Browsing by Subject "oat-based"

The impact of color on perception of food has been studied a lot with solid and liquid foods, but research with semi-solid foods, such as yogurt, has not been published as much. Semi-solid oat-based foods have great commercial potential, yet there are still challenges related to sensory properties. In order to meet consumer acceptance, more research on plant-based foods is needed. The aim of this thesis work was to study the impact of food color in two different oat-based yogurt-like products on consumers’ perception of flavor and texture, as well as acceptance and preference. For this purpose, descriptive analysis and consumer test were applied on six samples, Yosa and Oddlygood as such and with two levels of added yellow food colorant. Generic Descriptive Analysis (GDA) was done for 8 attributes (yellowness intensity, consistency, overall aroma intensity, overall flavor intensity, sourness intensity, oat flavor intensity, thickness and powderiness) with 30 trained panelists. Consumer test (106 panelists) included 9-point scales for pleasantness, flavor intensity, thickness, and how natural the color looks, a Just-About-Right (JAR) scale for thickness and a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) question. Increased color intensity was found to increase flavor intensity, as well as sourness and aroma of Yosa product, but not of Oddlygood product. Color intensity did not affect consumers’ preference, but the closer the color was to that of commercial products, the more natural consumers considered its color to be. According to JAR result, it was advisable to improve thickness of all the samples. From CATA result, 5 words used the most to describe all the samples were creamy, viscous, runny, smooth, and watery. In conclusion, the effect of color on perception of flavor was found in Yosa product, but not Oddlygood product, and color had no significant effect on pleasantness of the products.