, options for evaluating the efficiency of apple breeding are discussed

Factors influencing sweet taste in apple

Sweet taste is a major determinant of apple fruit as driving a large part of consumer preferences. As a consequence, increase in sweetness is very frequently one of the targets in breeding programs and is a key parameter for evaluating apple quality. Its perception can be modulated by several factors, and it is important to understand the individual impact of each of them and the processes involved in order to interpret it better. This chapter reviews the studies of the past two decades dealing with apple and specifically its composition and the related sweet perception. It proposes an overview of the different aspects influencing sweet taste perception. First, global and sugar compositions of apple fruit are characterized followed by the definition of the principal relative methods of measurements. Then, a part is dedicated to the input brought by sensory analysis in apple sweet taste perception. Finally, the influences of volatile compounds and then texture on sweet taste perception are expose