Paula Varela

Influence of nutritional knowledge on the use and interpretation of Spanish nutritional food labels.

UNLABELLED The present study analyzed the nutritional knowledge of Spanish consumers and its relationship with the correct use of food labels. Consumers were asked about their nutritional knowledge and some functional foods and about their understanding of food labeling and their use of it to select healthy food. A 2-part questionnaire was employed. The 1st part concerned their knowledge of nutritional facts, including their knowledge about macronutrients and perception of certain functional foods, while the 2nd part addressed some questions regarding food labels. The results revealed no statistically significant differences in nutritional knowledge by either age or gender, but a direct relationship with educational level. The association between nutritional knowledge and the perception and understanding of food labeling showed that the nutritional label rarely influenced the food purchases of the group with low nutritional knowledge, who considered that this information was too technical. More than half of the consumers did not consider the calorie or sugar content important for selecting food. In addition, the group with low nutritional knowledge stated that they never or rarely looked at the food labels to check whether it was low-fat food that they were buying. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Knowing the status of the consumers nutritional knowledge allows health campaigns to be designed; considering the influence of cultural factors and the perception of food labeling is very useful for promoting better nutritional information.

Sensory Properties Determined by Starch Type in White Sauces: Effects of Freeze/Thaw and Hydrocolloid Addition

The effect of 5 types of starch (rice, potato, waxy corn, corn, and modified waxy corn) on the sensory properties of white sauces was studied. A comparative study was also made of variations resulting from freezing/thawing and effect of replacing 0.15% starch with 2 nonstarchy hydrocolloids, xanthan gum (XG), or locust bean gum (LBG) in samples to be frozen. The sensory properties were studied through descriptive analysis by a panel of 10 trained judges. Principal components analysis and cluster analysis were used to group each of the samples according to the scores for consistency, resilience, graininess, thickness, heterogeneity, creaminess, and mouth coating, the sensory attributes which were chosen to define the sauces under study. Significant differences were found between the different starches employed: the rice and modified starches presented similar behavior to each other, as did the potato starch and corn starch, while the waxy starch sauce stood apart from the rest because of its resilience. The freeze/thaw cycle had the greatest effect on the corn-starch sauce, increasing its graininess and heterogeneity values owing to retrogradation. Adding XG or LBG to the sauces subjected to a period of freezing/thawing did not have a significant effect on the sensory attributes of the reheated sauces made with rice, potato, or waxy or modified starch, but lower graininess and heterogeneity values were observed in the sauce made with corn starch.

Consumer perception of carriers of a satiating compound. Influence of front-of-package images and weight loss-related information

Nowadays it is common to find dietary supplements on the market with the same health promoting compounds as certain functional food products. However, there is a lack of research comparing these two categories of carriers (food and supplements) for the same functional ingredient. This work focuses on konjac glucomannan (KGM) due to its recognized body weight reduction-related effect: when it swells in the stomach in the presence of sufficient water, it produces a sensation of fullness. In this context, the objectives of the present work were to gain knowledge about consumer perception of KGM and its different carriers or forms of presentation (in a food item or in capsules). In addition, the relative importance of the carrier, front-of-package images and weight loss-related information were studied by different sensory techniques, such as word association, projective mapping and conjoint analysis. The results showed that consumers formed negative perceptions when the information was not sufficiently complete and that they considered a food product containing KGM better than KGM capsules. Regarding the front of the package, health benefit-related images were more attractive than verbal information.

Specific phenolic compounds and sensory properties of a new dealcoholized red wine with pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) extract

The pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit has a long history of human consumption and possesses notable antioxidant and cardiovascular properties. This work evaluated the feasibility to provide a new functional beverage based on a dealcoholized red wine matrix supplemented by a pomegranate extract. The potential bioactive compounds in the pomegranate extract, punicalagin A and B and ellagic acid, were analyzed during the downstream process in order to evaluate the functional dose in the final beverage. The addition of pomegranate extract to the dealcoholized red wine resulted in a product with more intense yeast odor, acidity, yeast flavor, and astringency and with a less intense berry flavor. Consumer acceptance of the product was also investigated and the results revealed the existence of a niche of consumers willing to consume dealcoholized wine enriched with pomegranate extract. After tasting, 50% and 40% of those consumers initially interested by this product concept declared to be interested to purchase the control sample and the functional beverage, respectively. The daily consumption of two servings of 250 mL of this new pomegranate-enriched dealcoholized wine provides 82 mg of total ellagitannins, corresponding to the sum of punicalagin A and B and ellagic acid.

How Does the Science of Physical and Sensory Properties Contribute to Gastronomy and Culinary Art

What occurs in a physical properties and sensory research laboratory is relevant to food developers, chefs, and others working in the hospitality/culinary sector as well as to any curious food lover. Thanks to the contributions of science, the latest food innovations are percolating through to the dining rooms of restaurant managers who want to improve the consumption experience. However, scientific developments and findings are not limited to the food revolution itself. New methods are being applied to understand consumers better and convey correct messages successfully. Contextual factors are also being taken into account when studying consumer perceptions. Taken together, if managed appropriately in a restaurant setting, these insights can enhance the gastronomic experience.

Individual Differences in Choice and Ranking Experiments

This chapter is about choice-based conjoint analysis, rank-based tests, and take-away tests. For the former, the focus is on mixed logit models. These are models based on a utility function with additional assumptions on the residuals. It is shown how the individual regression coefficients can be used in connection with principal component analysis to interpret individual differences and to form segments. Segments are related to consumer factors using the PLS regression with dummy output. Rank-based studies are analyzed using simple plotting techniques and PCA. The PCA results can be related to consumer factors as for the mixed logit approach. Other ways of handling ordinal data, such as optimal scaling and the probit model are discussed briefly.

Data Analysis in Practice

This chapter gives an overview of some statistical software that can be applied for the different types of analyses presented in the book. Both tools that require programming and more menu-based software are discussed. The main focus is on XLSTAT, R, and SAS, although most standard software for statistical analysis can be applied for most of the analyses presented in the book.

Individual Differences in TDS and TCATA Data

The state-of-the art methodologies for temporal dominance of sensation and temporal check-all-that-apply data are presented with focus on both analysis and graphical tools for interpreting the data. Individual differences on dynamic sensory data are discussed with respect to panel performance, repeatability, and segmentation.

General Framework and Relations Between Chapters

In this chapter, we present the methodological basis for the book and how this relates to aspects of sensory and consumer data such as interactions between assessors and products. These interactions are of particular relevance when studying individual differences. In particular, we present and discuss a number of distinctions and concepts that are important for understanding the relations between the different chapters and methodologies used in the book. A graphical structure to be repeated in each chapter is established for better seeing how the methods relate and deviate from each other. A list of much used statistical methods is provided together with how and where they are used in the different chapters.

Individual Differences in Projective Mapping and Sorting Data

In this chapter, we present individual differences exploration in two alternative holistic descriptive methods: projective mapping (napping) and sorting. Objectives are to explore group performance, validate the consensus solution, and to improve the understanding of the test methods themselves. Mapping and sorting data, as well as descriptive text data (ultra-flash profiling) are discussed. The main multivariate methods for projective mapping described here are multiple factor analysis, generalized Procrustes analysis, and INDSCAL. How to obtain consensus configurations and how to analyze individual differences, as well as segmentation and estimating relations to consumer factors are covered. For sorting data, multidimensional scaling and DISTATIS are discussed.