Acceptance and purchase intent of US consumers for nonwheat rice butter cakes.

This study evaluated consumer acceptance and purchase intent of nonwheat butter cake formulations prepared with Thai jasmine rice flour. Three nonwheat rice butter cakes were prepared with varying amounts of powdered emulsifier (propylene glycol ester:diacetyl tartaric acid ester of monoglyceride, 8:2) at 0% (product A), 7.5% (product B), and 15% (product C) of the margarine content (15%) in the cake formulation. A commercial wheat-based butter cake served as the control. Consumers (n= 400) evaluated acceptability of 9 sensory attributes using a 9-point hedonic scale. Overall acceptance and purchase intent were determined with a binomial (yes/no) scale. At least 81% of consumers accepted products B and C, of which 42.1% and 47%, respectively, would purchase the products if commercially available. Product A was neither liked nor disliked with an overall liking score of 5.39. The butter cake products were differentiated by textural acceptability (overall texture, softness, and moistness) with a canonical correlation of 0.71 to 0.79. Overall liking and taste influenced overall acceptance and purchase intent. Odor influenced purchase intent (P= 0.0014), but not overall acceptance. The odds ratio of overall liking was 3.462 for purchase intent, indicating the probability of the product being purchased is 3.462 times higher (than not being purchased, P < 0.0001) with every 1-unit increase of the overall liking score. Based on the logit model, overall acceptance and purchase intent could be predicted with 89.3% and 83.3% accuracy, respectively. The study demonstrated feasibility of completely substituting wheat flour with Thai jasmine rice flour for production of butter cake products acceptable to American consumers.

Antimicrobial activity of cinnamon and clove oils under modified atmosphere conditions.

Mixtures of cinnamon and clove oils were tested for inhibitory activity against important spoilage microorganism of intermediate moisture foods. Four fungal species (Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium roqueforti, Mucor plumbeus and Eurotium sp.), four yeasts species (Debaryomyces hansenii, Pichia membranaefaciens, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii and Candida lipolytica), and two bacteria species (Staphylococcus aureus and Pediococcus halophilus) inoculated separately on agar plates were sealed in a barrier pouch and exposed to essential oil volatiles under a modified atmosphere of low O2 (<0.05-10%) and high CO2 (20% or 40%), with the balance being N2. A. flavus and Eurotium sp. proved to be the most resistant microorganisms. Cinnamon and clove oils added between 1000 and 4000 microL at a ratio of 1:1 were tested for minimum inhibitory volume (MIV) against molds and yeasts. The gas phase above 1000 microL of the oil mixture inhibited growth of C. lipolytica and P. membranaefaciens; 2000 microL inhibited growth of A. flavus, P. roqueforti, M. plumbeus, Eurotium sp., D. hansenii, and Z. rouxii, while inhibition of A. flavus required the addition of 4000 microL. Higher ratios of cinnamon oil/clove oil were more effective for inhibiting the growth of A. flavus.