Consumer attitudes on salt and fat reduced foods in the Republic of Ireland

Public health campaigns are continually promoting healthier foods and in parallel many food manufacturers are working on recipes low in fat and salt. The following survey investigates how well consumers (n = 1045) in Ireland have assimilated the message of consuming healthier foods, including salt and fat reduced foods, into their diet. It seems that campaigns regarding the importance of a balanced diet have generally been adopted by respondents, as only a minority of the participants did not take care of their diet, independent of age, gender and level of education. More than half of the participants carefully maintained a balanced diet. Furthermore, an increase in purchasing salt reduced food was observed, though fat reduced food products were already better accepted. In general, men, young adults (<30 years) and lower educated people purchased less salt and fat reduced foods and took less care in maintaining a balanced diet. No conflict was observed for traditional foods reduced in salt and fat content when their intrinsic sensory character is maintained. The majority of the participants were aware of the health risks of a diet rich in salt and fat, though less participants transferred this knowledge into their diet. A very high demand for more salt and fat reduced foods on the market was observed although the smaller range of salt and fat reduced products and their higher prices might diminish the level of consumer acceptance. Launching taxation and subsidies in tandem might counteract this and furthermore, user-friendly product labelling schemes are required

Shakespeare, Johnson, and Wolsey: A Community of Mind

In a letter to Samuel Johnson on 28 February 1778, Boswell, clearly trying to make the last point in an argument he had lost months before, concludes with a pair of allusions: . . . I never differed from you in politicks but upon two points, - the Middlesex Election, and the Taxation of the Americans by the British Houses ofRepresentatives. There is a charm in the word Parliament, so I avoid it. As I am a steady and a warm Tory, I regret that the King does not see it to be better for him to receive constitutional supplies from his American subjects by the voice of their own assemblies, where his Royal Person is represented, than through the medium of his British subjects. I am persuaded that the power of the Crown, which I wish to increase, would be greater when in contact with all its dominions, than if "the rays of regal bounty" were to "shine" upon America through that dense and troubled body, a modern British Parliament. But, enough of this subject; for your angry voice at Ashboume upon it, still sounds aweful "in my mind's ears". With characteristically pugnacious ingratiation, at the end of his argument Boswell combines phrases from Johnson's discussion of Cardinal Wolsey in The Vanity of Human Wishes with a misquotation from Hamlet. Although juxtaposing the Vanity and Shakespeare may strike us as an obvious psychological ploy, an eighteenth-century audience would have regarded the pairing of Wolsey and Shakespeare as traditional

Rapid descriptive consumer analysis using simultaneous and monadic sample presentation for coffee

The objective of this study was to investigate how rapid descriptive consumer analysis using simultaneous presentation of samples compared with monadic presentation of samples, using both affective and descriptive sensory evaluation methods. Simultaneous presentation of coffee samples for sensory acceptance testing, using ranking analysis, was conducted using naïve assessors. In a separate session, assessors evaluated the same coffee samples, using monadic presentation and employing the same scales. Similarly, descriptive consumer analysis, using simultaneous and monadic sample presentation, was conducted using descriptive attributes chosen by the panel. For RDA (Ranking descriptive analysis), coffee samples were presented simultaneously (randomised) to assessors and subsequently ranked. The process was then repeated using the same assessors; however, samples were presented in monadic and randomised presentation order. Data accumulated from the study were analysed by Analysis of Variance (APLSR-ANOVA Partial Least Squares Regression). Results obtained indicate that simultaneous presentation of samples was more effective than monadic presentation, as a larger amount of attributes with significant (P < 0.05) intensity differences were observed using RDA. Thus, simultaneous presentation of samples also allows ranking in SAT evaluation and proved a useful tool in establishing the hedonic attributes of products. We propose to call this method Ranking Acceptance Analysis (RAA)

Sensory optimisation of salt-reduced corned beef for different consumer segments

peer-reviewedThe study objectives were to determine assessors' (n = 256) preference for corned beef, produced with sequential reductions in NaCl concentrations and to determine if preference was affected by assessor age. The use of a salt replacer such as potassium lactate was also assessed. The youngest age cohort disliked samples containing the highest level of NaCl, whereas the oldest age cohort did not detect differences between samples. The most negatively perceived sample was the control, suggesting that NaCl levels added to commercial corned beef are currently too high for consumer acceptance. All age cohorts, with the exception of the 65–74 age cohort, accepted corned beef samples possessing NaCl levels closest to the FSAI target (1.63 g/100 g). No major sensory differences were noted between samples with and without potassium lactate by the ≥65 age cohort. Potassium lactate may be added to corned beef without affecting sensory attributes, whilst enhancing nutritional content. Assessors of varying age groups have differing preferences for certain NaCl levels and salt replacers

Impact on the physical and sensory properties of salt-and fat-reduced traditional Irish breakfast sausages on various age cohorts acceptance

peer-reviewedThe properties of varying salt and fat levels in traditional breakfast sausages were investigated. Sausages were produced with fat levels of: 30%, 20% and 15%. Fat was replaced with pea extract. Salt levels employed were: 2.5%, 1.1% and 0.0%. A reduced sodium salt which contains 45% less sodium than standard salt was used. Sensory analysis was conducted on consumers (n = 228): 18–40 yrs., 41–64 yrs. and 65–85 yrs. The 18–40 yr. olds preferred sausages containing 20% fat, 41–64 yr. olds preferred sausages with 15% fat, 65+ age group preferred sausages containing 30% fat. The 18–40 yr. olds preferred high salt samples, 41–64 yr. olds displayed no salt preference, while the 65+ age group preferred high salt sausages. Sausage formulation choice was found to be driven by texture for the younger age cohort, flavour for the middle age cohort and visual aspects from the oldest age cohort. There is a need to understand how meat products might be reformulated different age palates

Impact on the physicochemical and sensory properties of salt reduced corned beef formulated with and without the use of salt replacers

peer-reviewedThe aim of this study was to investigate physicochemical and microbiological properties as well as a sensory (affective and descriptive) driven sodium reduction (0.2 g/100 g - 1.0 g/100 g product) strategy for a cured meat product (corned beef). A second aim was to use the same methodology to further reduce salt, using salt replacers. Significant differences in colour, hardness and cooking loss were measured. Corned beef samples low in sodium (0.2 g/100 g, 0.4 g/100 g) showed reduced (P  0.05) to liking of flavour and overall acceptability. Samples formulated with CaCl2, MgCl2 and KCl scored higher (P  0.05) to liking of flavour and overall acceptability. However, a sodium reduction in corned beef was determined to be achievable as assessors liked (P < 0.05) the flavour of the sodium reduced corned beef containing 0.4 g/100 g sodium and formulated with potassium lactate and glycine (KLG), even with the noticeable lower salty taste. Sodium reduction in corned beef (packaged under modified atmosphere) did not negatively impact on the microbiological shelf-life.This study was funded by the Irish Food Industry Research Measure (FIRM) as part of the project titled “PROSSLOW; Development of assessor accepted low salt and low fat Irish traditional processed meat (Ref: 11 F 026)”

Microbial Succession and Flavor Production in the Fermented Dairy Beverage Kefir

peer-reviewedKefir is a putatively health-promoting dairy beverage that is produced when a kefir grain, consisting of a consortium of microorganisms, is added to milk to initiate a natural fermentation. Here, a detailed analysis was carried out to determine how the microbial population, gene content, and flavor of three kefirs from distinct geographic locations change over the course of 24-h fermentations. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens was the dominant bacterial species in kefir during early stages of fermentations but that Leuconostoc mesenteroides became more prevalent in later stages. This pattern is consistent with an observation that genes involved in aromatic amino acid biosynthesis were absent from L. kefiranofaciens but were present in L. mesenteroides. Additionally, these shifts in the microbial community structure, and associated pathways, corresponded to changes in the levels of volatile compounds. Specifically, Acetobacter spp. correlated with acetic acid; Lactobacillus spp. correlated with carboxylic acids, esters and ketones; Leuconostoc spp. correlated with acetic acid and 2,3-butanedione; and Saccharomyces spp. correlated with esters. The correlation data suggest a causal relationship between microbial taxa and flavor that is supported by observations that addition of L. kefiranofaciens NCFB 2797 increased the levels of esters and ketones whereas addition of L. mesenteroides 213M0 increased the levels of acetic acid and 2,3-butanedione. Finally, we detected genes associated with probiotic functionalities in the kefir microbiome. Our results illustrate the dynamic nature of kefir fermentations and microbial succession patterns therein and can be applied to optimize the fermentation processes, flavors, and health-related attributes of this and other fermented foods. IMPORTANCE Traditional fermented foods represent relatively low-complexity microbial environments that can be used as model microbial communities to understand how microbes interact in natural environments. Our results illustrate the dynamic nature of kefir fermentations and microbial succession patterns therein. In the process, the link between individual species, and associated pathways, with flavor compounds is revealed and several genes that could be responsible for the purported gut health-associated benefits of consuming kefir are identified. Ultimately, in addition to providing an important fundamental insight into microbial interactions, this information can be applied to optimize the fermentation processes, flavors, and health-related attributes of this and other fermented foods

Phase noise characterization of a QD-based diode laser frequency comb

We measure, simultaneously, the phases of a large set of comb lines from a passively mode locked, InAs/InP, quantum dot laser frequency comb (QDLFC) by comparing the lines to a stable comb reference using multi-heterodyne coherent detection. Simultaneity permits the separation of differential and common mode phase noise and a straightforward determination of the wavelength corresponding to the minimum width of the comb line. We find that the common mode and differential phases are uncorrelated, and measure for the first time for a QDLFC that the intrinsic differential-mode phase (IDMP) between adjacent subcarriers is substantially the same for all subcarrier pairs. The latter observation supports an interpretation of 4.4ps as the standard deviation of IDMP on a 200µs time interval for this laser

QD-MLL-Based Single-Sideband Superchannel Generation Scheme With Kramers–Kronig Direct Detection Receivers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.For their capability of electronic dispersion compensation, transmission systems based on direct detection of single-sideband (SSB) signals are attractive candidates as energy-efficient and cost-effective alternative solutions to intradyne digital coherent systems for interdata center and metro applications. The Kramers-Kronig (KK) receiver scheme has been shown to provide superior performance compared to other schemes in signal-to-signal beat interference (SSBI) cancellation in these direct-detection systems. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity and cost-effective scheme of generating an optical superchannel comprising multiple SSB channels, based on a single quantum-dot mode-locked laser source. The proposed system does not require additional photonic or RF components at the transmitter to generate the required SSB signal with a continuous wave (CW) carrier. It also preserves the full digital-to-analog converters' bit resolution for data modulation, in contrast to other methods based on digital generation of the CW component. Simulations of system performance with KK receiver, based on measured laser output field, show that the proposed system can achieve bit-error ratio below the hard-decision forward error correction threshold for 16-QAM Nyquist SSB signals after transmission through three amplified spans of single-mode fiber in a 240-km link. Using 8 KK channels at 23 GBaud each, the proposed scheme will be able to achieve a transmission rate of 736 Gb/s with noncoded spectral efficiency of 2.45 b/s/Hz. The impacts of carrier-to-signal power ratio, per channel launch power into the fiber, and component frequency drifting on transmission system performance are also discussed

Sensory capability of young, middle-aged and elderly Irish assessors to identify beef steaks of varying texture

This study assessed the capability of various Irish assessor age cohorts to identify beef steaks of varying texture. Varying steak textures Moderately Tough (MTH), Moderately Tender (MTR) and Tender (TR) were achieved by aging beef longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle for 2, 7 and 21 days respectively. Warner Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) was measured to standardise the samples. Sensory evaluation was carried using 428 participants; 18–30 yrs. (years) (n = 143), 31–60 yrs. (n = 80), 61-75 yrs. (n = 99) and 76–85 yrs. old (n = 106). Within 6 age cohort categories (18–70), significant positive and negative correlations were observed for TR and MTH tenderness categories respectively. Poor identification of tenderness classification was found in the 71–85 age cohort groupings. Consequently more research is required in this area so that guidelines could be presented for industrial uptake. This study supports the hypothesis that changes in textural perception occur with age in humans