The effect of zinc on human taste perception

Zinc salts are added as a nutritional or functional ingredient in food and oral care products. The 1st experiment in this study investigated the taste and somatosensory effect of zinc salts (chloride, iodide, sulfate, bromide, acetate). The zinc salts had very little taste (bitter, salty, savory, sour, sweet), and the taste that was present was easily washed away with water rinses. The major oral quality of zinc was astringency, and the astringency lingered beyond expectoration. The 2nd experiment combined zinc salts with prototypical stimuli eliciting basic tastes. Zinc was a potent inhibitor of sweetness and bitterness (&gt;70% reduction in taste) but did not affect salt, savory, or sour taste.<br /

Effect of processing and storage on rheological properties of fortified milk and curd systems

Fortified milk systems were prepared by blending pasteurized standardized milk with skim milk powder, peanut flour or peanut protein isolate to 15, 18, 20, and 23% total solids followed by processing at 60°C and 80°C for 30min and storage at 4°C for 24h. Curds were prepared by the lactic fermentation of the processed milk systems. The rheological properties showed that all the systems exhibited pseudoplastic flow. The flow became less Newtonian with increasing total solids, heat treatment, and storage. Curd obtained from the fortified milk processed at 80°C showed increased yield stress and curd strength with the increasing concentration. Degree of heat treatment, total solids content and storage were shown to have a pronounced effect on the apparent viscosity, consistency index, and yield stress of the fortified milk systems

Perceptual characteristics of selected acidulants by different sensory and multivariate methods

The taste qualities of acidulants have not been studied in detail despite the fact that they are widely used by the food industry. Studies on characterizing the sensory properties of organic and inorganic acids are very limited. Reported studies are commonly on threshold, equi-sour and the time intensity values of sourness. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the sensory properties of selected acidulants by different sensory and multivariate methods. First, the technique of Free-Choice Profiling was applied in order to characterize the sensory profile of some selected acids (adipic, citric, fumaric, glucono-delta-lactone, hydrochloric, lactic, malic, phosphoric, quinic, succinic, tartaric, citric:fumaric, citric:malic and fumaric:malic) on a weight (0.08% w/v or v/v) basis. Results analyzed through Generalized Procrustes Analysis indicate that on a weight basis (w/v or v/v), acids differed in their flavor and taste dynamics. Likewise, acids were described differently by individual panelists. Second, the sourness power functions of the selected acidulants were generated from five molar concentrations by magnitude estimation involving 16 trained panelists. Equi-sour concentrations were determined by regressing the log of the rescaled response (sensory) on the log of the stimuli (physical). The calculated equi-sour levels ranged from 0.48 ml/L for HCl to 2.34 g/L for glucono-delta-lactone when citric add was set at 1.0 g/L. These theoretical equi-sourness were then tested by using an alternative sensory method, the directional difference from control test. Third, the sensory profile of the acidulants at their equi-sour levels was characterized using two sensory methods, free-choice profiling and the conventional descriptive analysis. The former was analyzed by Generalized Procrustes Analysis while the latter was analyzed by Principal Component Analysis. The two sensory methods gave similar patterns of information regarding the add samples. The similarities of several organic acids and their mixtures were very evident. Hydrochloric and phosphoric acids were astringent while succinic add was bitter and had a monosodium glutamate taste. It was concluded that adds had other sensory properties aside from sourness that must be considered in a given food application

Design and implementation for monitoring and control system in data center operations

This capstone project paper aims to investigate the challenges faced in managing IT operations in ABC Company, which specializes in providing integrated technology solutions to IT services corporations, particularly in the banking industry. The research design incorporates descriptive and developmental research methodologies, utilizing the agile development approach. The research instrument employed in this study is the production servers in ABC Company, which are monitored using the Zabbix Monitoring tool. Further, the proposed system incorporates an audit trail logging mechanism validated through unit, integration, and system tests. The results of the user acceptance tests demonstrate that the proposed system is highly functional, featuring a user-friendly interface design that is positively perceived by end-users. This proposed system will significantly address the limitations identified in the ABC Company, ensuring the security and integrity of its IT operations. Keywords: Audit trail system, IT operations, System testin