Understanding Brazilian consumer sensory and hedonic perception for salty snacks.

Due to their practicality and convenience, consumption of snack foods has grown among the Brazilian population. At the same time, the demand for healthier products continues to grow, as today's consumers are increasingly concerned about their health and well-being. To meet this demand, traditional products have been reformulated to achieve a healthier nutritional profile. In this context, the aim of this study was to understand the sensory and hedonic perception of Brazilian consumers toward salty snacks. Sixty-one consumers answered a Check-all-that-apply (CATA) questionnaire, followed by an acceptance test and an attitudinal questionnaire. Four traditional salty snacks and one fit snack were sampled. The results showed that both the fit snack and the traditional snacks were well accepted by consumers. According to CATA questionnaire, the samples presented a completely different sensory profile, describing their ideal snack as: crispy, homogeneous, little cheese aroma, corn flavor, sweet residual taste and little salty taste. In addition, the attitudinal questionnaire indicated that consumers want products that bring health benefits, while maintaining their pleasant flavor and affordable price. These findings highlight that understanding consumers' desires can help new products succeed in the marketplace and also aid in marketing strategies to be used.

Relationship between volatile organic compounds, free amino acids, and sensory profile of smoked bacon.

Flavor is one of the most important characteristics of smoked bacon, strongly affecting its liking by consumers. The smoking process, lipid oxidation and proteolysis contribute to bacon quality through the generation of odors and flavor compounds. In this study, the relationships between free amino acids (FAAs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sensory characteristics of smoked bacon stored for 60 days at 5 °C were investigated. Smoked bacon stored for 30 days was characterized by VOCs associated with the smoking process and lipid oxidation. After 30 days of storage, the bacon samples presented an increase in FAAs produced mainly by proteolysis. Smoked bacon was characterized by the attributes smoky, crunchy, salty, soft and bright. This study demonstrated that VOCs, FAAs and their interactions are responsible for generating sensory attributes and increasing overall liking.

Original burger (traditional) or burger with mushroom addition? A social representation approach to novel foods.

Currently, consumers' interest in healthy products has attracted the attention of academia and the meat industry, which has focused mainly on incorporating ingredients with healthier properties. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate the social representation of original burgers and burgers with mushroom addition considering different sexes and body mass indexes (BMIs) of individuals. Thus, 209 Brazilians answered a word association task followed by a word classification based on their importance and valence for original burgers and burgers with the addition of mushrooms. To obtain the structure of social representation, the words were positioned into four distinct zones based on their frequency of elicitation and importance. Also, the polarity index was used to give a connotation to the words. Three groups of consumers were identified. The first group (consumers with class-1 obesity of both sexes) associated the original burger with positive categories (cheese, juicy, seasoned, food, tasty, joy, salad and delicious). The second one (female consumers with pre-obesity and class-1 obesity) associated the burger with the addition of mushrooms with the elements price, different, vegetarian, flavor, gourmet and healthy. Finally, the third group (men and women for both stimuli and with a wide range of BMI) characterized burgers with sensory attributes, feelings and moments of consumption. In conclusion, the social representation of the original burger and the burger with the addition of mushrooms differed among consumers, suggesting that the main associations can be the main motivations for the consumption of a certain product.

Effect of the smoking using Brazilian reforestation woods on volatile organic compounds, lipid oxidation, microbiological and hedonic quality of bacons during shelf life.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of using different reforestation woods (Acacia mearnsii and Eucalyptus citriodora) on the formation of volatile organic compounds and to evaluate the changes in the lipid fraction (peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances), microbiological counts and overall liking in bacons stored for 60 days at 5 ± 1 °C. Smoking with Eucalyptus citriodora wood increased the total phenolic content and, consequently, reduced the concentration of hexanal, TBARS, and PV values. Although smoking with different reforestation woods did not impact negatively on the liking of products, no changes on antimicrobial activity was observed in the developed products. Thus, the use of Eucalyptus citriodora wood may be an alternative for smoking meat products as it reduced lipid oxidation and improved the volatile compounds profile, and provided higher antioxidant activity. The information generated herein can be used as a platform for companies to test the viability of producing meat products smoked with reforestation woods.

Interactions of preservatives in meat processing: Formation of carcinogenic compounds, analytical methods, and inhibitory agents.

Meat products are important for balanced diets because of their nutritional richness. However, noxious compounds may be formed by interactions among reactants and specific conditions in processed meats. N-nitroso compounds, heterocyclic aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 1,4-dinitro-2-methyl pyrrole (DNMP), and ethyl nitrolic acid (ENA) are among the main compounds of toxicological concern. This review corroborates the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)'s decision to classify those foodstuffs as carcinogenic to humans. Furthermore, this paper also aimed at clarifying how noxious compounds are formed in meat products, as well as their health effects for consumers. The preservatives abuse and the use of forbidden additives may increase the formation of carcinogens. Risks are not only due to preservatives, since some compounds are formed during processing or digestion, without clear link to any additive. Regulation should set specific residue limits for other noxious compounds in meat products, such as DNMP and ENA. The scope of control programs should be extended instead of assessing the proper use of additives only. Thus, reliable analytical methods for the quantitation of carcinogens should be available. Fermentative and enzymatic processes for bioconversion are among the main strategies to solve these problems in foodstuffs. The use of antioxidants is the most common approach, because of its low cost and effectiveness. In the future, the IARC classification should rather consider different categories of processing, as well as the chemical and microbiological composition of meat products. Further studies are still required to clarify the increase on cancer risk due to the consumption of meat products and to elucidate the main mechanisms of carcinogenicity. Notwithstanding, such carcinogens cannot be neglected, but continuously investigated, including their health implications in relation to other foods.

Measuring dynamics of emotions evoked by the packaging colour of hamburgers using Temporal Dominance of Emotions (TDE).

The packaging colour is one of the main extrinsic factors related to sensory perception as it can alter the emotions evoked by the product and, therefore, influence the moment of purchasing a product. There are several methods used to analyse emotions, but the Temporal Dominance of Emotions (TDE) approach stands out. This method allows the study of the temporality of dominant emotions until eating a portion of the hamburger. The aim of this work was to use TDE and overall acceptance to study the dynamic of the emotions evoked by the packaging colour of hamburgers, from first sight of the packaging until eating of a portion of hamburger. The twelve attributes of emotion, determined previously via a focus group, were presented to the consumers to evaluate three different stimuli formed by three different coloured packaging (green, white and red) and the same hamburger. The results showed that acceptance alone is not sufficient to understand the choice of a product, most likely because it does not capture the emotions involved in the consumption of a hamburger. Significant differences were found in the dynamic perception of emotions influenced by the packaging colour along time, mainly during the first "packaging - consumer" contact. Finally, the study of the dynamics of emotions provided valuable and complementary information to overall acceptance.

Understanding consumers' dynamic sensory perception for bacon smoked with different Brazilian woods.

The aim of the present study was to obtain the dynamic sensory profile of smoked bacon using Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS). Eight samples were studied considering different smoking process: six samples were submitted to conventional smoking using different woods from reforestation and two samples were manufactured with liquid smoke. Seventy-eight regular bacon consumers evaluated the samples using the TDS methodology. TDS data were analyzed based on the sequence (bandplot by attribute and trajectory map) and dominance duration (univariate and multivariate techniques). TDS results showed differences between samples in terms of rate, trajectory and duration of dominant sensations. These differences can be mainly explained by the smoking processes used in their manufacture and by the oral work involved in the mastication task. Overall, TDS was a promising method for capturing temporal sensory changes in smoked bacon.

Incorporation of pink pepper residue extract into chitosan film combined with a modified atmosphere packaging: Effects on the shelf life of salmon fillets.

Fresh salmon safety and quality is a major concern of consumers. In the current research, the effects of chitosan films incorporated with pink pepper residue extract and combined with modified atmosphere packaging (100% CO2) on quality properties of skinless salmon fillets during refrigerated storage (2 °C) were evaluated in the course of 28 days. Two different treatments as chitosan film (CF) and chitosan film incorporated with pink pepper residue extract (CFPP) and a control were compared. Salmon fillets were assessed for physicochemical (pH, WHC, TPA, Cie L*a*b*, TMA, TBA, value K), microbiological (mesophilic and psychrotrophic count, and lactic acid bacteria) and sensory properties. The results showed that CF and CFPP significantly reduced lipid oxidation relative to the control. Bacterial counts were significantly lower in CFPP, contributing to the significant reduction of trimethylamine. For sensory evaluation, CF and CFPP presented satisfactory results of off-odor and overall appearance. Despite being similar to the control, CFPP showed the lowest off-odor score. The results indicated that CFPP were more effective in maintaining the quality of salmon fillets during refrigerated storage.