Journal of Sensory Studies最新文献

The Children's Personal Significance of Olfaction Questionnaire (ChiPSO) is a measurement tool for assessing the importance of olfactory information in children. Due to limited research on the importance of olfaction in Chinese children, this study aims to translate the ChiPSO into Chinese and validate this version, thereby examining its applicability within the Chinese context. The study involved 1015 participants aged 6–15 years, with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) used to evaluate the questionnaire's factor structure, alongside tests for internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and concurrent validity. The results confirmed a robust three-factor structure (food, environment, and social) with adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Furthermore, concurrent validity was confirmed through significant correlations with the Chemosensory Pleasure Scale for Children and the Body Odor Sniffing Questionnaire. In conclusion, this study effectively validated the ChiPSO-C, proving it to be a reliable instrument for investigating olfactory significance in Chinese children.

Practical Application

The Chinese version of the Children's Personal Significance of Olfaction offers a validated tool to assess the personal significance of olfaction in Chinese children. Researchers and educators can use this tool to better understand and support children who may rely more significantly on olfactory cues for learning and interaction. Furthermore, this tool facilitates cross-cultural research by providing a means to compare olfactory significance across different cultural contexts.

The objective of this research was to determine the intensity and sensory dominance of habanero peppers grown in different types of soils and with different degrees of maturation. Chili samples grown in red soil (Mayan name: K'ankab lu'um) and black soil (Mayan name: Box lu'um) were evaluated in an immature state (green coloration) and intermediate ripening (green-orange coloration) using descriptive analysis (DA) and temporal dominance of sensations (TDS). Sensory representation and classification percentage of chili peppers were evaluated using principal component analysis and discriminant factor analysis. The sensory results demonstrated that intermediate ripening chili peppers presented higher color intensities associated with pungency. Immature chili peppers were characterized by having high odor intensities. The TDS results showed that the dominant attributes were burn feeling, chili flavor, heat, and numbness. Immature chili peppers grown in black soil tend to be burn feeling dominant and chili peppers grown in red soil were characterized as chili flavor. The ripe habanero peppers were chili flavor burn feeling and heat. The correct classification percentage was 89.81%.

Practical Applications

This research exposes the sensory differences of habanero peppers with different degrees of maturation and grown in different types of soils. The findings can serve as a reference for future research on the sensory characterization of pungent and for the industry dedicated to the production of habanero chili and for the gastronomy area in charge of the preparation of different dishes that use habanero chili as an ingredient.

Despite milk's rich nutrient profile, a growing number of consumers are opting for plant-based beverages due to health, ethical, and ecological concerns. However, knowledge about the temporal aspects of sensory attributes and consumption-evoked emotions in these milk alternatives remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the temporal characteristics of oat, almond, and soy drinks in comparison to conventional cow's milk from three Austrian brands. Employing temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) and temporal dominance of emotions (TDE) methods, 43 consumers assessed the dominance of selected sensory attributes and product evoked emotions over an evaluation period of 60 s for each test sample. The results reveal distinct patterns in sensory profiles and emotions associated with plant drinks, contributing to a better understanding of dynamic sensory perception in the evolving landscape of milk alternatives.

Practical applications

The presented study offers valuable insights into the temporal sensory characteristics and emotional sensations associated with oat, almond, and soy drinks compared to traditional cow's milk. Utilizing the temporal dominance of sensations and temporal dominance of emotions methods, we identified distinct sensory patterns in milk alternatives and dominant product-specific attributes and emotions. This research underscores the intricate interplay between sensory characteristics and consumption-evoked emotions, which ultimately influence product acceptability. As the global shift towards plant-based beverages gains momentum, future studies should delve into understanding evolving consumer preferences and exploring innovative formulations to enhance the sensory appeal of milk alternatives.

Milk has a soothing effect on the capsaicin-induced burning sensation in the mouth. This double-blinded, placebo-controlled, cross-over study aimed to investigate if milk proteins could relieve the capsaicin-induced burning sensation. During each session, the tongue of each participant was exposed to capsaicin twice for 8 min in total. Subsequently, the participants rinsed the mouth with one of three solutions: 5% casein, 5% whey protein, or water. The participants rated the perceived unpleasantness and burning sensation during capsaicin exposure and after rinsing on numerical rating scales. Thermographic imaging and semi-quantitative sensory testing were performed at baseline, after capsaicin exposure, and after rinsing. No significant differences were observed between sessions in any of the measured parameters (p ≥ .053). Scores for unpleasantness and burning sensation varied over time (p ≤ .006). Heat and mechanical sensitivity changed over time (p < .001). In conclusion, rinsing with milk protein solutions did not have any robust effect in this study design.

Practical Applications

It has been suggested that milk proteins could be responsible for the soothing effect milk has on the capsaicin-induced burning sensation in the mouth. The present results indicate that milk proteins are not solely responsible for this effect. Shedding light on the effects milk and its constituents have on the oral mucosa during a state of burning sensation or pain is of importance. This can help determining if specific constituents of milk could be used to relieve meal-related burning sensations as well as illness-related acute or chronic pain in the oral mucosa.

The objective of this research was to compare the sensory and cognitive performance of generations of consumers using artisanal tortillas. Four groups of generational consumers were evaluated (baby boomers, generation X, Y, and Z; n = 100 consumers per generational group). Three experiments were conducted: (1) use of the intensity scale, (2) determination of dominant attributes via TDS and (3) elicited emotions and memories. The results of the first experiment showed that baby boomers, generation X and Y had the best performance in terms of discrimination and consensus. The second experiment demonstrated that generation Z consumers identified dominant attributes of texture in mouth and the other generations identified corn flavor, nixtamal flavor, and sour taste attributes as dominant. Regarding the evaluation of emotions and memories, it was observed that as generations progress, more emotions, and memories were used. In this sense, generation Z was the one that used the most negative emotions and memories.

Practical Applications

Analyzing the generational effect can help researchers and tortilla manufacturers to the selection of generational consumer for the evaluation of artisanal, cross-cultural, or industrialized foods.

Food safety has emerged as a critical concern in Vietnam, posing a significant threat to public health due to the prevalence of unsafe foods in the market. Among those most vulnerable to contaminated foods, low-income individuals are significantly affected. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of food safety among this demographic, utilizing qualitative and quantitative approaches, including focus groups, survey questionnaires, and behavioral experiments using steamed bun as a stimulus. Participants were generally from low-income classes with certain variations in household monthly income. Results from focus groups and the survey highlighted that the factors influencing food purchases included perception of safety, sensory properties, and acceptable pricing. The behavioral experiment revealed that participants with lower incomes were more inclined to select foods containing unsafe chemicals. In conclusion, the study underscored the heightened vulnerability of low-income individuals to unsafe foods, with their perception of food safety bounded by socioeconomic status.

Practical Applications

The study highlights the high risk of contaminated food consumption among low-income individuals in Vietnam, intensified by economic struggles and heightened vulnerability to food insecurity. With this demographic relying on regulations for their health, urgent actions are needed. Governmental policymakers should focus on implementing food safety educational campaigns, promoting affordable and safe alternatives, and providing food aid to economically disadvantaged communities. Mandatory food safety training programs for street food vendors, food handlers, and small businesses, coupled with regular safety practice monitoring, can play a crucial role in mitigating serious consequences. In addition, the research methodologies employed in this study, especially the behavioral experiment approach, can serve as valuable tools for researchers in the field of consumer behavior, enabling them to attain valid and reliable results.

Children are born with an innate capacity to self-regulate their energy intake, but cues from the food environment can undermine children's self-regulation, promoting overconsumption, and challenging energy balance. The size of the portion offered by parents and caregivers has been shown to be correlated with how much food children consume, which is known as the portion size effect. Furthermore, some parental feeding practices may interfere with children's ability to self-regulate. The present research explored parents' perspectives and practices about how much food they offer to their children in Uruguay. Forty-two in-depth interviews with parents of children between 6 months and 5 years old were conducted. Results showed that parental decisions about portion sizes for their children were mostly unconscious and intuitive. Parents were unconcerned about portion sizes, mainly due to the belief that children are able to self-regulate. Although parents identified themselves as mainly responsible for deciding how much food to serve their children, the majority reported to be responsive when their child refuses to eat or finish their meal, or when they request to eat more. Coercive feeding practices were only mentioned by a minority of parents.

Practical Applications

Results from the present work stress the need to raise awareness of children's vulnerability to portion size effects, since portion size selection seems to be a highly arbitrary process. Further research is needed to identify the best approaches to disseminate information among parents and caregivers to promote appropriate portion sizes for children, as well as responsive feeding practices.

The global environmental changes require the development of new food formulations with sustainable ingredients. In this context, legumes could be used to enrich foods with beneficial consequences both on human health and sustainability of the agri-food system. The aim was to evaluate the liking of a whole corn-based formulation including chickpea or red lentil flour with or without providing health and environmental information about legumes. The effect of the conveyed information in subjects with different food neophobia (FN) level as well as the association between FN and different sustainability dimensions were also investigated. A 100% whole-corn sample and two samples added with 20% of chickpea or red lentil flour were tested by 127 consumers in blind, expected, and real conditions. Subjects completed questionnaires about FN, sustainable behavior, perceived environmental impact of food products, beliefs, and attitudes toward sustainable food. Legume-based products were equally liked as the control sample indicating that these food ingredients are promising for the enrichment of polenta samples. The information increased consumers' hedonic expectations. However, incomplete assimilation was found for samples with legumes. When the effect of information was assessed as a function of FN level, a complete assimilation for subjects with low (chickpea sample) and medium (red lentil sample) FN score was found, while no significant effect was seen for subjects with high FN score. A significant negative association was found between FN and sustainability commitment.

Practical Application

The results of the present study demonstrate that the development of sustainable food formulations using legumes is promising and that conveying health and environmental sustainability information contribute to increase consumer acceptance. However, consumers with high levels of FN were insensitive to information and were also those with low interest in sustainability issues. As a practical application, personalized communication strategies should be developed to reach different consumers targets when specific innovations are launched on the market alongside with industry efforts in developing marketing initiatives raising consumers awareness about health and environmental aspects.

Flavor wheels are visual tools built from standardized sensory lexicons that are used in many different industries to improve communication, marketing, and quality discrimination among products. To date, flavor wheels have been developed for spices, coffee, wine, beer, and many other foods and beverages—yet no flavor wheel has been constructed for hard cider. While there is no single established method for constructed flavor wheels, most approaches are based on sensory descriptive analysis (DA) and free word sorting activities that investigate the semantic similarity and dissimilarity of descriptive terms. This research study utilized multiple DA studies for the generation of a sensory lexicon, followed by independent word sorting tasks with cider industry professionals (N = 40) and untrained consumers (N = 58) to establish two flavor wheels that are broadly understandable to a variety of industry stakeholders. Based on the results of DISTATIS and additive tree partitioning, this research showcases a workflow for developing and refining flavor wheels that incorporate both stakeholder and researcher input and can be built upon by other analysts.

Practical Applications

This research demonstrates an accessible methodology for developing flavor wheels that incorporates input from diverse parties and considers the semantic associations of terms used by cider consumers and industry professionals. The proposed methodology is a useful framework for other sensory scientists seeking to efficiently develop flavor wheels for multiple audiences. As a demonstration, this research also delivers two flavor wheels—one that highlights discrepancies in how industry consumers and producers semantically understand sensory experiences compared to trained sensory personnel, and a second wheel that showcases how hard cider can more objectively be described. Together, these flavor wheels are tools for improving sensory communication, education, and marketing in the US hard cider industry.