Analysis of wheat flour-insect powder mixtures based on their near infrared spectra.

Insects are gaining more and more space in food and feed sectors, creating an intense scientific interest towards insects as food ingredients. Several papers deal with cereal-based products complemented by insect powder in the past few years. However, adulteration and quality control of such products present some hot topics for researchers, e.g., how can we justify the amounts and/or species of the insects used in the given products? Our paper aims to answer such questions by analysing seven edible insect powders of different species independently. The mixtures with wheat flour were analysed using near infrared spectroscopy and chemometric methods. Not only powders of different species were clearly differentiated, but also mixtures created by different amounts of wheat flour. Prediction of insect content showed 0.65% cross-validated error. The proposed methodology gives an excellent tool for quality control of insect-based cereal food products.

Discrimination Ability of Assessors in Check-All-That-Apply Tests: Method and Product Development.

Binary similarity measures have been used in several research fields, but their application in sensory data analysis is limited as of yet. Since check-all-that-apply (CATA) data consist of binary answers from the participants, binary similarity measures seem to be a natural choice for their evaluation. This work aims to define the discrimination ability of CATA participants by calculating the consensus values of 44 binary similarity measures. The proposed methodology consists of three steps: (i) calculating the binary similarity values of the assessors, sample pair-wise; (ii) clustering participants into good and poor discriminators based on their binary similarity values; (iii) performing correspondence analysis on the CATA data of the two clusters. Results of three case studies are presented, highlighting that a simple clustering based on the computed binary similarity measures results in higher quality correspondence analysis with more significant attributes, as well as better sample discrimination (even according to overall liking).

Cricket-Enriched Oat Biscuit: Technological Analysis and Sensory Evaluation.

Insect-containing products are gaining more space in the market. Bakery products are one of the most promising since the added ground insects can enhance not only the nutritional quality of the dough, but technological parameters and sensory properties of the final products. In the present research, different amounts of ground Acheta domesticus (house cricket) were used to produce oat biscuits. Colour, hardness, and total titratable acidity (TTA) values were measured as well as a consumer sensory test was completed using the check-all-that-apply (CATA) method. An estimation of nutrient composition of the samples revealed that, according to the European Union's Regulation No. 1924/2006, the products with 10 and 15 g/100 g cricket enrichment (CP10 and CP15, respectively) can be labelled as protein sources. Results of the colour, TTA, and texture measurements showed that even small amounts of the cricket powder darkened the colour of the samples and increased their acidity, but did not influence the texture significantly. Among product-related check all that apply (CATA) attributes, fatty and cheesy flavour showed a significant positive effect on overall liking (OAL). On the other hand, burnt flavour and brown colour significantly decreased OAL. OAL values showed that consumers preferred the control product (CP0) and the product with 5 g/100 g cricket enrichment (CP5) samples over CP10 and rejected CP15.