Modifying Food Texture

Volume 2: Sensory Analysis, Consumer Requirements and Preferences

Jianshe Chen, Andrew Rosenthal

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781782423348
• eBook ISBN: 9781782423522
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Modifying Food Texture, Volume 2: Sensory Analysis, Consumer Requirements and Preferences explores texture as an important aspect of consumer food acceptance and preference, specifically addressing the food textural needs of infants, the elderly, and dysphagia patients.This volume covers the sensory analysis of texture-modified foods, taking an in-depth look at the product development needs of consumers and exploring the sensory analysis of food texture and the development of texture-modified foods.- Explores texture as an important aspect of consumer food acceptance and preference- Addresses the food textural needs of special groups, including infants, the elderly, and dysphagia patients- Takes an in-depth look at the product development needs of consumers, exploring the sensory analysis of food texture

Part One

Sensory analysis and consumer preference of food texture

1

Vocabularies and terminologies of food texture description and characterisation

F. Hayakawa National Food Research Institute, NARO, Tsukuba, Japan

Abstract

This chapter reviews studies of texture terms/lexicon and discusses issues and problems concerned with texture vocabularies for food texture appreciation. Texture terms can be classified by two kinds of strategies: categories defined by researchers and categories derived from panellists' responses. Both strategies have their pros and cons. Discussion will focus on how texture terms are classified in different languages and on the implications to food manufacturers and consumers in a global market. The chapter will also explore comparison of texture vocabularies among different cultures and languages.

Keywords

Texture terms

Texture lexicon

Descriptive sensory analysis

Cross-cultural comparison

1.1 Introduction

Texture is a sensory property and comprises multi-parameter attributes (Szczesniak, 2002). Thus, it is essential to understand the structure of texture vocabularies and hierarchy of texture terms so that consumers' appreciation of and preference for food texture can be appropriately explored for better food design. Without precise description and understanding of texture features, R&D researchers in food design and formulation will not be able to directly address consumers' texture concerns. Another factor of critical importance to texture terms and hierarchy is their use in instrumental characterisation of food texture. Without appropriate descriptive terms, it will be very difficult to give objectively measured physical parameters a sensory meaning and such measurements will become irrelevant to consumers' perception.

Indeed, vocabularies and terminologies of texture are also important in sensory evaluation. Experimenters or panel leaders dedicate their efforts to selecting and defining appropriate terms as descriptors for precision and validity of their sensory evaluation. In selecting these descriptors, more careful consideration is needed for texture attributes than for flavour because setting a reference sample for a texture attribute may be more difficult than for flavour attributes. For example, we can use sucrose solution as a reference for sweetness. The intensity of reference can be easily controlled by changing its concentration. Since panellists can assess sweetness in reference to the sucrose solution, their disagreement on the nuance of the descriptor is usually small. In contrast, disagreement on the meaning of a texture descriptor sometimes directly increases the dispersion of the data.

Organising descriptive texture words into a texture lexicon is the first and most important step in food texture research. In fact, as noted by Szczesniak (2002), the classification and organisation of texture terms instigated a profiling method of texture applicable to both instrumental measurements (Bourne, 1978) and sensory evaluation (Szczesniak et al., 1963).

Developing texture lexicons and classifying texture terms in various languages has been a concern for texture researchers since Szczesniak and her colleagues published their articles regarding texture terms in the English language (Szczesniak, 1963; Szczesniak and Kleyn, 1963). Comparing texture lexicons among languages is also an important topic for texture studies. However, since any language contains so many nuances, studies in this area are rather complicated. This chapter will review studies of texture terms/lexicon and discuss various issues and problems associated with food texture terms and its classifications.

1.2 Early frameworks for developing texture lexicon

Szczesniak and colleagues provided a framework for classifying and defining texture terms. They first demonstrated that texture was highly recognisable by consumers along with flavour features (Szczesniak and Kleyn, 1963). They conducted a word association test among 100 people using 74 types of food names. The respondents gave the first three words that came to their mind upon hearing the name of a food. The frequency of mentioning texture was high enough even if compared with any other food attribute (e.g., flavour, colour and form). The authors concluded that texture is a discernible characteristic of food and that its recognition equals that of flavour. Later, Szczesniak confirmed the meaningfulness of texture to consumers as a food attribute using two additional word association tests (Szczesniak, 1971;...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition
• Preface
• Part One: Sensory analysis and consumer preference of food texture
• Part Two: Modifying texture for specific consumer groups
• Index