Maria do Carmo Passos Rodrigues

Efeitos do sexo e do tempo de maturação sobre a qualidade da carne ovina

A study to verify the effects of sex and aging time of selected carcass cuts on meat quality was conducted. Longissimus dorsi and Semimembranous muscles from five intact males, five castrated males and five female lambs with average slaughter weight of about 35kg were used. Meat pH, myofibrillar fragmentation index, cooking losses, shear force, intramuscular lipids, color and sensorial tenderness were measured after 1, 3, 7 and 14 days of aging at 2oC. Meat from castrated males and from female lambs showed lower shear force values than those from intact male lambs. Higher levels of fat and lower cooking losses were observed in meat from castrated animals related to those from intact lambs. Aging time did not significantly (p>0.05) affect shear force or sensory tenderness of meats. This observation suggests that lamb meat, mainly from castrated males, can enter the fresh meat market soon after holding carcasses for 24 hours at 2oC.

Optimization of the Acceptance of Prebiotic Beverage Made from Cashew Nut Kernels and Passion Fruit Juice

UNLABELLED The aim of this research was to develop a prebiotic beverage from a hydrosoluble extract of broken cashew nut kernels and passion fruit juice using response surface methodology in order to optimize acceptance of its sensory attributes. A 2(2) central composite rotatable design was used, which produced 9 formulations, which were then evaluated using different concentrations of hydrosoluble cashew nut kernel, passion fruit juice, oligofructose, and 3% sugar. The use of response surface methodology to interpret the sensory data made it possible to obtain a formulation with satisfactory acceptance which met the criteria of bifidogenic action and use of hydrosoluble cashew nut kernels by using 14% oligofructose and 33% passion fruit juice. PRACTICAL APPLICATION As a result of this study, it was possible to obtain a new functional prebiotic product, which combined the nutritional and functional properties of cashew nut kernels and oligofructose with the sensory properties of passion fruit juice in a beverage with satisfactory sensory acceptance. This new product emerges as a new alternative for the industrial processing of broken cashew nut kernels, which have very low market value, enabling this sector to increase its profits.

Medições instrumentais e sensoriais de dureza e suculência na carne caprina

SUMMARY INSTRUMENTAL AND SENSORIAL ASSESSMENT OF TENDERNESS AND JUICINESS IN GOAT MEAT. The effect of muscle type and aging for seven days on certain functional and sensory properties of goat meat was evaluated. The experiment used meat from longissimus dorsi, semimembranosus and biceps femoris muscles from female goats that were approximately 20 months. After 24 h of being slaughtered and seven days, the aging meat was instrumentally analyzed for cooking losses (CL) and shear force (SF), as well as for sensory firmness (F) and juiciness (J) by a trained panel. CL was not affected (p > 0.05) by the type of muscle and aging of the meat. Before aging, meat from semimembranosus muscles showed higher SF than those from longissimus dorsi or bicep femoris muscles. After aging, meat from semimembranosus and biceps femoris muscles were tenderer than those from longissimus dorsi muscle. Meat from the semimembranosus muscle decreased in firmness during aging. Shear force values in meat showed positive correlation with firmness and negative correlation with juiciness as evaluated by the panelists. A negative correlation between firmness and juiciness was observed. Aging of the meat over seven days decreased firmness in goat meat from muscles, but did not affect cooking losses.

Néctar de caju adoçado com mel de abelha: desenvolvimento e estabilidade

Food and beverages developed today search the association of pleasant flavor with functional claims, offering consumers healthier products. In this sense, the objective of this work was to develop a ready-to-drink cashew apple juice sweetened with honey in substitution to sucrose and to evaluate its chemical, physicochemical, sensory and microbiological stability during 180 days storage at a temperature of 28 ± 2 °C. In the development of the product, four formulations (A, B, C and D) with different amounts of cashew apple juice (15 and 20%) associated to different amounts of honey in soluble solids (10 and 11 °Brix) were evaluated through sensory analysis (flavor and overall acceptability). The best accepted formulation was processed and evaluated after processing and every 45 days until the end of the storage period. Among the formulations tested, the favorite was formulation D, with 20% cashew apple juice and 11 °Brix. In the stability studies, the product maintained good acceptability until the end of the storage period, regarding the attributes color, flavor, overall acceptability and purchase intention. The product maintained satisfactory microbiological quality, in agreement with the current Brazilian legislation. The chemical and physicochemical changes did not characterize lack of stability of the product, except for the content of vitamin C, that presented an accentuated decrease at the end of storage. The product developed can be considered an interesting alternative for the fruit beverage market.

EFEITO DA ADIÇÃO DE AMÊNDOAS DA CASTANHA DE CAJU NAS PROPRIEDADES SENSORIAIS DO IOGURTE ADOÇADO COM MEL

O iogurte e um produto resultante da fermentacao do leite pasteurizado, por fermentos lacticos. Nos ultimos anos, a industria de alimentos tem lancado diversos produtos para conquistar mercado, principalmente devido as alteracoes nas preferencias dos consumidores. Desse modo, o estudo tem como objetivo desenvolver e avaliar as propriedades sensoriais de tres prototipos de iogurte natural adocado (INA) com mel sabor castanha (decodificados em 1, 2 e 3), diferenciados em relacao ao tempo de mistura da amendoa da castanha de caju com o iogurte. As materias-primas comerciais utilizadas foram: INA com 1% de mel e amendoas da castanha de caju em pedacos. Uma escala estruturada de cinco pontos foi utilizada para avaliacao da atitude de compra e tres escalas de nove pontos: uma de escala hedonica, uma para analise de diferenca do controle e outra para avaliar a atitude de consumo. Participaram dos testes 40 provadores nao treinados. A amostra 1 apresentou um elevado potencial de compra, de consumo, foi a mais preferida em aparencia, aceitacao global, aroma, sabor e textura, enquanto que a amostra 3 teve a textura e a granulosidade como caracteristicas menos preferidas, mostrando que uma textura mais homogenea tem maior aceitacao pelos consumidores. Ja no atributo cor, a amostra de maior preferencia foi a 2. O teste de diferenca do controle mostrou que as amostras adicionadas de castanha de caju diferiram (p<0,05) em termos globais da amostra controle. Portanto, o iogurte adocado com mel sabor castanha, possivelmente, ocuparia um bom espaco no mercado.

AVALIAÇÃO COMPARATIVA DE RESULTADOS DE TESTES SENSORIAIS COM ESCALAS E TESTE DE ORDENAÇÃO PREFERÊNCIA COM CRIANÇAS E ADULTOS

No presente estudo foram aplicados testes sensoriais afetivos com escalas e teste de ordenacao preferencia com criancas e adultos. Devido aos problemas envolvidos na aplicacao da analise sensorial e na confiabilidade dos resultados obtidos com criancas estes foram comparados com os dos adultos. O objetivo foi avaliar a concordância de resultados do teste de aceitacao global e do teste de ordenacao preferencia, tendo em vista que a partir da aceitabilidade podemos inferir a preferencia, bem como verificar a capacidade das criancas de discriminar niveis de escalas sensoriais. Foram utilizadas tres amostras de leite condensado de marca comercial designadas pelas siglas LC1, LC2 e LC3, correspondentes aos sabores tradicional, morango e chocolate. Os testes com escala aplicados foram escala hedonica e escala relativa ao ideal. Nao houve concordância de resultados do teste de aceitacao global e de ordenacao preferencia aplicados com criancas, enquanto nestes aplicados com adultos houve concordância. As criancas tiveram dificuldade de discriminar os niveis de gostar da escala hedonica apresentando pouca distribuicao de notastanto para aceitacao global como para aceitacao do sabor. Os adultos discriminaram bem e houve boa distribuicao de notas entre os niveis da escala. No teste da escala relativa ao ideal, tanto criancas como adultos apresentaram boa distribuicao de notas entre os niveis da escala. Com isso, percebe-se que estudos devem ser realizados com o intuito de definir as melhores condicoes e metodos para que testes sensoriais realizados com criancas tenham resultados confiaveis.

Influence of Expectation Measure on the Sensory Acceptance of Petit Suisse Product

The consumers expectation has an important role in the consumption of food products. It is one of the factors that influence the perception of sensory attributes and interact with the physiological, behavioral and cognitive factors influencing consumer decisions. The present study aimed to analyze the influence of consumers expectations on the acceptance of Petit Suisse. Products of 4 different brands were used for the sensory analysis, 2 international brands and 2 regional ones. The 9‐point regular hedonic scale was employed to carry out affective sensory and expectation measure tests (with and without product information). Concerning the present research, photos of the packaging of each product were printed in color and presented to the participants. These photos displayed the following pieces of information: the product brand, pictures, colors, product name, nutritional information and date of manufacture. International samples obtained higher grades when presented with their packaging, and obtained lower values both in the blind test and in the real expectation test evaluation. It can be concluded that the sensory analysis of the expectation measure showed that the brand influences the acceptance of the product, for the consumers expectations for international brands had positively confirmed and disconfirmed acceptance. This study generated a significant contribution, especially for companies that aim for a wider market. The application of sensory analysis with a focus on expectation measure, it shows that the brand determines the purchase, based on the results of this study. Therefore, the products visual identity must be invested in; it must arouse children and adults’ attention. That is, it reinforces that the image of the product, the label and what it arouses in the consumers are extremely important for the final choice.

Effect of nutritional information and health claims related to cashew nut and soya milk beverages on consumers’ acceptance and perception

Purpose The number of researches that evaluate how behavioural and personality issues affect consumers’ acceptance and perception of food is increasing. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of nutritional information and health claims related to soya and cashew nut beverages over consumers’ acceptance and perception regarding nutritional value and healthiness and to verify whether behavioural and personality issues affect such evaluation. Design/methodology/approach The samples were evaluated in two phases, with (blind phase) and without information (informed phase) about their composition, nutritional characteristics and functional claims related to some of their ingredients. The sensory evaluation data were analysed by means of the analysis of variance for repeated measures, applying 2 (information) × 2 (beverage) and generalised linear model to evaluate the effect of information over the acceptance averages, as well as over the perception of healthy food and nutritional value. Findings Information on composition, nutritional characteristics and functional claims related to the cashew nut and soya beverages did not influence flavour acceptance (p-value = 0.250) and overall impression (p-value = 0.316), but had a positive impact on consumers’ perception regarding healthiness (p-value < 0.001) and nutritious value (p-value < 0.001) of both beverages, the cashew nut beverage being perceived as more nutritious and healthier than the soya beverage. Consumers’ different characteristics with respect to their interest in healthy eating (high and low) and food neophobia (neophiliacs and neophobics) did not have any influence on the beverages’ acceptance, as well as on the perception of healthy food and nutritious value. Originality/value This work compares consumers’ acceptance and perception regarding nutritional value and healthiness with relation a totally unique product in the Brazilian market, and in the world, a new functional beverage made from cashew nuts, with a soya-milk beverage. Until this moment, there are no studies comparing consumer acceptance and perception of products based on hydrosoluble extract-base added with fruit juice which evaluate the influence of behavioural and personality characteristics of consumers in their perception and acceptance towards these products.