Using dynamic sensory techniques to determine drivers of liking in sodium and fat-reduced Bologna sausage containing functional emulsion gels.

Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) and Temporal Check-all-that-apply (TCATA) are fast and dynamic descriptive techniques for sensory characterization of food. The temporal perception involved during the consumption of reformulated meat products are rarely considered and, in this context, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the influence of salt and fat reduction on Bologna sausage with addition of emulsion gel in the dynamic sensorial perception by using TDS and TCATA methods considering overall liking. After the dynamic sensory characterization tasks, consumers rated their liking using a 9-point hedonic scale. The findings showed that fat and salt reduction, and the addition of emulsion gels as fat replacers affected the sensory characteristics of the Bologna sausages. Regarding the methods, both studies collected the variations between samples with a great correlation between data. The TDS and TCATA curves revealed that texture attributes (firm and soft) were dominant at the beginning of the evaluation for all samples. TCATA also showed that juicy was dominant in the first 15 s of eating period. Related to overall liking, control sample (2% salt and 20% pork back fat) presented the highest scores (7.25 for TDS and 7.24 for TCATA) and Bolognas sausages with emulsion gels and reduced in salt were less accepted (4.95 for TDS and 5.86 for TCATA). Bologna flavor was the major attribute related to liking and fat flavor the main driver of disliking. Results from the present work suggest that dynamic sensorial methods are effective tools to characterize reformulated meat products.

Q Methodology: An interesting strategy for concept profile and sensory description of low sodium salted meat.

The conceptual representation and sensory profiling of low sodium salted meat containing different flavor enhancers (n = 9) were investigated using the Q methodology. Seventy consumers performed a Q-sorting task having in mind the health concept, using a hedonic test and sensory description of the samples. Regular sodium salted meats were associated to the health concept and were characterized by as too much salt, fatty, salty taste, strange taste, and high blood pressure, while the low-sodium samples were associated with good appearance, metallic taste, and healthy. The Health questionnaire showed it is a valorization of food with improved sensory characteristics in addition and the importance of physical and emotional health. Our findings suggested the Q methodology can be an interesting tool for meat processors, together with the traditional sensory test with consumers, to obtain more consistent and complementary information about meat products.