Current status and future prospects of sensory and consumer research approaches to gluten-free bakery and pasta products.

Sensory and consumer research performs a pivotal role in gluten-free (GF) food research and development due to consumer dissatisfaction about currently available products, despite the continued growth of this market and promising research developments. Nowadays, almost half of the original articles about GF products include sensory analysis. A current overview is needed to help both food scientists and industry indentify current trends and forward-looking approaches. This current review has gathered information concerning sensory and consumer research for GF bakery and pasta products, from studies published in the last decade, and then discusses future challenges in the light of recent advances. Among the promising approaches, projective techniques that collect data using social media can provide quick, spontaneous and direct opinions from GF consumers. They can also be used to evaluate trends and cross-cultural or global insights. Participatory methods have highlighted the importance of label information and may further explore the behavior of GF consumers in more realistic environments, as well as to evaluate the intrinsic GF food factors in GF consumer opinions, emotions, behavior and choices. This review details current issues occurring in sensory analysis of GF products, which still need to be resolved. The combination of affective and analytical methods allows for a better characterization of the samples and such sensory analysis of GF products in the future could guide product development and quality control, overcoming technological, nutritional, and shelf-life issues.

Lime juice and enzymes in clean label pan bread: baking quality and preservative effect.

Clean label breadmaking is a challenge for the bakery industry, considering the removal of additives, especially preservatives. Through dough acidification and the use of enzymes, shelf-life of breads may be extended in terms of sensory quality and preservation against microbiological deterioration. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of lime juice (0, 10.2 or 20.4 g.100 g-1, flour basis, f.b.) on technological characteristics and preservation of clean label pan breads, with and without enzymes (0.0015 and 0.0050 g.100 g-1 of phospholipase and fungal xylanase, f.b., respectively). The technological parameters of dough (high-speed mixing time, temperature, pH before and after proofing) and pan bread (specific volume, firmness, crust and crumb color, aw, pH and mold occurrence) were evaluated. Doughs with lime juice required a longer mixing time, and produced breads with lower volume, firmer crumb, lighter crust and lower mold occurrence, when compared to the market standard. Pan breads with 10.2 g.100 g-1 of lime juice and enzymes showed a higher volume and softer crumb, compared to those with only lime juice. Thus, the joint use of lime juice and enzymes may be suitable for clean label pan breads, maintaining a soft crumb and longer shelf life without additives.