Abstract This study investigated consumers' perceptions of adding bee pollen to bread. An attitude questionnaire composed of 48 statements related to "general health," "light products," "natural products," "salty products," "food as a reward," "pleasure," and "food neophobia" was answered by the participants, who indicated their level of agreement with each statement according to a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) "totally disagree" to (5) "totally agree." A check-all-that-apply (CATA) questionnaire was also employed to characterize 12 visual stimuli. The creation of stimuli was carried out using a factorial design, resulting in 12 images of bread. Three clusters of consumers were identified, each associating positive attributes with stimuli containing bee pollen, regardless of the health claim, while negative attributes were associated with stimuli without added pollen. The main positive drivers of liking were "I would buy," "attractive," "pleasant color," "healthy," "light," and "natural." On the other hand, the negative drivers of liking were "unattractive," "I don't like it," "I wouldn't buy," "hard," and "unpleasant color." This study provides valuable information for developing healthier bread using natural ingredients with bioactive compounds, such as bee pollen.

The high heterogeneity of meat and meat products can influence the sensory perception of the consumers, being necessary to measure the real impact of these non-controllable variables on the dynamic sensory properties of the smoked bacon during tasting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of smoking and fat content on the dynamic sensory perception of bacon by Brazilian consumers. For this, four different samples were prepared, varying the fat content (from "low" to "high") and the type of smoking shown on the product label (natural and artificial). Thirty-five habitual smoked bacon consumers evaluated the dynamic sensory properties of the product using the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) method. The results were submitted to univariate (bandplot by attribute) and multivariate analyzes (Principal Component Analysis) to study both the dominance rate and its duration, respectively. The main attributes modified during tasting were "salty," "fatty," and "succulent," thus showing that the dynamic sensory perception of smoked bacon was modified by the type of smoking and the fat content of the sample.

Identifying the ideal product is the most important step in new product development and improvement of existing ones. The aim of this study was to identify the ideal smoked bacon using PrefMFA and PrefMap considering three different sensory spaces obtained via descriptive analysis (DA), projectivemapping (PM) and CATA questions. Six smoked bacons were characterized by ten trained assessors using DA, and by two consumers panel using PM (n=93) and CATA questions (n=100). Also, one hundred consumers indicated their overall liking using a nine-point hedonic scale. The results showed that both techniques identified an ideal product. However, the sensory method has a greater effect than the multivariate procedure to obtain the sensory spaces prior to the preference mapping. Subsequent studies with other food matrices are still necessary in order to generalize our results

ABSTRACT Carotenoids are incorporated into the diet of laying hens in order to modify the yolk color. A natural source of carotenoids in tropical countries is annatto, which could be used in the diets of hens. This study aimed to evaluate the addition of natural (annatto) and synthetic carotenoids to the diet of laying hens (commercial and alternative) and their effects on yolk color and consumer sensory perception of fresh and stored eggs obtained from two different preparations (boiled and fried). Physicochemical analysis of proximate composition, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), emulsion activity and instrumental color were performed. Cooking caused significant alterations to the moisture in the preparations and this may have directly affected the color intensity, influencing factors related to egg appearance. In this study, 85 % of the panelists indicated that yolk color is an important attribute of the product’s quality. There was no antioxidant effect of the carotenoids in raw eggs. Synthetic additives should be better dosed to obtain the desired effect. Storage did not alter the proximate composition of the eggs.

Meat has played a crucial role in human evolution and is an important component of a healthy and well-balanced diet on account of its nutritional properties, its high biological value as a source of protein, and the vitamins and minerals it supplies. We studied the effects of animal fat reduction and substitution by hydrogenated vegetal fat, sodium alginate and guar gum. Fatty acid composition, lipid oxidation, color and instrumental texture as well as the sensorial difference between low, substituted-fat and the traditional formulations for mortadella-type products were analyzed. Both substitution and reduction of animal fat decreased the saturated fatty acids percentage from 40% down to 31%. A texture profile analysis showed differences between the formulations. Furthermore, lipid oxidation values were not significant for treatments as regards the type and quantity of fat used while the use of sodium alginate and guar gum reduced the amounts of liquid released after cooking. Animal fat substitution does cause, however, a difference in overall sensorial perception compared with non-substituted products. The results confirm the viability of substituting vegetal fat for animal fat.