Sensory Perception of Saltiness and Bitterness in Oil-in-Water Emulsions

The objective of this research was to evaluate saltiness and bitterness perception in oil-in-water emulsion systems. For that purpose, three experiments were performed: A sensory threshold study, a descriptive sensory and physical property evaluation, and a psychophysical assessment of taste perception in emulsion systems. Experiment-I: Sensory detection and recognition thresholds of NaCl, caffeine, and KCl in aqueous-solutions vs. oil-in-water emulsions were evaluated. For saltiness recognition thresholds, KCl thresholds were higher compared to those of NaCl. For NaCl and KCl, emulsions did not significantly affect the saltiness recognition threshold compared to that of solutions. The bitterness recognition thresholds of caffeine and KCl in solutions were significantly lower than in emulsions. This study showed that, compared with solutions, emulsions did not significantly affect the saltiness recognition threshold of NaCl and KCl, but exhibited bitterness-suppressing effects on KCl and/or caffeine. Experiment-II: Saltiness and bitterness intensities of NaCl (0.50/0.75/1.00%), KCl (0.50/1.00/1.50%), and caffeine (0.05/0.10/0.15%) in emulsions were evaluated using the Spectrum™ descriptive method (N=16). The type of tastant (NaCl/KCl/caffeine) and its concentration had significant effects on saltiness and/or bitterness. NaCl had higher saltiness intensity compared to KCl. For both NaCl and KCl, increasing oil concentrations increased saltiness in emulsions. Oil did not significantly affect bitterness of caffeine in emulsions. Viscosity largely contributed to overall differences among emulsions. Overall, increasing oil concentrations exhibited saltiness enhancing effects on NaCl and KCl, but oil had a marginal effect on bitterness of caffeine in emulsions. Experiment-III: Saltiness and bitterness intensities of NaCl (0.5-1.0%), KCl (0.5-1.5%), and caffeine (0.05-0.15%) in emulsions were measured using a trained descriptive panel (N=16) and the Electronic-tongue (E-tongue). Linear regression and the Stevens’ power law were used to model the taste intensities against the tastant concentrations. For the trained panel, saltiness intensities in emulsions were higher than in solutions, demonstrating a saltiness-enhancing effect imparted by oil. Bitterness intensities in emulsions were lower compared to those of solutions for caffeine, but they were similar for KCl; this demonstrated that oil suppressed bitterness for caffeine. E-tongue saltiness measurements were corresponding to those of the descriptive data; however, E-tongue bitterness intensities of KCl showed an opposite pattern

Effects of emulsion coatings on the internal quality and shelf life of eggs

Mineral oil (MO) is currently used for coating eggs to preserve quality. Chitosan possesses inherent antimicrobial and film-forming properties. Chitosan coating (CH) is dried much faster than MO when applied on egg shell. Information on synergistic effects of MO:CH emulsion coatings on egg quality does not exist. We developed MO:CH emulsion coatings, and evaluated their effects on internal quality and shelf-life of eggs during storage. In the first study, MO, CH and three emulsions (MO:CH = 75:25, 50:50, and 25:75) were evaluated during 5 weeks at 25°C. Haugh unit (HU) and yolk index values decreased whereas weight loss increased during storage. Noncoated eggs changed from AA to C grade after 3 weeks. However, all emulsion-coated eggs maintained an A-grade for 4 weeks. All emulsion-coated eggs had weight losses \u3c1.5%. Only 25:75 MO:CH emulsion-coated eggs were not sensorially glossier than noncoated eggs. All emulsion-coated eggs had \u3e80% positive purchase intent and were negative for Salmonella spp. In the second study, 25:75 MO:CH emulsions prepared with four different emulsifier types were evaluated during 5 weeks at 25 °C and 20 weeks at 4 °C. All emulsion-coatings minimized weight loss (\u3c1.5%) and preserved internal quality of eggs for at least 3 weeks longer than observed for noncoated eggs at 25 °C. At 4 °C, all coated eggs changed from AA to A grade after 5 weeks and maintained this grade up to 10 weeks with weight losses \u3c2% at refrigeration. The emulsifier type generally did not insert significant effect on the internal quality. In the third study, MO and 25:75 MO:CH emulsion were evaluated during 5 weeks at 25°C using eggs from three different albumen qualities, expresed as HU, before coating: ‘High’=87.8 HU, ‘Medium’=75.6 HU and ‘Low’=70.9 HU. MO and/or 25:75 MO:CH coatings could preserve the internal quality for at least 4 more weeks for ‘High’ HU eggs; all with weight losses \u3c0.92%). This study demonstrated that MO:CH emulsion coatings could preserve the internal quality of eggs and prolong their shelf life

Effects of tasting and ingredient information statement on acceptability, elicited emotions, and willingness to purchase: A case of pita chips containing edible cricket protein

Sustainable and nutritious alternatives are needed to feed the ever-increasing world population. The successful incorporation of edible-cricket protein (ECP) into foods needs deeper consumer insights. Treatments (plain, Italian, and Cajun pita chips containing 6.9% w/w ECP) were evaluated by subjects for overall liking (OL), emotions, and purchase intent (PI) in three different moments: (1) before tasting, (2) after tasting/before ECP statement, and (3) after tasting/after ECP statement. Attributes’ liking scores were evaluated only after tasting/before ECP statement. Liking scores (mixed-effects ANOVA), emotions, and PI across moments within treatments/across treatments within moments were evaluated. Emotion-based penalty-lift analyses for OL within moments were assessed using two-sample t-tests (p < 0.05). Random forest model analyzed after-tasting informed PI and variables’ importance. Although formulations’ OL and PI were similar across moments, plain and Italian chips had higher after-tasting (before and after ECP statement) OL than the Cajun chips. Moments indirectly affected OL via emotions elicitation. Valence and activation/arousal emotions discriminated across moments for the plain treatment whereas valence and mostly activation/arousal terms discriminated across moments for the Italian and Cajun treatments, respectively. For either formulation or moment, “interested” and “adventurous” positively affected OL. Before and after-tasting attribute liking, “satisfied,” and “enthusiastic” emotions were critical in predicting after-tasting informed PI

The Scoop on SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast): Exploring consumer behaviours towards a novel ice cream

With the growing demand for sustainable practises, the food industry is increasingly adopting circular economy approaches. One example is recycling the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) used in kombucha fermentation to create value-added products. However, consumer acceptance of such novel products remains unclear. To address this, the present study examined consumer attitudes towards ice cream made with SCOBY as an ingredient and how this affected their intention to consume it. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and additional constructs such as emotions and food neophobia, an online survey was conducted with New Zealand consumers (N = 170). Results showed that the TPB constructs significantly predicted the intention to consume SCOBY ice cream. Moreover, by adding emotions to the constructs, the model’s explanatory power was enhanced. Attitudes, subjective norms, and emotions were the main predictors of intention, which in turn was found to be the main predictor of behaviour. Participants’ beliefs about the safety and taste of SCOBY ice cream were significantly correlated with their intention and behaviour, as were the opinions of nutritionists/dietitians, friends, and family. The model accounted for 21.7% of the variance in behaviour and 57.4% of the variance in intention. These findings can be used to plan marketing strategies related to waste-to-value-added products such as SCOBY ice cream

Health claim effects on consumer acceptability, emotional responses, and purchase intent of protein bars

Consumers are seeking product’s claims to make their daily food purchase decisions more informed. In this context, health claims can communicate to consumers about nutrient-specific health benefits. The objective of this research was to study the effect of health claims, in textual form, on consumers’ acceptability, emotional responses, and purchase decisions regarding protein bars. For this study, four protein bars were selected by a focus group (N = 6) based on acceptability. A total of N = 80 participants evaluated the pre-selected protein bars in two different tasting sessions [(1) Blind, where no information was provided, and (2) Informed, where health- related information of protein bars was provided]. Participants rated their liking for different sensory attributes (appearance, aroma, taste, texture, sweetness, bitterness, and aftertaste) and overall liking using a 9-point hedonic scale. Check-all-that-apply (CATA) was used to study emotions and 22 terms related to sensory attributes of the protein bar. There was a non-significant increase in the purchase intent for three out of four samples in session 2 but it was found to be high for the sample associated with positive emotions. Overall, this study showed that taste overpowered the health claims (expressed in textual form) on the acceptability. There were, however, slight effects of the health claims on the elicited emotions of consumers towards the protein bars

Consumer characterization of wet- and dry-aged mutton flavor profile using check-all-that-apply

The aim of this study was to assess if consumers could characterize wet- and dry-aged mutton flavor profiles using CATA (check-all-that-apply). A flavor lexicon was developed for mutton, and consumers assessed wet- and dry-aged mutton patties against this lexicon using CATA methodology. Results indicate that consumers most often associated caramel and roasted flavors with dry-aged patties, and “sheepy” and metallic flavors with wet-aged patties. Volatile analysis supported the consumer characterization as there were more Maillard reaction products, including pyrazines, which are associated with roasted and cooked flavors, found in the dry-aged patty volatile profile. More 1-octen-3-one, which is associated with metallic flavors, was found in the wet-aged patty volatile profile. These results provide validation that the lexicon utilized in this study (i) is suitable for the characterization of mutton flavor and (ii) will have applications for future investigations into the flavor components driving consumer liking for mutton

Exploring text mining for recent consumer and sensory studies about alternative proteins

Increased meat consumption has been associated with the overuse of fresh water, underground water contamination, land degradation, and negative animal welfare. To mitigate these problems, replacing animal meat products with alternatives such as plant-, insect-, algae-, or yeast-fermented-based proteins, and/or cultured meat, is a viable strategy. Nowadays, there is a vast amount of information regarding consumers’ perceptions of alternative proteins in scientific outlets. Sorting and arranging this information can be time-consuming. To overcome this drawback, text mining and Natural Language Processing (NLP) are introduced as novel approaches to obtain sensory data and rapidly identify current consumer trends. In this study, the application of text mining and NLP in gathering information about alternative proteins was explored by analyzing key descriptive words and sentiments from n = 20 academic papers. From 2018 to 2021, insect- and plant-based proteins were the centers of alternative proteins research as these were the most popular topics in current studies. Pea has become the most common source for plant-based protein applications, while spirulina is the most popular algae-based protein. The emotional profile analysis showed that there was no significant association between emotions and protein categories. Our work showed that applying text mining and NLP could be useful to identify research trends in recent sensory studies. This technique can rapidly obtain and analyze a large amount of data, thus overcoming the time-consuming drawback of traditional sensory techniques

In-vitro digestibility, protein digestibility corrected amino acid, and sensory properties of banana-cassava gluten-free pasta with soy protein isolate and egg white protein addition

Soy protein isolate and egg white protein were added to cassava-banana gluten-free pasta and the effects on the nutritional quality, digestibility properties, protein digestibility corrected amino acid (PDCAA), and sensory acceptance of the pasta was observed. Banana-cassava composite flour (75:25) was blended with soy protein isolate or egg white protein at the following rates: 0, 5, 10, and 15 g/100 g flour. Cooked pasta samples were analysed for total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity, amino acid profiles, protein content, starch digestibility, protein digestibility and protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS). Addition of both proteins decreased starch digestibility, increased protein digestibility, improved the balance of the amino acid profile, and PDCAAS whereas only soy protein isolate enhanced the TPC and antioxidant capacity of the banana-cassava pasta. An egg white protein-fortified banana-cassava pasta had better customer acceptance and purchase intent than soy protein isolate inclusion

Classification of smoke contaminated Cabernet Sauvignon berries and leaves based on chemical fingerprinting and machine learning algorithms

Wildfires are an increasing problem worldwide, with their number and intensity predicted to rise due to climate change. When fires occur close to vineyards, this can result in grapevine smoke contamination and, subsequently, the development of smoke taint in wine. Currently, there are no in-field detection systems that growers can use to assess whether their grapevines have been contaminated by smoke. This study evaluated the use of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a chemical fingerprinting tool, coupled with machine learning, to create a rapid, non-destructive in-field detection system for assessing grapevine smoke contamination. Two artificial neural network models were developed using grapevine leaf spectra (Model 1) and grape spectra (Model 2) as inputs, and smoke treatments as targets. Both models displayed high overall accuracies in classifying the spectral readings according to the smoking treatments (Model 1: 98.00%; Model 2: 97.40%). Ultraviolet to visible spectroscopy was also used to assess the physiological performance and senescence of leaves, and the degree of ripening and anthocyanin content of grapes. The results showed that chemical fingerprinting and machine learning might offer a rapid, in-field detection system for grapevine smoke contamination that will enable growers to make timely decisions following a bushfire event, e.g., avoiding harvest of heavily contaminated grapes for winemaking or assisting with a sample collection of grapes for chemical analysis of smoke taint markers

Instrumental and sensory properties of cowpea and whey protein concentrate-fortified extruded rice snacks

Consumers are being encouraged to increase their protein and fibre consumption through convenient and healthy food products. Six samples of extruded rice snacks were developed by substituting rice flour with cowpea flour and whey protein concentrate (WPC). Texture and colour were assessed instrumentally, and sensory analysis was conducted by an untrained panel (N = 70) who rated overall liking using the nine-point hedonic scale, and a check-all-that-apply (CATA) question with 37 attributes and emotions. Hedonic scores of the texture, taste and overall liking were significantly different across samples (p 0.05). A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the positive associations between the groups, crispiness and L* value, and hardness b* and a* values, respectively. The results of the present study will help to guide innovative high-protein and high-fibre plant food designs and formulations