Sensory and Consumer Testing of Novel Methods and Novel Foods

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensory and Consumer Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 2903

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Center for Sensory Analysis and Consumer Behavior, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Interests: sensory quality; consumer acceptance; health aspects; product development; shelf-life; quality control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The food industry must create new or ‘novel’ food, beverage, and packaging products to meet the demands of the worldwide population. New ingredients, new processes, and new technologies can help developers create novel products that address the growing expectations of consumers. The development of new products is beset with uncertainties, and history suggests that a large portion of new products will fail. Thus, it is imperative that high-quality sensory testing, including consumer research, is conducted to ensure that products have the right characteristics to meet the requirements needed for marketplace success. In addition, the creation of these new or novel foods often requires novel sensory testing methods or the adaptation of established methods to measure the potential for adoption of these products by consumers.

This Special Issue of Foods welcomes original research papers, reviews, and short communications related to the following:

(a) Advancing the knowledge and strategies necessary for the sensory testing of novel food products, processes, and technologies:

  • understanding the sensory traits of new products (including their components such as ingredients, processes, or packaging);
  • perceptual differences in the novel products versus existing products;
  • the consumer aspects (e.g., liking, acceptance, use, consumption behavior, etc.) needed for the successful development of novel products for the global food industry.

(b) Showcasing the development of new sensory/consumer testing methods or adaptations of such methods for testing food products

Prof. Dr. Edgar Chambers IV
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • novel
  • food
  • beverage
  • packaging
  • sensory
  • consumer
  • methods

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3002 KiB  
Article
Sensory Properties of Fermented Blends of Sunflower Press Cake and Whey
by Harald Rohm, Sophie Morejón Caraballo, Ana Salvador, Sofia Mendo, Empar Llorca, Stefano Cattaneo, Ivano De Noni, Susanne Struck, Roberto Foschino and Isabel Hernando
Foods 2025, 14(9), 1489; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14091489 - 24 Apr 2025
Viewed by 278
Abstract
Sustainability in the food chain and the prevention of food losses is an issue of increasing importance. There is a large number of processing by-products where innovative strategies are helpful for transferring these losses into a consumable state. In a step-by-step approach, this [...] Read more.
Sustainability in the food chain and the prevention of food losses is an issue of increasing importance. There is a large number of processing by-products where innovative strategies are helpful for transferring these losses into a consumable state. In a step-by-step approach, this current study focused on the sensory properties of blends of sunflower press cake and whey, fermented with different consortia of microorganisms and intended for being used as a basis for a savory spread. In the first part of the work, blends fermented with six co-cultures from lactic acid bacteria and yeasts were characterized by free choice profiling and quantitative descriptive analysis. The respective results were used to modify the formulation and to select the fermentation cultures that were promising from a sensory point of view. Subsequent investigations allowed reducing sample dimensionality further, and the study was concluded by affective hedonic tests and a check-all-that-apply set-up performed by consumers. The final experiment also comprised a just-about-right approach performed for specifically evaluating spreadability. The outcome of the entire study indicates that it is possible to tailor attractive foods from by-products, provided that the need for final optimizations regarding palatability is considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensory and Consumer Testing of Novel Methods and Novel Foods)
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19 pages, 1360 KiB  
Article
Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Espresso Protocol Repeatability
by Jisoo Choi, Jeehyun Lee and Edgar Chambers IV
Foods 2025, 14(4), 593; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14040593 - 11 Feb 2025
Viewed by 971
Abstract
The Espresso Protocol (TEP) was used to assess the quality of coffee beans through espresso extraction incorporating a sensory approach. TEP includes overall quality evaluation and attribute evaluation using check-all-that-apply (CATA). This study aims to evaluate the repeatability of TEP when used by [...] Read more.
The Espresso Protocol (TEP) was used to assess the quality of coffee beans through espresso extraction incorporating a sensory approach. TEP includes overall quality evaluation and attribute evaluation using check-all-that-apply (CATA). This study aims to evaluate the repeatability of TEP when used by experts and to compare cross-cultural assessments to determine its applicability across different countries with diverse coffee cultures. Experts with over three years of experience in the coffee industry from five countries—France (n = 7), India (n = 12), Italy (n = 7), the Republic of Korea (n = 10), and the USA (n = 10)—participated in our study. The experiment was conducted in three replications using eight different single-origin coffee samples over two or three consecutive days. Cluster analysis using CATA data was performed to verify the repeatability of individual participants in the characterization of espresso samples, revealing that most participants were repeatable in their three-time evaluations. Moreover, a significant homogeneity index demonstrated a high degree of similarity in the sensory characteristics used by experts from each country, although cultural differences were observed in the terminology used to describe coffee. In conclusion, the repeatability of individual experts and the reliability of TEP were successfully demonstrated. However, some differences in sensory evaluations were noted across cultures; these were likely influenced by differences in the use of terminology, which emphasizes the need for training in the coffee lexicon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensory and Consumer Testing of Novel Methods and Novel Foods)
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14 pages, 3313 KiB  
Article
The Role of Bitter-Tasting Substances in Salivation and Swallowing: Results of the Pilot Study
by Ekaterina Oganesiants, Varuzhan Sarkisyan, Anastasiya Bilyalova, Vasily Isakov and Alla Kochetkova
Foods 2025, 14(2), 210; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14020210 - 11 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1269
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of caffeine, vanillin, and epigallocatechin gallate on salivation and swallowing and to find ways to correct their negative effects. Solutions of these substances with an equivalent intensity of bitter taste were compared for [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of caffeine, vanillin, and epigallocatechin gallate on salivation and swallowing and to find ways to correct their negative effects. Solutions of these substances with an equivalent intensity of bitter taste were compared for this purpose. To compensate for their effect, solutions of adenosine monophosphate, saliva substitute, and their combination were used. The results of the sialometric and surface electromyographic analyses demonstrate that all of the bitter substances studied exert a significant influence on the physiology of salivation and swallowing while exhibiting distinct modes of action. Caffeine has been shown to increase the area under the swallowing electromyographic curve, which is indicative of an increase in maximal amplitude. Epigallocatechin gallate has been linked to a reduction in salivation rate, an increase in duration, and a decrease in maximal intensity of the sEMG curve. Vanillin is demonstrated to reduce the area under the swallowing electromyographic curve due to a decline in both duration and maximal intensity. The addition of adenosine monophosphate to solutions of all substances under study resulted in a convergence of the salivary secretion and swallowing profile toward a profile that is characteristic of water. The findings can be utilized to modify the physiological responses to bitter-tasting substances when developing novel food formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensory and Consumer Testing of Novel Methods and Novel Foods)
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