Consumers with high frequency of 'just about right' in JAR scales may use lower cognitive effort: Evidence from the concurrent 9-point hedonic scale and CATA question

An exploratory study on the development of a sensory wheel affiliated with the emotional lexicon for chrysanthemum infusion

Chrysanthemum infusion has gained popularity outside of the East Asian market in recent years. However, despite the growing international demand, standardized methods to evaluate the sensory attributes of chrysanthemum tea, which are essential for guiding consumers and ensuring quality control, remain underdeveloped. In this study, a trained panel conducted a quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA®) of eight chrysanthemum samples, successfully distinguishing between them. Additionally, consumer emotional responses to chrysanthemum infusion were assessed using the Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) method. By mapping the descriptive sensory data with emotional response data through Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR), we identified sensory drivers that elicit specific emotional responses. For this analysis, the emotion lexicon from EsSense25 was clustered into six dimensions: pleasant, tame, warm, active, negative, and bored. Our findings indicate that attributes such as smoothness and chrysanthemum-cucumber flavour induce calm and reassuring emotions (e.g., secure, understanding, calm, and tame). Conversely, sweetness and floral flavour are associated with positive emotions such as happiness, joy, and general well-being, suggesting that floral sweet beverages can mitigate negative emotions. However, sensory attributes such as bitterness, astringency, and vegetal aroma were linked to negative emotions and were sometimes associated with feelings of activity. The development of a sensory wheel, integrated with the emotional lexicon for chrysanthemum infusion, provides a tool for identifying sensory drivers behind emotional experiences. This tool offers valuable insights for market applications and product development, enhancing consumer satisfaction by aligning product attributes with desired emotional outcomes.

Consumer perception of salt-reduced bread with the addition of brown seaweed evaluated under blinded and informed conditions

BACKGROUND

Many consumers have a high salt intake and bread is a primary source because of its high rate of consumption. The inclusion of seaweeds has been proposed as an ingredient that could help reduce the salt content of food products. As such, the present study aimed to evaluate whether the amount of salt in bread could be reduced and the change in sensory properties be mitigated by the inclusion of brown seaweed. There were two different sensory trials conducted. In the first trial, participants (n = 102) evaluated bread made with brown seaweed (4% substitution for flour) with reduced amounts of salt (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%). The second trial asked participants (n = 98) to evaluate the control bread and the 20% salt-reduced bread in blinded and informed conditions. In both sensory trials, the breads samples were assessed using hedonic scales, just-about-right scales, and check-all-that-apply.

RESULTS

The results showed that the 10% and 20% salt-reduced breads were acceptable and associated with being soft, chewy and having no aftertaste. The other breads were associated with a dense, dry and strong aftertaste, along with not being salty enough for the consumers. When the breads were evaluated in informed conditions, the salt reduction label had a negative impact on the consumers' liking.

CONCLUSION

The research emphasizes that salt-reduced labels influence consumers' sensory perception. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Sensory Analysis and Consumer Preference: Best Practices

Sensory science is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses a wide variety of established and newly developed tests to document human responses to stimuli. Sensory tests are not limited to the area of food science but they find wide application within the diverse areas of the food science arena. Sensory tests can be divided into two basic groups: analytical tests and affective tests. Analytical tests are generally product-focused, and affective tests are generally consumer-focused. Selection of the appropriate test is critical for actionable results. This review addresses an overview of sensory tests and best practices.

Drivers of Consumer Preference Derived from Active Volatiles for Cooked Eriocheir sinensis

Consumers' perception of volatiles determines their preferences and choices of food. Furthermore, various factors, such as varieties, origin, gender, and edible parts, may influence volatiles. The perception of edible parts of E. sinensis in two origins (Chongming and Taixing) regarding overall hedonic score (9-points), just-about-right scale (5-points), and intensity of attributes (7-points) were analyzed. The results showed that consumers preferred the hepatopancreas odor of female crabs in Chongming, with an overall preference of 6.84 and RMAT (calculate the R-index by matrix) values >52.93%. The crabs' origin (different feeding and rearing condition) was the primary reason for the odor profiles. The appropriate meaty and toasted odor in the hepatopancreas increased the overall preference by approximately 14.65-20.60%. Furthermore, 2-acetylthiazole, a volatile compound with a fatty odor, may significantly affect preferences and consumption behavior.

Sensory Analysis for Cow Milk Product Development Using High Pressure Processing (HPP) in the Dairy Industry

High pressure processing (HPP) can be applied as an alternative thermal treatment of milk to maintain its natural and original sensory quality. Milk was processed at 600 MPa for 10 min or given thermal treatment at 125 °C for 4 s. Sensory evaluation of treated milk samples was conducted using the triangle and the acceptance and preference tests. The triangle test was used as a discriminative test to check whether there was a noticeable difference between both treated milk samples. The acceptance and preference test determined attributes of milk including colour, milkiness, creaminess, mouthfeel, and aftertaste based on the 5-point just-about-right (JAR) scale. In the triangle test, 89.5% of panellists were able to identify the odd sample and differentiate milk processed using high pressure from heat treatment. For the acceptance and preference test, 61% of panellists gave higher overall preference for the high pressure processed milk over heat-treated milk. The JAR evaluation showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in all evaluated milk attributes which included milkiness, creaminess, mouthfeel, and aftertaste, with the exception of colour. Overall, high pressure processed milk scored better in terms of organoleptic properties as the penalty value for most attributes including colour, milkiness, mouthfeel, and aftertaste were lower than the penalty of heat-treated milk, except for creaminess. Therefore, to improve the acceptance and preference of high pressure processed milk, future development needs to focus on increasing creaminess of high pressure processed milk.