Consumers' attitudes of high-intensity ultrasound in Minas Frescal cheese processing: an innovative approach with text highlighting technique

Adolescents as food designers: The value of co-creation for the development of healthy dairy products

Healthy eating habits may protect adolescents against disease development, ensure optimal physical and cognitive development, and may persist in adulthood. However, adolescents usually prefer sweetened dairy products and show a low consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and pulses. Co-creation offers an innovative and inclusive alternative for the development of new products. Adolescents' involvement in the co-creation process may promote the development of healthy products that they can effectively choose. This study aimed to use the co-creation process through exploring, prototyping, refining, and validation stages for developing healthy dairy products with and for adolescents, aiming to obtain comprehensive insights into theiropinions, perceptions, preferences, and needs. Twenty-eight adolescents (14-18 years old) participated in three co-creation sections, while the other 65 (14-18 years old) participated only in the validation stage. The adolescents created a healthy dairy product using a set of ingredients in the first section (grouped into dairy base, fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains, and culinary ingredients). The adolescents could select the ingredients in the number and quantity they wanted for developing the product. There were only two rules: the dairy base was limited to one, and at least one ingredient of each group must be used. Four factors drove the ingredient selection (hedonic, sensory properties, health impact, and novelty). Afterward, they tasted their prototype and noted possible improvements. In the second section, they created a concept prototype (post) as a product communication strategy. They were requested to create a post similar to those shared on social media to promote their product and invite other adolescents to try it. Seven factors drove the post design (product name, poster visual design, promotional image, ingredients, sensory properties, health compounds and health claims, and marketing purposes). The third section validated the refined products (products with the improvements suggested during the tasting stage) and posts for acceptance and perceptions. The products were accepted by adolescents involved or not in the co-creation process despite using healthy and novel ingredients and sugar reduction. Furthermore, based on the posts, the products were perceived as healthy, nutritious, tasty, and with suitable texture. The concentration of vegetables, grains, and nuts was lower than the fruits, demonstrating that, although the adolescents accepted the products, they would not be the central ingredient. The adolescents participating in the co-creation sections were not biased towards higher acceptance scores or more positive perceptions of the posts than general adolescents. These results demonstrated the high potential to involve adolescents in product co-creation and provide helpful subsidies for its implementation. The healthy dairy products co-created in this study could comply with policy measures designed to reduce added sugar intake and increase the intake of fruits and vegetables. Public health policies may encourage schools to engage adolescents in cooking activities and meal planning, besides performing marketing restrictions and food reformulation strategies, mainly related to sugar reduction.

Consumer animal welfare and healthy perception of fresh sausages' fiber fat replaced and elaborated with meat from non-castrated male pigs

Although replacement of fat with fiber is a good strategy to avoid boar taint on high-fat content products, as sausages, the final purchase intention is related to other external factors such as welfare and healthiness. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the consumers' perception of sausages with fat replaced by fiber, elaborated with meat from non-castrated male pigs, and to determine the influence of the consumers' habits and demographic parameters on their beliefs related to pig castration. An online survey was carried out. A total of 131 consumers answered a questionnaire about habits and beliefs related to meat and meat product issues. Subsequently, they evaluated four images of labeled products (castrated-not castrated/normal-reduced-fat/traditional-high fiber content) with the Check-all-that-apply (CATA) test. In all, 87.7% of meat consumers perceived meat products as positive, although 71% trimmed the fat previous consumption. In a 9-point agreement scale, "Animal welfare worries me" obtained 7.5 and "the castration without anaesthesia should not be performed" 7.4. There was a higher grade of agreement with "castration of pigs justification to improve smell a flavour" in primary education level and in rural residence (p < .05). Sausages from castrated animals were perceived as fatty, juicy, appetizing, and animal cruelty. Reduced-fat and rich/high fiber sausages were not associated with "healthy" but with "expensive" and "unpleasant." Although reduced-fat entire male pork sausages with vegetable fiber could be a better option for marketing uncastrated male pork, they will need more than fiber claims to be associated with healthy products and the consumer should be previously informed if he could appreciate the meaning of castration labeling.

The effect of synbiotic coating of flaxseed mucilage-defatted rice bran carbohydrate on quality of dried mango, viability of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. LactisBB12 on storage and simulating gastrointestinal condition

In the present study, a synbiotic coating of flaxseed mucilage, defatted rice bran carbohydrate, and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis BB12 was fabricated for coating dried mango slices (M-P-C). The control samples contained only probiotic bacteria without coating (M-P). Several quality parameters (moisture, weight loss, shrinkage percentage, pH, firmness, and color) were assessed on specific storage circumstances (25°C, relative humidity (RH) = 22%.). In addition, the survival of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis BB12 was evaluated on storage and under simulated gastrointestinal (GI) conditions. According to the results, the log number of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis BB12 reached 8.1 and 6.2 for coated and uncoated samples, respectively, during the 45 days storage at 25°C (>6 log CFU (log colony-forming units)/g) and at finished stage of in vitro gastrointestinal circumstances, the log number of probiotic bacterial count reached 6.8 and 4 for coated and uncoated samples, respectively. The coating resulted in significantly less weight loss, moisture loss, and shrinkage of the mango slices than uncoated ones (p < .05). The growth of yeasts and molds was undetectable in both samples. The results of acceptance experiments for M-P and M-P-C dried mango samples showedthat there were no significant differences between M-P and M-P-C samples (p  >.05), indeed in the case of purchase intention and overall acceptability. After reading the text highlighting, there was no significant difference in all attributes of M-P-C samples pre and post of reading text highlighting. It could be concluded that the synbiotic coating of mango slices improved the quality characteristics of the dried mango as well as viability of the probiotic bacteria at storage time and under simulated gastrointestinal conditions.

Alginate/whey protein isolate-based emulgel as an alternative margarine replacer in processed cheese: Impact on rheological, mechanical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics

The effects of partial or full replacement of margarine by alginate/whey protein isolate-based olive oil emulgel on nutritional, physicochemical, mechanical, and rheological properties of processed cheese (PC) were investigated in this work. All formulated samples had the same amount of total fat, DM, and pH. According to the results of the fatty acids profile, the PC sample in which the margarine was fully replaced by the emulgel (EPC100) had the highest (49.84%) oleic acid content and showed a reduction of 23.7% in SFA compared with the control sample (EPC0; formulated just with margarine). In addition, EPC0 had the highest hardness among various cheese samples, which was also confirmed by its compact microstructure. Dynamic oscillatory measurements revealed that EPC100 had the highest crossover strain (or resistance to deformation). The high rigidity of this sample was related to the 3-dimensional structure of emulgel. According to the creep test results, EPC100 showed the lowest relative recovery (flowability). A high temperature dependency of viscoelastic moduli was observed in EPC0 at 42°C. No significant differences were observed between the color attributes and sensory properties of the various cheese samples. Alginate/whey protein isolate-based olive oil emulgel can be considered as a healthy margarine replacer in PC.

A consumer evaluation of salt-reduced tomato soup and vegetable juice made with grape pomace

Obesity and obesity-related illness have become an increasingly prevalent problem and there is a critical need to combat this by reducing sugar, salt, and fat consumption. Due to this concern, the food industry has been developing salt-reduced foods, however, these products need to maintain their sensory appeal and flavors, which has proven to be a challenge. Grape pomace (GP), the solids left after pressing grapes for winemaking and consisting of grape seeds and skins, has been proposed as an environmentally friendly solution that can enhance the acceptability of salt-reduced food products. However, GP is associated with a large number of flavor compounds. As such, the objective of this research is to investigate the acceptability of GP addition in salt-reduced foods. Two trials were conducted using hedonic scales and temporal check-all-that-apply (TCATA) to evaluate tomato soup (n = 88) and vegetable juice (n = 99). Each trial included a control and sample containing grape pomace. The addition of the GP decreased the consumers' overall liking and the liking of the flavor, as well as increasing consumers' perception of saltiness intensity. The samples made with GP were associated with bitterness, sourness, and wine flavor during the TCATA evaluations. The study identified that GP increased saltiness perception, however, it also adds other flavors to the food product, which decreased the acceptability of the food items. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: There is a consumer demand to create salt-reduced foods that do not have altered sensory properties. Furthermore, consumers are interested in sustainable and environmentally friendly ingredients. Grape pomace is a byproduct of the wine industry and has been proposed as an ingredient that can increase the saltiness perception of food products. Grape pomace was added to tomato soup and vegetable juice to evaluate its effect on consumer acceptability and saltiness perception. The grape pomace did increase saltiness perception, but also added bitterness, sourness, and wine flavor to the food products.

Vacuum-steam pulsed blanching: An emerging method to enhance texture softening, drying behavior and physicochemical properties of Cornus officinalis

Vacuum steam pulsed blanching (VSPB) was employed as a novel blanching technology on Cornus officinalis to soften the tissue for subsequent coring and dehydration. The current work aims to explore its effect on mass transfer behavior, PPO inactivation, drying characteristics, physicochemical properties, antioxidant capacity, and microstructure of C. officinalis. Results showed that VSPB increased water loss, decreased solid gain, and increased weight reduction with increased blanching cycles. Besides, VSPB significantly changed physical properties and extensively reduced drying time which was attributed to the cell wall components dissolving and cell turgor pressure decreasing, also verified by observing microstructure alteration. PPO was completely denatured after blanching in 6 cycles, but phenolic compounds were still diffused or degraded. Notably, the content of flavonoids and antioxidant capacity significantly increased compared to fresh samples probably due to increased extractability caused by the disrupting cell structure. Besides, the carotenoids and ascorbic acid could be well preserved.

Structural behavior, FTIR spectra of five Algerian honeys, and sensory acceptance of margarine enriched with honey

This study examined the textural and rheological properties of Algerian honeys and margarines formulated with honey and their sensory acceptance. Textural analysis shows that all honeys and margarines enriched with honey are spreadable, easy to swallow by the consumer and to adhere to a surface (bread, teeth, tongue, etc.), and have suitable adhesiveness. The hardness and elasticity values reveal that H5 honey and its M5 margarine are less hard and regain their height more quickly. The rheological analysis reveals that all honeys and formulated margarines non-Newtonian behavior at 25 and 45°C with a G' > G″ for each type of honey except for H1 and all margarines elaborated with honey presenting a structure of a gel. Statistical analysis shows no significant differences (p > 0.05) in mean values of activation energy, suggesting that honeys and margarines need the same energy to flow. Chemometric analysis reveals strong similarities between (H3 and H5) and (M3 and M5). Sensory acceptance of margarines enriched with honey shows that M4 and M5 margarines are the most preferred by consumers with a satisfaction rate between 60% and 80%. In conclusion, margarine formulated with honey should be introduced to the market due to their good structural properties and high acceptance.

Recent developments in ultrasound approach for preservation of animal origin foods

Ultrasound is a contemporary non-thermal technology that is currently being extensively evaluated for its potential to preserve highly perishable foods, while also contributing positively to the economy and environment. There has been a rise in the demand for food products that have undergone minimal processing or have been subjected to non-thermal techniques. Livestock-derived food products, such as meat, milk, eggs, and seafood, are widely recognized for their high nutritional value. These products are notably rich in proteins and quality fats, rendering them particularly vulnerable to oxidative and microbial spoilage. Ultrasound has exhibited significant antimicrobial properties, as well as the ability to deactivate enzymes and enhance mass transfer. The present review centers on the production and classification of ultrasound, as well as its recent implementation in the context of livestock-derived food products. The commercial applications, advantages, and limitations of the subject matter are also subject to scrutiny. The review indicated that ultrasound technology can be effectively utilized in food products derived from livestock, leading to favorable outcomes in terms of prolonging the shelf life of food while preserving its nutritional, functional, and sensory attributes. It is recommended that additional research be conducted to investigate the effects of ultrasound processing on nutrient bioavailability and extraction. The implementation of hurdle technology can effectively identify and mitigate the lower inactivation of certain microorganisms or vegetative cells.