Food Flavors & Quality

1. Food Flavors & Quality

2. We hold certain expectations for food. Brainstorm food expectations with partner.

3. Food Expectations 1. Color – quality factor • Relates to quality and/or perceived quality • (ex: white and orange carrots = same taste/quality) • We expect meat to be red • Bananas to be yellow – not brown! • Naturally occurring pigments, freshness, oxidation (air), etc. affect food color

4. Food Expectations 2. Texture – quality factor • Gum to be chewy • Crackers to be crisp • Refers to qualities felt with fingers, tongue & teeth • Changes in texture usually due to moisture status

5. Food Expectations 3. Size & shape – quality factor • Expect foods to have certain sizes & shapes • Easily measured • Fruits & vegetables graded by size & shapes

6. Food Expectations 4. Taste– quality factor • Expect foods to have certain taste • 5 different tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami aka savory) • Ex: milk to be lightly sweet not sour

7. * Each of the papillae (finger like projections or receptacles) contain many taste buds.* Most taste buds are on the sides, back, and tip of your tongue.

8. How Taste Work • Tiny finger-like structures on papillae called microvilli with hundreds of receptors on them (areas on the cell wall that can tell if specific chemicals are near them) • Send signals to the brain to acknowledge the specific taste and store it to memory • The five different tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami aka savory) affect the taste receptors

9. Scientific Controversy on Taste Buds… are certain areas more strong than others? View 1 - taste buds help perceive flavor – certain areas of tongue are more sensitive to certain flavors View 2 – areas disproven Most areas of the tongue can taste each of the five tastes

10. Taste Lab

11. Food Expectations 5. Smell– quality factor • Expect foods to have certain smell or no smell • Rancid foods occur when fat is oxidized and can lead to a sour or un-fresh smell • Ex: molding bread • Consumers anticipate a smell prior to a taste

12. How Smell Works • Flavor = The combination of pure taste and smell (olfaction) • Humans are usually able to distinguish over 4,000 scents, but some people are able to smell 10,000 different odor molecules • Used primarily for safety and protection from outside dangers (leaking gas, rotten food, etc.

13. How Smell Works

14. Lifesaver Activity

15. Questions/ Comments on Food Expectations?

16. Sensory Science Part of food science Dedicated to finding ways to help humans accurately describe the flavors & other sensory properties of food (scent) Flavor – quality factor People differ in preferences

17. Measure Taste Best method – use taste panels – professionals or customers Other evaluation methods used – chemical & mechanical

18. Quality Standards • Help ensure food quality • Types • Research – setup by company • Trade – setup by members of an industry • Government – some mandatory, some optional • All help to provide common language for all involved • Quality standards by USDA • http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/standards

19. Cheese Food Quality Assessment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT-5sEDse3E

20. Quality Control • Manufacturing plants usually have some type of internal, formal, quality control • Inspection duties • Lab tests • Oversee sanitation • Guide research & development

21. Sensory Bias Humans avoid flavors after paired with gastric illness All senses are change detectors so after continuous exposure receptors stop responding Humans biased by opinion/others easily Past assumptions, comments Lighting, sound, temperature Prefer first samples over last – only handle 4-5 samples at a time

22. Sensory Taste Test – Market Research • This is similar to how consumers would do a taste test for a company. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVsglhn-h3M • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7lw_vhxtNc • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0TsqVKmjAw • Perform your blind taste test with DETAILED sensory evaluations