How a Spanish Group of Millennial Generation Perceives the Commercial Novel Smoothies?

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) constantly emphasize the importance of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption; these natural products help in the prevention of major diseases. Smoothies are a simple and convenient way of doing so; thus, their demand is constantly growing and their market is becoming important for the food industry. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine Millennial consumer opinion towards novel fruit- and vegetable-smoothies available on the retail market. Napping®, descriptive sensory analysis, and consumer studies were conducted. Napping® results group samples into four clusters of smoothies; the main grouping factor was the type of fruit and the percentage of vegetables. Penalty analysis showed that smoothies need improvement mainly dealing with sweetness, bitterness, and vegetable flavors. Millennial consumers formed a homogeneous sensory group in which the overall liking was negatively correlated with the level of sweetness, and earthy, carrot, beetroot, and pear flavors. The key liking drivers were sourness and notes of mango, banana, and peach flavors. This research is a new insight into the perception of smoothies, provides comprehensive knowledge for the food industry, and can guide the design of new healthy smoothies.

Volatile Composition, Sensory Profile and Consumer Acceptability of HydroSOStainable Table Olives.

HydroSOStainable table olives (cultivar Manzanilla) are produced from olive trees grown under regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies. Olives produced by RDI are known to have a higher content of some bioactive compounds (e.g. polyphenols), but no information about consumer acceptance (or liking) have been reported so far. In this study, the volatile composition, the sensory profile and the consumer opinion and willingness to pay (at three locations) for HydroSOStainable table olives produced from three RDI treatments and a control were studied. Volatile composition was affected by RDI, by increasing alcohols, ketones and phenolic compounds in some treatments, while others led to a decrease in esters and the content of organic acids. Descriptive sensory analysis (10 panelists) showed an increase of green-olive flavor with a decrease of bitterness in the HydroSOStainable samples. Consumers (study done with 100 consumers in 2-rural and 1-urban locations; ntotal = 300), after being informed about the HydroSOStainable concept, preferred HydroSOStainable table olives to the conventional samples and were willing to pay a higher price for them (52% 1.35-1.75 € and 32% 1.75-2.50 € as compared to the regular price of 1.25 € for a 200 g bag). Finally, green-olive flavor, hardness, crunchiness, bitterness, sweetness and saltiness were defined as the attributes driving consumer acceptance of HydroSOStainable table olives.

Quality Attributes and Fatty Acid, Volatile and Sensory Profiles of "Arbequina" hydroSOStainable Olive Oil.

The use of deficit irrigation techniques on olive orchards is the main trend aiming to optimize water savings while improving functional and sensory characteristics of oils from trees under deficit irrigation techniques. The brand hydroSOStainable has been defined for crops produced under water restriction conditions. HydroSOStainable olive oils obtained under two new regulated deficit irrigation and one sustained deficit irrigation treatments in "Arbequina" olive trees were evaluated by analyzing quality parameters, antioxidant activity, total phenol content, fatty acid profile, volatile compounds, and sensory descriptors. Results showed that some of these irrigation strategies improved the phenol content at "moderate" stress levels, slightly enriched the fatty acid profile (~3.5% increased oleic acid and simultaneously decreased saturated fatty acids), and increased some key volatile compounds and also several key sensory attributes. Therefore, hydroSOStainable olive oil may be more attractive to consumers as it is environmentally friendly, has a higher content of several bioactive compounds, and has improved sensory characteristics as compared to control (fully irrigated) oils.

A Critical Overview of Labeling Information of Pomegranate Juice-Based Drinks: Phytochemicals Content and Health Claims.

Punicalagin is responsible for over 50% of the antioxidant activity of pomegranate, but ellagic acid (EA) and total polyphenol content (TPC) are also key parameters regarding pomegranate bioactivity. Many juices and other drinks based on pomegranate take advantage from the widespread healthy image of this fruit, whereas their real content of bioactive phytochemicals is low. For that reason, the objective of this study was to compare the labelling information with the real phytochemical contents (TPC, punicalagin [Pn] [isomers α, ß], and EA). Titratable acidity (TA), color density (CD), polymeric color (PC), and sensory profiles (trained panel) were assessed. The experimental ranges of TPC and Pn contents were 2.75 to 70.9 mg/g and traces to 3.18 mg/g, respectively. The percentage of pomegranate juice was highly correlated with the intensity of the pomegranate ID attribute (R = 0.85; p < 0.001), Pn content (R = 0.71; p < 0.001), and EA content (R = 0.36; p < 0.001). The experimental results showed a high variability in the content of bioactive compounds and the need to urge food companies to optimize processes and storage conditions. Although no health claim for pomegranate has been authorized so far at the European Union, significant mismatches among labelling and bioactive compounds content are misleading consumers. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Pomegranate juice and nectar producers need to evaluate the real content of bioactive Pn, EA, and TPC in their products to optimize formulation, heat treatment, packaging and storage conditions to guarantee high levels of bioactive compounds during shelf life. Producers' organizations may benefit from harmonizing Pom products labelling, so they may fulfill consumer expectations and may be ready if health claims are finally authorized for these products. The development of a new sensory quality marker will be an interesting option.

Effect of Spanish-style processing on the quality attributes of HydroSOStainable green olives.

BACKGROUND: Three treatments of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) were assayed on olive trees for table olive production. RDI provides hydroSOStainable crops. The effect of RDI treatments on the quality of raw and table olives was determined based on their: weight, pit weight, fruit/pit ratio, size, texture, colour, mineral content, antioxidant activity, total phenol content and organic acid and sugar profile. RESULTS: HydroSOStainable olives showed the most attractive shape and colour: highest fruit weight, roundest fruit, hardest texture and a lightest and greenest colour than control olives. Minerals, antioxidants, phenols and organic acids and sugars of hydroSOStainable olives were similar to control olives. After processing to table olives, calcium, potassium, antioxidants and phenols contents decreased, whereas sugars and organic acids profiles changed in both types of olives. CONCLUSIONS: HydroSOStainable table olives offer environmental and quality advantages over control olives given the reduced use of fresh water and favourable morphological traits, which are more attractive for consumers. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Polyphenol Profile in Manzanilla Table Olives As Affected by Water Deficit during Specific Phenological Stages and Spanish-Style Processing.

Reducing water consumption on agriculture is a worldwide goal toward sustainability. In this scenario, two experiments of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) were carried out on olive trees, cultivar Manzanilla. With regard to experiment A, three RDI techniques were applied during the olive pit hardening period (stage II), while in experiment B, two RDI treatments were applied during the rehydration phase (stage III). Table olives under RDI are so-called hydroSOStainable. The effect of water deficit and Spanish-style processing was studied on the polyphenol profile, antioxidant capacity, and total polyphenol content (TPC) of both raw olives (RO) and table olives (TO). The TPC decreased after processing of TO. It could be due to osmotic mechanisms. However, many individual polyphenols, such as oleuropein (main polyphenol) or oleoside diglucoside, increased their concentrations in hydroSOStainable TO. Additionally, the TPC content was correlated to the phenological stage of the fruit when the stress is applied. A moderate stress during pit hardening and an intense stress during the rehydration phase were the treatments that best improved the polyphenol profile.

Consumers' Opinion on Dried Pomegranate Arils to Determine the Best Processing Conditions.

Consumers' preference is essential to improve processed food products quality, but small companies sometimes lacks knowledge or tools to develop consumer studies. The aim of the present study was to investigate consumers' insight to recommend the best drying methodology for pomegranate arils. With the aim of providing information that industry can correlate to the drivers of liking, descriptive sensory characteristics, and volatile compounds of the samples were determined and related with consumers' responses. A total of 19 volatiles of dehydrated pomegranate arils were determined using solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Partial least square regression (PLS) results indicated that consumers overall liking was positively correlated with "pom ID", "sweet", and "fruity" attributes, and also volatile compounds of the esters family. Overall liking was negatively correlated with the "off-flavor" and "burnt" attributes, related to the furan compounds family. Penalty analysis indicated that the sample corresponding with the current commercial product needed improvement on the "pom ID", "fruity", and "sweetness" parameters. All the samples processed using the proposed new drying techniques were more liked than the commercial sample, highlighting a sample dried using pre-osmotic dehydration in Wonderful concentrate pomegranate juice. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Consumers' preference is essential to improve processed food products quality, but small companies sometimes lack knowledge or tools to conduct consumer studies. The present study provides useful information to understand consumers' preferences of a healthy product such as pomegranate dehydrated arils. Also, the link of physico-chemical and sensory tools is clearly described, providing information about possible sensory quality indicators.

Volatile composition and sensory profile of Cantharellus cibarius Fr. as affected by drying method.

BACKGROUND: In this work, the influence of different drying methods on the aroma composition and sensory quality of chanterelle mushrooms (Cantharellus cibarius Fr.) was evaluated. The drying methods tested were convective drying (CD), freeze drying (FD), vacuum microwave drying (VMD) and a combination of convective pre-drying and vacuum microwave finish drying (CPD-VMFD). RESULTS: Analyses of fresh and dried chanterelle samples by HS-SPME and GC/MS and GC-FID showed the presence of 39 volatile compounds at different concentrations. The most abundant compounds in fresh chanterelle were 1-hexanol (33.4 µg per 100 g dry basis (db)), 1-octen-3-ol (80.2 µg per 100 g db) and 2-octen-1-ol (19.3 µg per 100 g db). The results showed that fresh and dried chanterelle contained very low levels of aroma compounds; however, the highest contents of volatile compounds were found in samples after (i) CD at 80 °C (129 µg per 100 g db), (ii) CPD-VMFD at 70 °C-480/240 W (136 µg per 100 g db) and (iii) CPD-VMFD at 80 °C-480/240 W (136 µg per 100 g db). CONCLUSION: The best dehydration methods, which resulted in high contents of volatile compounds and appropriate sensory quality, according to descriptive sensory analysis and PCA tools, were CD at 70 and 80 °C. Besides, these methods led to spongy dried mushrooms with high intensities of fresh, mushroom ID, with proper color and without intense shrinkage. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Volatile Composition of Smoked and Non-Smoked Iranian Rice.

In this work, the volatile profiles of smoked and non-smoked Iranian rice were identified, and their relative abundance was calculated and compared. Headspace solid-phase microextraction together with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) were used to extract and identify the volatile compounds. The main groups of volatiles in Iranian rice were aldehydes, ketones, phenol derivatives, furans, linear hydrocarbons, esters and terpenes. The chemical family aldehydes was the most abundant one in the profile of non-smoked rice, while phenol derivatives and furans predominated in smoked samples. This study is the first one reporting comparative data of volatile compounds between smoked and non-smoked Iranian rice.