Sensory characterization of vegetarian pizza by using quantitative descriptive analysis

Consumption of vegetarian pizza is increasing worldwide for increasing popularity towards vegetarian diets. However, a proper description of sensorial attributes of vegetarian pizza is still not available in the existing scientific literature. Such characterization provides inevitable information for product's evaluation and process improvement. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to objectively characterize the sensory attributes of vegetarian pizza using statistical tools. A descriptive score card comprising all the possible sensory attributes of pizza was drafted and finalized by group discussion with sensory evaluation experts. Thirty six pizza samples were collected from different Indian cities. Sensory evaluation was done using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) and significant (p<0.05) difference among the market samples was observed. Principal Component Analysis (PC) revealed five principal components (PC) which accounted for 93% variation in the sensory data viz., (1) cohesiveness of crust/cooking intensity/free moisture of cheese, (2) firmness/crispiness/type of crust, (3) cohesiveness/thickness of cheese, (4) chewiness, and (5) overall acceptability.

Automated summary

Consumption of vegetarian pizza is on the rise worldwide due to the increasing popularity of vegetarian diets, yet a proper description of its sensory attributes is lacking in the existing scientific literature. This study objectively characterized the sensory attributes of vegetarian pizza using statistical tools, identifying five principal components that explained 93% of the variation in sensory data. These findings provide valuable information for product evaluation and process improvement.