TITLE:
Sensory Evaluation of Vegetable-Infused Fruit-Flavored Applesauce and the Comparison between Adults and Children
AUTHORS:
Peter Bordi, Kiwon Lee, Martha Conklin
KEYWORDS:
Vegetable-Infused Applesauce; Stealth Health Foods; Childhood Obesity; Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
15,
2013
ABSTRACT: Low consumption of fruits and
vegetables among children is considered to be a leading contributor to
childhood obesity, making it prudent to develop healthier foods that are
accessible, affordable and satisfying to children. Our objective was to
investigate the sensory characteristics and preferred flavors of
vegetable-infused applesauce among adults (male and female) and 7th grade middle school students; and to compare the flavor
preferences of adults and children in order to gather information that helps
determine target demographics for each applesauce flavor. Sensory testing for
eight attributes
(overall liking, overall appearance, appearance of texture, appearance of
color, taste, mouth feel, amount of fruit flavor, amount of sweetness) were
rated by 120 adults and 106 middle school students. Adults and kids demonstrated
significantly different preferences for the tropical and mixed berry applesauce
flavors but no difference with the strawberry banana-flavored applesauce.
Female adults demonstrated clear preference for the strawberry banana flavor;
children demonstrated a higher preference for the mixed berry flavor, followed
by the tropical flavor. Overall, both adults and children rated all of the
applesauce flavors favorably, suggesting that developing and bringing such
products to market could be an effective method for helping adults and children
consume more fruits and vegetables.