MULTIPLE TIME-INTENSITY ANALYSIS AND ACCEPTANCE OF RASPBERRY-FLAVORED GELATIN

Face to face with the scenario of current human nutrition, there is an ever-growing preoccupation with the provision of healthy and rapidly prepared diets, gelatin being an important product, taking into consideration its properties, such as muscular regeneration and bone strengthening. The objective of this work is to evaluate different brands of raspberry-flavored gelatin, both traditional and diet, by multiple time-intensity analysis for sweet, acid and raspberry flavor, as well as an acceptance test with 120 consumers. The statistical analysis included variance analysis, Tukey tests and Internal Preference Map. The results showed that there was no significant difference between all the samples to the time in which the maximum intensity of sweetness and acidity occurs. The results indicated a greater acceptance of the traditional samples, which were preferred by the majority (85% regarding intention to purchase). The aspartame/acessulfame-potassium edulcorants were those that recorded behavior most distant from sucrose, compared with sodium saccharine and sodium cyclamate edulcorants. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The time-intensity analysis is important to provide how the flavor behavior is for the consumers during the food ingestion and is used in order to obtain the temporal profile of an attribute in a certain product. This analysis is different from the conventional descriptive analysis because it allows the verification of changes in the perception of a product's attribute over time. The sensory results showed in this study should be useful to researchers and product developers who are working with different edulcorants in food, especially in gelatin products. Observing both multiple time-intensity curves and affective data at the same time, it is possible to determine which intensity and duration of sensory characteristics have influenced the consumer's preference.