Dulce de leche submitted to ohmic heating treatment: Consumer sensory profile using preferred attribute elicitation (PAE) and temporal check-all-that-apply (TCATA).

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the application of ohmic heating (OH) to milk (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 V cm-1, 72-75 °C/15 s) on the sensory profiling of dulce de leche (DL) evaluated using preferred attribute elicitation (PAE) and temporal Check-all-that-apply (TCATA) methodologies. In addition a consumer test was also performed. OH-DL samples presented increased scores for all the sensory attributes evaluated. Low or intermediate strength electric fields contributed to increase bitter taste and decrease DL aroma and sweet taste of the products, without impact on the overall liking. When high strength electric fields were applied, higher brightness, fluidity and DL flavor scores were observed, as well as, lower intensities in consistency and sandiness scores, resulting in increased acceptance by consumers. From TCATA data, it could be observed that the perception of all sensory attributes increased as well as increased the strength of the electric fields. Overall, the adoption of electric fields with higher strength in ohmic heating during DL processing is advised, since they improved the intensity and perception of desirable intrinsic DL sensory attributes as well as improved DL overall liking.

Comparison of static and dynamic sensory product characterizations based on check-all-that-apply questions with consumers.

The aim of the present work was to compare static and dynamic sensory product characterizations based on check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions with consumers. Three studies involving a total of 310 consumers were carried out. In each study, a between-subjects experimental design was used to compare static sensory characterizations obtained using CATA questions with dynamic characterizations over a relatively short time period using temporal CATA (TCATA). Three different product categories were evaluated (orange juice, strawberry yogurt, and vanilla milk desserts) using 6-11 sensory terms. TCATA data were analysed as CATA considering fixed time periods throughout the evaluation. CATA and TCATA were compared in terms of frequency of use of the terms, sample discrimination, and sample and term configurations. Asking consumers to continuously select the attributes that applied to describe a product and to deselect those that no longer applied during the evaluation period did not substantially modify the average citation proportion of terms or the maximum citation proportion for individual terms for liquid and semi-solid products with a relatively fast oral preparatory phase. Although both methodologies provided similar information, additional insights on how similarities and differences among samples evolved during consumption were obtained with TCATA in the case of products that experience large temporal changes or attributes with strong time-dependency. CATA provided similar information as TCATA for sensory attributes that did not change substantially during the evaluation period. Results from the present work suggest that static and dynamic product sensory characterizations using CATA questions with consumers provide complementary information about consumer experiences with food products.