Silvia Magalhães Couto

Chemical, sensory, and functional properties of whey-based popsicles manufactured with watermelon juice concentrated at different temperatures

The effects of the concentration of watermelon juice at different temperatures (45, 55, or 65 °C) on the physicochemical and sensory characteristics, antioxidant capacity, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of whey-based popsicles were investigated. Total phenolic content, lycopene, citrulline, VOCs, melting rate, instrumental colour, antioxidant capacity, and the sensory characteristics (hedonic test and free listing) were determined. The temperature led to a significant decrease in bioactive compounds (total phenolics, lycopene, and citrulline). The popsicle manufactured with reconstituted watermelon juice concentrated to 60 °Brix at 65 °C presented higher antioxidant capacity and was characterized by the presence of alcohols, aldehydes and ketones and presented a similar acceptance to the untreated popsicle (except for flavour). It is possible to combine whey and concentrated watermelon juice for the manufacture of bioactive-rich popsicles, using the concentration temperature of 65 °C as a suitable processing condition for potential industrial applications.

Validação de um questionário de atitude em relação à soja e seus derivados com clientes da alimentação coletiva

OBJETIVO: Validar um questionario para verificar a atitude de clientes da Alimentacao Coletiva em relacao a soja e seus derivados. METODOS: A elaboracao do questionario valeu-se de escala de Likert de cinco pontos. As validacoes foram realizadas com clientes de duas unidades de alimentacao e nutricao, da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, sendo a primeira uma empresa grafica e a segunda uma empresa de confeccoes. A validacao interna valeu-se do coeficiente de Cronbach para medir confiabilidade. Aplicou-se o teste de normalidade as matrizes de escores para cada item. A constatacao do comportamento dos escores nao Gausiano indicou utilizacao da correlacao de Spearman (r) para discriminar itens. Como criterio de exclusao foi definido r negativo ou proximo de zero. A validacao externa foi realizada entre o confronto das matrizes representadas pelas medias dos escores de cada item. Utilizou-se a razao dos desvios-padrao para avaliar a concordância relativa, considerando-se a associacao entre as matrizes resultantes da aplicacao do questionario nas duas unidades de alimentacao e nutricao. RESULTADOS: Participaram da validacao 45 e 90 clientes das duas unidades de alimentacao e nutricao, respectivamente. O procedimento aplicado na unidade de alimentacao e nutricao da empresa grafica indicou a retirada de 3 itens dentre os 20 itens originais. O questionario resultante foi replicado na unidade de alimentacao e nutricao da empresa de confeccao, sem indicacao de exclusao de itens. O coeficiente de Cronbach foi 0,92 e 0,91, respectivamente, indicando confiabilidade do instrumento para medir atitude. O confronto entre os escores para cada item entre as unidades gerou a razao de desvio 0,99, que recomenda retirada do item seis, relativo a rotulagem, ou seja, se as informacoes sao suficientemente claras em relacao a soja. CONCLUSAO: O questionario foi validado, tornando-se um instrumento capaz de informar sobre a atitude de clientes da alimentacao coletiva em relacao a soja e seus derivados.

Attitudes of Foodservice Users in Relation to Soybean and its Derivativesin Brazil

The attitudes of Foodservice users towards soybeans and their derivatives were investigated. A Likert scale questionnaire was created based on the proposal by Behrens & Da Silva. Statistical analyses included position and dispersion measures, frequency distribution, normality test, Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Cronbach’s alpha (α=0.96). The questionnaire was answered by 89 workers from the steel industry. The results revealed that soybean consumers do not read labels to identify its presence. When asked about soybean’s nutritional quality, respondents recognized that it has a high protein quantity and that it is a functional food as a hormonal substitute in menopause and a regulator of intestine functions, but they did not recognize its role in bone tissue formation. Because they were unaware of issues related to genetically modified foods, they did not have a formed opinion. It was concluded that Foodservice users from the steel industry are unaware of critical facts that determine the purchase of soybean and its derivatives.