Source: UNIV OF MINNESOTA submitted to NRP
FACTORS AFFECTING FOOD ACCEPTABILITY AND FOOD CHOICE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1006867
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2015
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2020
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108
Performing Department
Food Science & Nutrition
Non Technical Summary
The long-term goal to which this proposed research contributes is to determine the features of foods, consumers, and consumption situations necessary for healthy foods to have long-term acceptability and to be eaten in preference to unhealthy foods. Americans generally do not eat the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Many consume too many calories and too much sodium. People make dozens of decisions each day about what and how much to eat. The research proposed in this project is focused on better understanding how characteristics of people (genetics, stress, mood, knowledge, eating behavior), characteristics of foods (appearance, flavor and texture), and characteristics of the eating environment (other people, food accessibility, information, comfort, distractions) interact to determine food liking and food choice.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
75%
Developmental
5%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
70372203090100%
Knowledge Area
703 - Nutrition Education and Behavior;

Subject Of Investigation
7220 - Sensory evaluation/analysis methods (human senses);

Field Of Science
3090 - Sensory science (human senses);
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal to which this proposed research contributes is to determine the features of foods, consumers, and consumption situations necessary for healthy foods to have (or not have) long-term acceptability and to be eaten in preference to unhealthy foods. To support this goal we have more specific objectives such as the following:Objective 1. To examine strategies for serving healthy items (whole grains, fruits, vegetables) in a variety of food service or other settings that promote liking and consumption of these items.Objective 2. To examine the influence of specific aspects of an eating situation (others present, available food choices, information about the food, ambiance, etc.) on the choice and consumption of foods.Objective 3. To measure the effects of a wide variety of food product manipulations on the sensory properties and/or the acceptability of food products.Objective 4. To examine the influence of consumer characteristics such as taste genetics (e.g. PROP taster status), emotion/mood, eating behaviors (e.g. neophobia, restrained, etc), hunger, and stress on food acceptability and consumption.
Project Methods
Efforts related to objective 1. ParticipantsWe will recruit pairs of 9 - 12 year old children from families receiving food assistance and their parent. Parent-child pairs will be randomized into control and intervention conditions.Intervention and control conditionsThe intervention group will attend a Cooking Matters for Families (CMF) program (a 6-week established curriculum for parent-child teams). The CMF curriculum will be slightly modified to incorporate more information on vegetable preparation and purchasing, and some recipes modified to contain additional vegetables. During each of the 6 CMF lessons we will teach one behavioral economic strategy designed to increase vegetable consumption. Those 6 strategies are 1) having the child help prepare the vegetables, 2) serving an extra vegetable at a dinner meal, 3) serving a vegetable before the dinner meal begins, 4) making the vegetable more available at the meal than the other foods, 5) using a larger spoon to serve the vegetables, and 6) use MyPlate as a template for a dinner meal.Before the first CMF meeting all participants will attend a data collection session during which the children are weighed and measured, complete a 24-hour food recall, and rate their liking of about 30 different vegetables. At this data collection session the parents complete a variety of questionnaires, including one about their liking and consumption of these same vegetables. Similar data collection sessions are held the week after completing the CMF program and at 6 months and 12 months after completing the program.Participants in the control group participate in the same activities and measurements as those in the intervention group, but do not receive the lessons on the behavioral economic strategies.Data analyses (evaluation)To measure changes in children's vegetable intake we will compare intake data from 3, 24-hour recalls conducted prior to the intervention and 1 week, 6 months and 12 months after the intervention. We will use multiple repeated measures analysis of variance across time (baseline, 6-week, 6 month and 12-month) and between control and intervention groups. We expect that compared to the control condition, intervention children will increase vegetable consumption and increase their liking ratings of vegetables.Efforts related to Objective 2.Participants We will recruit about 120 people that are potential purchasers and consumers of aquaponic products. Panelists will complete screening questionnaires asking them about their attitudes toward specific product attributes, production attributes, and their socio-demographic characteristics.Crop samples, i.e. plants from both greenhouse and warehouse growing treatments andaquaponics vs. hydroponics will be used for consumer evaluations. Harvested crops will be washed and placed in clear plastic bags (identified with a sample, nondescriptive or blinding codes) for subsequent refrigeration until testing.We will conduct experimental auctions with tasting (e.g. Zhang and Vickers 2014).Data analysis (Evaluation) Tasting ratings and bids will be analyzed with ANOVA to determine treatment and panelist effects with each tested sample type (crop). Similar to Yue, et al. (2011) and Hurley, et al. (2013), we will use a principal component analysis and a censored regression with a random individual effect and fixed plant effects to analyze how the WTP for plants is affected by product attributes (aquaponic vs. hydroponic production, greenhouse vs. warehouse and their interactions), as well as interactions among consumers' stated attitudes toward specific product attributes, production attributes, and consumers' socio-demographic characteristics.Efforts related to Objective 3.Participants:For descriptive analysis: We will recruit 10 judges from the Sensory Center at the University of Minnesota. All will be PROP tasters or supertasters. They will be paid for participating. All recruiting and experimental procedures will be approved by the University of Minnesota's InstitutionalFor acceptability tests: We will use a local consumer testing company to recruit about 100 children in each of 2 age groups: Grades 6 - 8 and 9 - 12. They will recruit an approximately equal balance of males and females. All children will like and eat cheese and will eat school lunch at least once a week. All recruiting and experimental procedures will be approved by the University of Minnesota's Institutional Review Board.Products:We will test 3 Cheddar cheese products, one at full sodium, one at reduced sodium, and one with reduced sodium and added KCl. Cheeses will be prepared by Tonya Schoenfuss's researchers. Descriptive analysis panelists will receive three cubes (1.5 cm3) of each cheese at room temperature (70°F) in a plastic 120 ml cup with lid. Children will receive a single cube of each cheese.Experimental ProcedureDescriptive analysis training Panelists will participate in 10 training session. During these sessions, they will receive a list of descriptive terms and definitions developed during previous sensory testing of these cheeses. At the first three sessions they will individually describe several pairs of a cheese type using the descriptive terms and other terms if needed, then participate in a group discussion of which terms should be added to or removed from the original list. During sessions 4 and 5 they will practice scaling the intensity of the sensory attributes using calibrated scales. During session 6 they will practice rating a subset of the test cheeses using our computerized data collection software. Sessions 7-10 will be used to clarify the meanings of any poorly understood descriptors and to continue practicing and giving panelists feedback on their performance.Descriptive analysis testingPanelists will participate in two test sessions for each cheese type. They will evaluate a complete set of the samples in the first session; the second session will serve as a sensory replicate. Within a session serving orders will be balanced for order and carryover effects. During the testing sessions each panelist will evaluate each sample by rating the intensity of the attributes on 20 point line scales labeled 'none' at the left end and 'intense' at the right end. Intensity ratings of flavor and taste will be made on the standard citric acid scale; ratings of odors will be made on the standard butanol scale; texture ratings will be made on a 20 point scale anchored with references. Panelists will wear nose clips when evaluating the taste attributes.Children's consumer testingEach child will receive a total of 4 samples of cheese, two control (full sodium) and the two low sodium cheeses. The children will be instructed to taste the cheese, rate their overall liking of the cheese on a 9-point labeled hedonic scale, and indicate (yes/no) whether they would be willing to eat this sample of cheese for a snack.Data Analysis:Descriptive analysis We will use analyses of variance to determine whether the samples differ in any of the specific attributes. The attribute intensity will be the dependent variable; judge, sample, and replicate will be predictors.Consumer testing We will use analyses of variance to determine whether the samples differ in any of the specific attributes. The attribute intensity will be the dependent variable; judge (nested in gender), gender and cheese type will be predictors. The children's cheese liking ratings will be added as supplementary variables to a principal components analysis of the descriptive analysis data to determine which attributes are associated with the children's liking.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The results of this research have been presented at a variety of conferences: Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting; Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior; Food Oral Processing conference; Pangborn Symposium. Results have been submitted and published in several refereed Journals. Results and updates have also been presented to funders of the research. Changes/Problems:We were unable to conduct most of our planned testing this year due to the Covid restrictions. This past year the Principle investigator was on a sabbatical leave What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the past year this project has provided training and professional development for four graduate students that conducted the studies, analyzed data and reported results. About 6 undergraduate students provided technical help for conducting thestudies. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated as progress reports to the funders, in presentations at national and international conferences, and as refereed publications in scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We conducted a study to create a lexicon to describe nine Cheddar-type enzyme-modified cheeses (EMCs) when incorporated into processed cheese. A descriptive panel described and generated references for the flavor, taste, and aroma attributes of nine Cheddar-type EMCs in processed cheese. Panelists evaluated the nine EMCs in duplicate by rating the intensity of each aroma, taste, and flavor attribute, as well as astringency. We used analyses of variance and principal component analyses to identify aroma, taste, and flavor attributes differentiating the EMC-containing products. We completed a study to measure the sweetness and bitterness of Brussels sprouts, under three different storage conditions (stored vs. unstored vs. frosted). Eight members of the Sensory Center trained panel rated replicates of these Brussels sprouts for sweetness and bitterness. Unstored Brussels sprouts were significantly more sweet and less bitter than the stored Brussels sprouts. Frosted Brussels sprouts were significantly less bitter than the stored Brussels sprouts, but not significantly more or less sweet than either the unstored or stored sprouts. We measured the sweetness and bitterness of Brussels sprouts planted at two different row spacings (1 foot vs. 2 feet). Row spacing did not have an effect on bitterness or sweetness of the Brussels sprouts. We measured the sweetness and bitterness of lettuce across two harvest times (AM vs. PM). Nine members of the Sensory Center trained panel evaluated eight different lettuces for sweetness and bitterness during one day of testing. Lettuces did not differ in bitterness or sweetness based on harvest time. We compared the appearance, aroma, and hand-feel of fresh baby spinach and romaine lettuce treated with cold plasma with untreated spinach and lettuce. Nine members of the Sensory Center trained panel evaluated a pair of spinach samples and a pair of lettuce samples. Participants listed all the aroma, appearance and hand-feel attributes they noticed in each sample then listed the specific attributes that differed between the samples in the pair. The aroma of the cold plasma treated lettuce was more intense than the control. The appearance of the cold plasma treated lettuce more transparent, more yellow, more reddish brown, and less fresh than the control. The hand-feel of the cold plasma treated lettuce was less firm and more slippery/slimy than the control. The aroma of the cold plasma treated spinach was more intense compared to no smell or little smell in the control. Participants described the aroma of the cold plasma treated sample variously as grassy, green earthy, and fishy. Panelists agreed that the control spinach had little or no aroma. The appearance of the cold plasma treated spinach was wilted, whereas the appearance of the control was fresher. The hand-feel of the cold plasma treated spinach was more limp and slimy than the control. We attempted to train participants to identify 50 chemical compounds by name. The compounds were selected based on their known occurrence in Cheddar cheese. Although their ability to name the compounds improved, it was less than perfect. We are currently working on using these trained panelists to identify the odorants produced during Gas Chromatography-Olfactometry analysis of the cheese samples.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Richie L. Lenne, Traci Mann, Rachel J. Burns, Zata Vickers, and Joseph P. Redden. (2020) Variety Salience and Enjoyment of Repetitiously Consumed Foods: A Field Experiment. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09916-2
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kang, M., Paul Chen, David Baumler, Chi Chen, Joellen Feirtag, Roger Ruan, and Vickers, Z. Sensory analysis of wheat flour pasteurized with intense pulsed light. Presented at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting July, 2020
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kleba, S. and Vickers, Z. Lexicon Development for Cheddar-Type Enzyme-Modified Cheeses and the Relationship between their Sensory and Compositional Properties. Submitted to Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting July, 2020
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Avalos L. and Vickers, Z Do people wait long enough during self-paced tasting to avoid carryover of bitter taste? Submitted to Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting July, 2020
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: 162. Luu, Misen, Reineccius, G, Vickers, Z, and Ismail, B. &&&&Effects of bran content, thermal treatment, and storage on development of flavor on intermediate wheatgrass flour and tortilla Submitted to Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting July, 2020


Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Academic researchers with interests in sensory evaluation, food choice, textureperception, perception of odor mixtures, strategies to decrease the sugar cotent of sweetened beverages. Food industries that add sugar to a product and are interested in reducing the amount added. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the past year this project has provided training and professional development for four graduate students that conduct the studies, analyze data and report results. About 10 undergraduate students provided technical help for conducting the studies.. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated as progress reports to the funders, in presenations and national and international conferences, and as refereed publications in scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Finish thesis and manuscript preparation for the intense pulsed light study, Continue testing, progress reporting, and manuscript preparationsfor the enzyme-modified cheese study, Conduct a study examining the changes in liking when a key taste is gradually diminished . Present results of the enzyme modified cheese study and the Intense pulsed light study at professional meetings.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Because liking of a food is a primary driver of food choice, enabling people to consume a preponderance of healthy foods needs to include strategies for developing liking of such foods. Overconsumption of sugar has been of great concern because of its association to health risks like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Surveys conducted by the National Institute of Health have shown sugar-sweetened beverages to be a primary contributor to increased sugar consumption. Our findings suggest that people can adjust to lower levels of sugar in a beverage without impairing their liking of the beverage. Our findings should encourage beverage manufacturers (and consumers) to gradually decrease the amounts of sugar they add to their products. Sensory descriptive analysis data is highly useful for discriminating among different versions of the same or similar products. Such data can be used to influence plant and animal breeding programs and processing strategies for a wide variety of foods and food ingredients. Published data from descriptive analysis studies is highly useful to product developers and sensory scientists because it provides a referenced vocabulary for others interested in communicating about sensory properties of that or similar products. We have not done any studies this past year addressing objectives 1 and 2. Objective 3. To measure the effects of a wide variety of food product manipulations on the sensory properties and/or the acceptability of food products. We analyzed data from a study in which participants were placed into either a control group that received a sugar-sweetened iced tea that did not change in the amount of added sugar; or a gradual group that received iced tea reduced weekly in 10% sucrose increments. Participants drank their assigned tea at least three times per week for 12 weeks. We determined whether a gradual reduction of sugar in sweetened iced tea would maintain liking ratings [the likings for both the reduction and the no reduction groups decreased similarly], and whether the gradual reduction would decrease participants' ideal level of sugar in iced tea [It did not]. We also examined whether individual participant's hedonic sensitivity related to the declines in liking over time. [More hedonically sensitive people showed a greater decrease in liking over time.] Neither the sweetness intensity ratings nor the ideal sweetness ratings changed from the initial to the final taste test for either the control or the gradual groups. We examined the effects of Intense Pulse Light (IPL) processing parameters (voltage, feed rate, and pulse frequency) on the sensory attributes of wheat flour, and compared these effects with the effects from an ultraviolet light (UV) treatment. Flour samples were evaluated both dry and in a white sauce. The aroma, taste, flavor, and texture of these samples were rated following a lexicon and sensory test protocols developed by the trained descriptive analysis panelists. Panelists compared the appearance of wheat flours treated with IPL and UV to the unprocessed flour by using a two-out-of-five difference test. Among examined processing parameters of IPL treatments, feed rate had the greatest impact on the sensory qualities of wheat flour by increasing the perceived intensity of mushroom aroma, saltiness, overall flavor, chalky flavor, cardboard flavor, and medicine flavor. The UV treatment elicited greater changes in sensory properties than all IPL treatments since the IPL-treated flour differed from the control in only one aroma attribute whereas the UV-treated flour differed from the control in sixteen attributes. Neither IPL nor UV affected the appearance of wheat flour. We conducted a study to create a lexicon to describe nine Cheddar-type enzyme-modified cheeses (EMCs) and to identify associations between the EMC's sensory and compositional properties. A descriptive panel described and generated references for the flavor, taste, and aroma attributes of nine Cheddar-type EMCs. Panelists evaluated the nine EMCs in duplicate by rating the intensity of each aroma, taste, and flavor attribute, as well as astringency. The compositional properties measured included, percent fat, protein, nitrogen non-protein, solids, and salt, individual free amino acid (FAA) and free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations, acid degree value, and pH. Analyses of variance and principal component analyses were used to identify aroma, taste, and flavor attributes differentiating the EMCs. Associations between the differentiating sensory attributes and the compositional properties were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Regression. Fourteen aromas, two tastes, six flavors, and astringency significantly differentiated the EMCs. Harsher flavors (blue-veined cheese and horseradish) and aromas (butyric acid, lemon, blue-veined cheese and ammonia) tended to be more intense in EMC's with more free amino acids and fatty acids. Aroma's characteristic of milder cheeses (cheese stick, dairy, and butter) tended to occur in EMCs with higher pH and higher percent protein. We conducted a test to determine the consumer acceptability of steak from cows fed one of three different diets: (1) perennial pasture vegetation, (2) dry lot feed, and (3) summer annual cover crop vegetation. Steak consumers (N = 103) rated overall liking, flavor liking, texture liking, toughness, juiciness, and off-flavor of the three steak samples served in replicate. Participants liked the texture of the steaks from the dry lot feed treatment more than the texture of the steaks from the summer annual cover crop. The summer annual cover crop steaks were more tough than the dry lot feed steaks. All other attributes (overall liking, flavor liking, juiciness and off flavor) did not differ among the diets. We completed a study to measure the sweetness and bitterness of two different Brussels sprouts genotypes (Jade Cross vs. Gustus), under three different storage conditions (stored vs. unstored vs. frosted). Eight members of the Sensory Center trained panel rated replicates of these six Brussels sprouts for sweetness and bitterness. Jade Cross Brussels sprouts were more sweet than Gustus sprouts. Gustus sprouts were more bitter than Jade Cross sprouts. Frosted Brussels sprouts were more sweet than stored Brussels sprouts. The stored sprouts tended to be more bitter than the frosted sprouts. Objective 4. To examine the influence of consumer characteristics such as taste genetics (e.g. PROP taster status), emotion/mood, eating behaviors (e.g. neophobia, restrained, etc), hunger, and stress on food acceptability and consumption. We measured the wait times of our participants after rating the bitterness of 16 samples of lettuce to see if those times varied depending on the bitterness ratings, and whether those wait times were adequate for preventing carryover of the bitter taste. On each of two days, twelve panelists rated 16 lettuces for bitterness. We measured the length of time each panelist waited between samples. To determine whether wait times increased with increasing bitterness we measured the slope of the plot of time waited vs. bitterness intensity. To determine whether the bitterness intensity changed over time we measured the slope of a plot of bitterness intensity vs. taste position. The participants did not increase their wait time for the more bitter samples, and we observed no buildup of bitterness during the sessions..

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Millen, L., Overcash, F., Vickers, Z., & Reicks, M. (2019). Implementation of Parental Strategies to Improve Child Vegetable Intake: Barriers and Facilitators. Global Pediatric Health. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794X19855292
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Marie Abbey, Neil Anderson, Chengyan Yue, Gianna Short, Michele Schermann Nicolas Phelps, Paul Venturelli, Zata Vickers Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Production in Northern Latitudinal Aquaponic Growing Conditions HortScience 54(10):1757-1761. DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI14088-19
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Francine Mangundayao Overcash, Zata Vickers, Allison E. Ritter, Traci Mann, Elton Mykerezi, Joseph Redden, Aaron K. Rendahl, Cynthia Davey, Marla Reicks, 2019. An in-home intervention of parent-implemented strategies to increase child vegetable intake: results from a non-randomized cluster-allocated community trial. BMC Public Health 19:881 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7079-4 https://rdcu.be/bIGHx
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Inamdar, Loma and Vickers Zata. Determining the effect of gradual sugar reduction on liking of sweetened iced tea. Presented at The Pangborn Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland July 26-30 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Abbey, M., Anderson, N. O., Yue, C., Short, G., Schermann, M. A., Phelps, N., ... Vickers, Z. M. (2019). An analysis of strawberry (fragaria �ananassa) productivity in northern latitudinal aquaponic growing conditions. Journal of the American Pomological Society, 73(1), 22-37
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Vickers, Z. Sensory evaluation of wines. At 2019 National Viticulture & Enology Extension Leadership Conference Fredricksburg, Texas, April 10, 2019
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kang, M., Paul Chen, David Baumler, Chi Chen, Joellen Feirtag, Roger Ruan, and Vickers, Z. Sensory analysis of wheat flour pasteurized with intense pulsed light. Presented at the USDA NIFA AFRI CAP PD&co-PD meeting for A4131  Enhancing Food Safety through Improved Processing technologies. Louisville KY July 20, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 20019 Citation: Richie L. Lenne, Traci Mann, Rachel J. Burns, Zata Vickers, and Joseph P. Redden Variety Salience and Enjoyment of Repetitiously Consumed Foods: A Field Experiment Society for Behavioral Medicine San Francisco, CA 2019.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Alessandra Marti; Ingrid G Cordelino; Catrin Tyl; Loma Inamdar; Zata Vickers; Baraem P Ismail (2019). Cooking quality, digestibility, and sensory properties of proso millet pasta as impacted by amylose content and prolamin profile. LWT - Food Science and Technology 99, 1-7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2018.09.035
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cindy B.S. Tong, Randolph Beaudry, Carolina Contreras, Christopher B. Watkins, Jacqueline F. Nock, Zata Vickers, Kathryn Zhang, James J. Luby, and David Bedford 2019. Postharvest Performance of ?Minneiska? Apple, a Progeny of ?Honeycrisp?. J Am Pom Soc. (APS) 73:82-94. http://www.pubhort.org/aps/73/v73_n2_a1.htm


Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Low income families with children beteen the ages of 9 - 12. Academic researchers with interests in sensory evaluation, food choice, measuring dietary variety, satiety, texture perception, perception of odor mixtures, strategies to decrease the sugar cotent of sweetened beverages, and increasing vegetable consumption. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?These activities comprised the thesis research of 4 graduate students. Many part-time undergradute students also worked on these projects and were mentored by both the principal investigator and by the graduate students. Graduate students and faculty attended several professional meetings at which they presented their research data, networked with others having similar interests, and attended a broad range of other presentations related to their field of study. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this research have been submitted and published in refereed journals The results of this research have also been presented at a variety of conferences: Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting Nutrition 20108 EFFOST International Conference American Association of Cereal Chemists USDA Natick Annual Grantee's meeting What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Analyze the data we have collected related to our efforts to determine the how the choice of consuming foods of different classes (e.g. fruits, meats, beverages, etc.) is influenced by various choice influencers (e.g. liking, health, low cost, etc.) and how the amount of variety in the diet relates to sensation seeking tendencies, boredom proneness, and food neophobia. Complete the data analysis for a study comparing the impact on liking and consumption of gradual sugar reduction in iced tea with no sugar reduction. Continue examining the effect of pulsed light exposure on the flavor of powdered foods such as wheat flour. Document the sensory flavor attributes of several enzyme modified cheeses and products prepared from those cheeses. Document the presence of specific componds and/or sensory attributes in volatile and non-volatile fractions from these cheeses and cheese products. Document the sensory attributes of beers prepared with intermediate wheatgrass grains prepared with different processing conditions. Document the relative acceptability of beers made with intermediate wheatgrass grains in compraison to commercial beers. Document the effect of storage time on the sensory properties of intermediate wheatgrass flour tortillas.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Vegetable intake among children is below recommendations. Our strategies for increasing vegetable consumption of low income children address the much-lower-than-recommended vegetable intake of this part of the population. The strategies work by making low or no-cost changes in the home or school environment that subtly encourage vegetable consumption. Because liking of a food is a primary driver of food choice, enabling people to consume a preponderance of healthy foods needs to include strategies for developing liking of such foods. Overconsumption of sugar has been of great concern because of its association to health risks like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Surveys conducted by the National Institute of Health have shown sugar-sweetened beverages to be a primary contributor to increased sugar consumption. Our findings suggest that people can adjust to lower levels of sugar in a beverage without impairing their liking of the beverage. Sensory descriptive analysis data is highly successful for discriminating among different versions of the same or similar products. Such data can be used to influence plant and animal breeding programs and processing strategies for a wide variety of foods and food ingredients. Objective 1. To examine strategies for serving healthy items (whole grains, fruits, vegetables) in a variety of food-service or other settings that promote liking and consumption of these items. We qualitatively assessed barriers and facilitators to implementing behavioral strategies during dinner meals to increase child vegetable intake at home as reported by low-income parents participating in an intervention study. Parents were asked to implement one behavioral strategy following each of six weekly intervention cooking classes. Example strategies included serving vegetables first, serving two vegetables, and using a bigger spoon to serve vegetables. The following week, parents discussed how they used the strategy and barriers and facilitators to its use. Discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using NVivo® software. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify barriers and facilitators. Time and vegetable liking were commonly reported as both barriers and facilitators; cost and availability were not commonly reported as barriers. We measurd vegetable liking for a wide variety of vegetables by a racially and ethnically diverse population of 9-12-year old children from low-income families. Children rated their liking of 35 vegetables using a 10-point hedonic scale. We tabulated the number of children that found each vegetable acceptable and the number that found each vegetable unacceptable. More than 50% of children who had tried a vegetable considered it acceptable. A large majority of the vegetables had mean ratings in the acceptable range. Corn was the most liked vegetable, closely followed by potatoes, lettuce, and carrots. Artichoke had the lowest mean liking, followed by onion and beets. We found children liked a wide variety of vegetables which offers counter evidence to the commonly held perception that children do not like vegetables. Objective 2. To examine the influence of specific aspects of an eating situation (others present, available food choices, information about the food, ambiance, etc.) on the choice and consumption of foods. We first determined the variety of foods consumed by free-living, food-secure individuals 25 years of age or older with Bachelor's degrees, and second determined how the amount of variety consumed in their diets affected their satisfaction with dietary variety. Participants maintained a 28-day online food diary with seven eating occasions: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, early evening snack, dinner, and late evening snack. After completing each week, participants rated their satisfaction with the variety in their diets that week. We measured dietary variety both as a count of unique foods, and as a proportion of unique foods. We evaluated how dietary variety differed by gender and by eating occasions. The total number of foods consumed each week, the count of unique foods, and the proportion of unique foods were compared with ratings of satisfaction with variety. Participants consumed an average of 110 unique foods over 28 days with higher counts of unique foods for dinner (46 items), followed by lunch (38 items), and then breakfast (21 items). The highest proportions of unique foods were consumed at dinner (0.60) and early evening snack (0.59). Females consumed higher counts of unique foods than did males over most eating occasions. None of our dietary variety measures predicted participants' satisfaction with variety. Objective 3.To measure the effects of a wide variety of food product manipulations on the sensory properties and/or the acceptability of food products. We evaluated the sensory attributes of four fettuccine-type pastas from proso millet compared to those of two commercial fettuccine samples, wheat-based and gluten-free. Trained panelists evaluated freshly cooked pasta describing appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and aftertaste. Compared to the commercial samples, millet pastas were significantly grayer, starchier and grainier, but had lower tensile strength and elasticity. Millet pastas were more yellow than gluten-free fettuccine, but less yellow than wheat fettuccine, except for millet pasta made from a variety (Earlybird) that contained significantly higher amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin. Earlybird pasta was however rated significantly higher in bitterness and bitter aftertaste than all other samples. Moreover, it was stickier, but less chewy and firm. Conversely, pasta from variety Sunrise was rated favorably in several attributes, including having significantly lower overall flavor (i.e. being blander), graininess and salty, bitter and overall aftertaste. Pasta with lower HMW prolamin content was grayer and stickier and received lower scores for the textural attributes firmness, chewiness and graininess. Pasta from high-amylose millet had less sour and bitter aftertaste and was less sticky, but higher in firmness and chewiness. Objective 4. To examine the influence of consumer characteristics such as taste genetics (e.g. PROP taster status), emotion/mood, eating behaviors (e.g. neophobia, restrained, etc), hunger, and stress on food acceptability and consumption. We conducted a study to determine whether a gradual reduction of sugar in sweetened iced tea would maintain liking ratings and whether the gradual reduction would decrease participants' ideal level of sugar in iced tea. We also examined whether individual participant's hedonic sensitivity related to the declines in liking over time. The study had 3 stages: an initial taste test, a 12-week longitudinal stage, and a final taste test. At the initial and final tastes participants were served teas differing in sugar content. During the 12-week longitudinal stage participants were placed into either the control or gradual group. The control group received a sugar-sweetened beverage that did not change in the amount of added sugar; the gradual group received iced tea reduced weekly in 10% sucrose increments. Participants drank their assigned tea at least three times per week. Liking of the teas during the 12-week period decreased similarly for both the gradual reduction and the control group.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Leak, T., Swenson, A., Rendahl, A., Vickers, Z., Mykerezi, E., Redden, J. Reicks, M. (2017). Examining the feasibility of implementing behavioural economics strategies that encourage home dinner vegetable intake among low-income children. Public Health Nutrition, 20(8), 1388-1392. doi:10.1017/S1368980017000131
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hsueh-Yuan Chang, Zata Vickers, Cindy Tong (2018) The use of a combination of instrumental methods to assess change in sensory crispness during storage of a Honeycrisp apple breeding family. J Texture Studies. 49 (2) 228-239. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtxs.12325
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Short, G., Yue, C., Abbey, M., Anderson, N., Phelps, N., Venturelli, P., & Vickers, Z. (2018). Consumer preferences for aquaponic produce: Implications from an experimental auction. Agribusiness, 114. https://doi.org/10.1002/agr.21562
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Leak, Tashara M., Assand, Taylor, Vickers, Zata, and Reicks, Marla. (2018) The role of adolescents from low-income families in household food preparation: A qualitative study. Health Promotion Practice 19 (3) 1-7. DOI: 10.1177/1524839918776647
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Vickers, Zata. (2018) Tribute to Professor Malcolm Bourne. Journal of Texture Studies 49 (2) 144-145. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtxs.12320
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Dongjie Chen, Justin Wiertzema, Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Juer Liu, Qingqing Mao, Yiwei Ma, Erik Anderson, Paul Chen, David J. Baumler, Chi Chen, Zata Vickers, Joellen Feirtag, Laurence Lee, and Roger Ruan. (2018) Effects of intense pulsed light on Cronobacter sakazakii inoculated in non-fat dry milk. Journal of Food Engineering 238 178-187
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Overcash, F., Ritter, A., Mann, T., Mykerezi, E., Redden, J., Rendahl, A., Vickers, Z., and Reicks, M. (2018). Impacts of a Vegetable Cooking Skills Program Among Low-Income Parents and Children. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 50(5), 432440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2017.10.016
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Weiss K, Vickers Z. (2018) Evaluation of omission testing as a method for identifying important odorants in a mixture. J Sens Stud. 2018;e12460. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/joss.12460
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Lauren E. Wisdorf , Joseph P. Redden, Traci Mann, Zata M. Vickers. (2019)Variety in the diets of free-living, food-secure adults. Food Quality and Preference DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.08.005
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Catrin Tyl, Alessandra Marti, Ingrid Cordelino Zata Vickers, and Baraem P. Ismail Promoting proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) for food use: Chemical characterisation and performance as ingredient in gluten-free pasta ,32nd Effost International Conference, Nantes, France November 6-8, 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Catrin Tyl, Loma Inamdar, Zata Vickers, Baraem P. Ismail and Alessandra Marti Sensory evaluation of gluten-free fresh pasta from proso millet AACC 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Kang, M., Paul Chen, David Baumler, Chi Chen, Joellen Feirtag, Roger Ruan, and Vickers, Z. Sensory Analysis of Powdered Milk with IPL Treatment. Presented at USDA Natick Annual Grantees meeting August 14, 2018
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Overcash, F., Reicks, M., Ritter, A., Leak, T., Swenson, A., & Vickers, Z. (2018). Children Residing in Low-Income Households Like a Variety of Vegetables. Foods, 7(7), 116. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7070116
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Catrin Tyl, Loma Inamdar, Alessandra Marti, Zata Vickers, Baraem Ismail Gluten-free Pasta made from Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum): Sensory Descriptive Analysis and Comparison to Compositional and Functional Characteristics IFT Chicago July 2018
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Millen, L., Vickers, Z., Overcash, F., Ritter, A., Wolf, G., Brewster, N., Doherty, A., and Reicks, M. Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation of Parental Strategies to Improve Vegetable Intake among Low-Income 9-12-year-old children Society of Nutrition Education and behavior 2018 Minneapolis, MN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Francine M. Overcash, Marla Reicks,; Allison Ritter, Tashara M. Leak.; Allison Swenson, Zata Vickers. Children find a variety of vegetables acceptable: vegetable liking and acceptability from racially and ethnically diverse low-income children Society of Nutrition Education and behavior 2018 Minneapolis, MN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Overcash, Francine and others . A controlled-intervention trial to increase child vegetable intake through parent-implemented behavioral strategies at Nutrition 2018 June 9-12 Boston


Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Low income families with children between the ages of 9 - 12. Academic researchers with interests in sensory evaluation, foodchoice, satiety, texture perception, perception of odor mixtures, and increasing vegetable consumption. Wineries that produce wines made from cold climate grapes. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?These activities comprised the thesis research of 4 graduate students. Many part-time undergradute students also worked on these projects and were mentored by both the principal investigator and by the graduate students.Graduate students and faculty attended several professional meetings at which they presented their research data, networked with others having similar interests, and attended a broad range of other presentations related to their field of study. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this research have been presented at a variety of conferences: Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting; Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior; The Pangborn Symposium, The American Society for Horticultural Science Results have been submitted and published in refereed Journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Analyze the data we have collected related to our efforts to determine the how the choice of consuming foods of different classes (e.g. fruits, meats, beverages, etc.) is influenced by various choice influencers (e.g. liking, health, low cost, etc.) and how the amount of variety in the diet relates to sensation seeking tendencies, boredom proneness, and food neophobia. Complete the data analysis for a study comparing the sensory properties of pastas made from different varieties of millet flour. Begin examining the effect of pulsed light exposure on the flavor of powdered foods such as powdered milk and wheat flour.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact The flavor lexicon for Frontenac gris wines is a tool that wine makers can use to evaluate their wines. Our selection of defining attributes for Frontenac gris wines can serve as the basis for a graphic used in tasting rooms to help consumers learn about the wine's flavor. Our strategies for increasing vegetable consumption of low income children address the much-lower-than-recommended vegetable intake of this part of the population. The strategies work by making low or no-cost changes in the home or school environment that subtly encourage vegetable consumption. Because liking of a food is a primary driver of food choice, enabling people to consume a preponderance of healthy foods needs to include developing liking of such foods. • Objective 1. To examine strategies for serving healthy items (whole grains, fruits, vegetables) in a variety of food service or other settings that promote liking and consumption of these items. We completed a study to determine whether a parent-child vegetable cooking skills program and parent-led strategies informed by behavioral economics improved vegetable outcomes of a racially and ethnically diverse sample of low-income children (ages 9-12) more than a vegetable cooking skills program alone. A nonrandomized, controlled trial compared a weekly cooking skills program enhanced to emphasize vegetable preparation, procurement and intake (control group) with the same weekly cooking skills program plus parent-led strategies (1/week over 6 weeks) (intervention group). The primary outcomes were child vegetable intake, child dietary quality, child vegetable liking, variety of vegetables tried, home availability of vegetables, and child measured Body Mass Index. Outcome measures were collected at baseline, immediate post-course, 6 and 12 months follow-up. Mixed model regression analysis with fixed independent effects (group, time point, and group x time interaction) was used to compare outcomes between groups. A total of 103 parent/child pairs (intervention = 49, control = 54) were enrolled and 91 (intervention = 44, control = 47) completed the weekly cooking skills program. The intervention did not improve total child vegetable intake. The number of vegetables children tried increased, and mean vegetable liking decreased over time for both control and intervention children. Objective 2 • To examine the influence of specific aspects of an eating situation (others present, available food choices, information about the food, ambiance, etc.) on the choice and consumption of foods. We completed a study to determine the variety of food and beverage items consumed by free-living, food-secure individuals. A secondary objective was to evaluate how the selections of commonly-consumed items were guided by several choice influencers (e.g. habit, liking, and nutrition). Participants (50 male, 52 female; age ≥ 25 years with a Bachelor's degree) completed a 28-day online food diary with seven eating occasions: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and morning, afternoon, early evening, and late evening snacks. After completing each week, participants rated their satisfaction with the variety in their diets and the impact of 13 choice influencers on all items consumed that week. We measured variety as a count of unique items, using these counts to calculate the proportion of unique items consumed. We evaluated if variety differed by gender, eating occasion, day, week, and month. To determine key choice influencers of commonly-consumed items, we averaged weekly choice influencer ratings of these items across participants. Participants consumed an average of 110 unique items over 28 days with higher counts of unique items for dinner (46 items), followed by lunch (38 items), and then breakfast (21 items). The highest proportions of unique items (0.6) were consumed at lunch, dinner, early evening snack, and late evening snack. These findings will enable eating establishments to better provide satisfactory variety to customers while considering potential choice influencers relevant to their clientele. • Objective 3. To measure the effects of a wide variety of food product manipulations on the sensory properties and/or the acceptability of food products. We developed a set of descriptors that defined aromas and flavors of Frontenac gris wine, and determined a subset of these descriptors that defined the flavor of that wine. The following attributes defined Frontenac gris wine flavor: dried apricot, dried cherry, citrus fruit, dried fruit, fresh strawberry, green wood, fresh green, canned peach, and canned pineapple. Frontenac gris wine is high in both sweetness and sourness. We assessed the extent to which instrumental measurements correlated to and predicted sensory crispness, with a focus on crispness maintenance. We used an apple breeding family derived from a cross between 'Honeycrisp' and 'MN1764', which segregates for crispness maintenance. Three types of instrumental measurements (puncture, snapping and mechanical-acoustic tests) and sensory texture evaluation were performed on fruit at harvest and after 8 weeks of cold storage. Overall, 20 genotypes from the family and the two parents were characterized by 19 force and acoustic measures. In general, crispness was more related to force than to acoustic measures. Force linear distance and maximum force as measured by the mechanical-acoustic test were best correlated with sensory crispness and change in crispness, respectively. The correlations varied by apple genotype. We conducted a study to measure consumer acceptability of three breeds of basil (Nufar, Genovese, and Elenora) grown in three different growing conditions (soil, greenhouse aquaponics, and warehouse aquaponics). One hundred and six basil consumers rated overall liking, appearance liking, flavor liking, flavor intensity, bitterness intensity, and texture liking of the nine basils. Participants rated overall liking, flavor liking, and texture liking of Nufar higher than the other breeds. It was the best liked or among the best liked under all the growing conditions, and it was more intensely flavored than the other breeds. Participants generally liked the soil and greenhouse growing conditions more than the warehouse growing condition. The exception to this was the Nufar breed that was as well liked in the warehouse condition as in the other two growing conditions. Soil produced the highest flavor intensity, but also the highest bitterness. We conducted a study to measure consumer acceptability of lettuce of three breeds (Butterhead rex, Salanova incised, and Skyphos) grown in three different growing conditions (soil, greenhouse aquaponics, and warehouse aquaponics). One-hundred-six lettuce consumers rated overall liking, appearance liking, flavor liking, flavor intensity, bitterness intensity, texture liking, and crispness intensity of each of the nine samples. Salinova and Butterhead lettuces grown in soil and in the warehouse aquaponics were better liked, less bitter and more crisp than the Skyphos breed or any of the lettuces grown in greenhouse aquaponics. Participants liked Skyphos lettuce less (overall liking, flavor liking, appearance liking, and texture liking) than the other breeds of lettuce. The Skyphos breed was also the most bitter lettuce. Lettuces grown in the greenhouse aquaponics system were generally less well liked than those grown in soil or in the warehouse aquaponics. Objective 4. To examine the influence of consumer characteristics such as taste genetics (e.g. PROP taster status), emotion/mood, eating behaviors (e.g. neophobia, restrained, etc.), hunger, and stress on food acceptability and consumption. We have collected data to determine how the amount of variety consumed in the diets of free-living adults is related to neophobia, sensation seeking, and boredom proneness. We are in the process of analyzing these data.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Pizarek A, Vickers Z. Effects of swallowing and spitting on flavor intensity. J Sens Stud. 2017; e12277. https://doi.org/10.1111/joss.12277
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lakanen, A., Vickers, Z., and Reicks, M. (2017) Child involvement in food preparation during school lunch to improve vegetable intake: Mix your own salad today! Journal of Foodservice Management and Education. 11 (1) 1-4
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Mattes, M. Z. and Vickers, Z. M. (2017). Better-liked foods produce more satiety. Food Quality and Preference. 64, 94-102. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.10.012
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vickers, Zata. 2017. Satiety and liking intertwined. In Flavor, Satiety and Food Intake. Eds Tepper, B.J and Yeomans, M. Wiley-Blackwell. pages 13-35
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lauren E. Wisdorf , Traci Mann , Joseph P. Redden , Zata M. Vickers Variety and the Impact of Choice Influencers in the Diets of Free-Living Adults IFT annual meeting Las Vegas, 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Jenna Brady and Zata Vickers Sensory Evaluation of Frontenac gris and Brianna wine grape and wine varieties by descriptive analysis IFT annual meeting Las Vegas, 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hsueh-Yuan Chang, Zata Vickers, Cindy Tong Correlation between sensory and instrumental crispness of a Honeycrisp apple breeding population. American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) conference. 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Dongjie Chen, Juer Liu, Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Justin Wiertzema, Qingqing Mao, Paul Chen, David Baumler, Chi Chen, Zata Vickers, and Joellen Feirtag, Laurence Lee, Roger Ruan. Study on Inactivation effect, agglomeration, and functional properties of Nonfat Milk Powder using intense pulsed light. Presentation at IAFP annual meeting in Tampa FL July, 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Dongjie Chen, Nan Zhou, Juer Liu, Qingqing Mao, Justin Wiertzema, Paul Chen, David Baumler, Chi Chen, Zata Vickers, Joellen Feirtag, Laurence Lee, Roger Ruan. CAP [2015- 08046] System development of the continuous intense pulsed light technology for non-thermal pasteurization of powdered foods Presentation at IAFP annual meeting in Tampa FL July, 2017.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lauren E. Wisdorf , Traci Mann , Joseph P. Redden , Zata M. Vickers Variety and the Impact of Choice Influencers in the Diets of Free-Living Adults Pangborn Symposium Providence, RI, 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Jenna Brady and Zata Vickers Sensory Evaluation of Frontenac gris and Brianna wine grape and wine varieties by descriptive analysis Pangborn Symposium, Providence, RI, 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vickers, Z. Sensory Evaluation of Food Texture presented as part of the symposium Understanding Food Texture: A tribute to the pioneering work of Alina Szczesniak and Malcolm Bourne. IFT annual meeting, Las Vegas, NV 6/26/2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vickers Z. Fundamentals of Aftertaste and Afterfeel. Presented as part of the symposium :The Melody Lingers On: The sensory science of aftetaste/Feel IFT annual meeting, Las vegas, NV 6/27/2017.


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Low income families with children between the ages of 9 - 12. Academic researchers with interests in sensory evaluation, foodchoice, satiety, texture perception, perception of odor mixtures, and increasing vegetable consumption. Personnel in food industries with interests in sensory evaluation, satiety, food texture liking, odor mixture perception,and increasing vegetable consumption Personnel in agriculture production (animal and food crops) with interest in the impact of new production technologies on the acceptability of food products made from those raw materials. Personnel in food production with interests in the impact of new technologies on the acceptability of food products. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?These activities comprised the thesis research of 5 graduate students. Many part-time undergradute students also worked on these projects and were mentored by both the principal investigator and by the graduate students. Graduate students and faculty attended several professional meetings at which they presented their research data, networked with others having similar interests, and attended a broad range of other presentations related to their field of study. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this research have been presented at a variety of conferences: Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting; Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior; Food Oral Processing conference. Results have been submitted and published in refereed Journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we plan to do the following: Analyze the data we have collected (and continue to collect) related to our efforts to teach behavioral economic strategies through a Cooking Matters for Families class. Further analyze the variety study data to learn more about the 'choice influencers' that strongly predict people's decisions to consume foods. Conduct sensory descriptive analysis on a broader range of cold climate wines of a single grape (e.g. Frontenac gris or Brianna), to provide a more succint description of the wine that applies to the majority of wines from that grape. Conduct a study to measure the success of a strategy to develop a habit for a specific behavior that should increase vegetable consumption at family dinners. Conduct a study to determine whether lettuce or basil grown aquaponically is more, less, or equally acceptable to lettuce and basil grown conventionally.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact The flavor lexicon for cold climate wine grapes and wines is a tool that grape growers and wine makers can use to evaluate their grapes/wines. It enables clear communication between grape growers, wine makers, and wine consumers. The detailed information on the sensory attributes of these grapes/wines can be combined with grape genetics and chemical compositions of wines/grapes to improve the consumer acceptability of wines produced from cold climate grapes. Our strategies for increasing vegetable consumption of low income children address the much-lower-than-recommended vegetable intake of this part of the population. The strategies work by making low or no-cost changes in the home or school environment that subtly encourage vegetable consumption. Understanding characteristics of consumer food choices that enable people to consume a preponderance of healthy foods will lead to better formulations of healthy products and to better strategies for making dietary changes. We explored the changes to the aroma, flavor, and astringency that occur during the ripening of Frontenac gris and Brianna wine grapes. Ten trained panelists performed descriptive analysis on Frontenac gris and Brianna grape berries. For each cultivar, four replicates were grown in the research vineyard at South Dakota State University. These grapes were harvested at different time points. Grape berry samples were frozen until testing and served at room temperature. Panelists evaluated the skin and pulp separately. About 40 sensory descriptors were generated that characterized the berries of both Frontenac gris and Brianna. We also evaluated wines made from these grapes. About 50 sensory descriptors were generated that characterized the wine from these two grapes. These lexicons can now be used by other wine researchers and by winemakers to improve their ability to communicate with marketers and consumers. We assess vegetable liking and home vegetable availability in low income families with children 9-12 years old. Both children and parents rated their liking of 35 vegetables; Parents completed a home vegetable inventory for the same 35 vegetables, noting if they had that vegetable in their home, and if so, whether it was fresh, frozen or shelf-stable. On average parents liked 24 of the 35 vegetables whereas children liked 15 of the 35 vegetables. Parents had tried more of the vegetables than had the children (31 vs. 25 respectively. The average number of different vegetables present in the homes was 18 (range from 3 to 29). Fresh vegetables were the most common form; frozen was the least common form. These low income households typically had a good variety of vegetables in stock and all children liked at least several different vegetables. Home availability of vegetables and vegetable liking may be less of a constraint on vegetable consumption than previously thought. Parents of 9-12 year old children participating in a vegetable-enhanced Cooking Matters for Families program completed weekly habit questionnaires to estimate the frequency of use, difficulty of implementation, and habit strength for 6 behavioral strategies introduced during the program. On completion of the program a different version of the habit questionnaire was administered to measure habit strength 6 months and 1 year after the program had ended. Three of the six behavioral strategies increased with time: serving two vegetables at dinner, having the child help prepare vegetables, and making vegetables more visible and available. These three strategies are worth pursuing in subsequent activities to promote vegetable consumption habits. Because all volatile compounds in a food product do not necessarily contribute to the aroma of the food, a reliable procedure for determining which compounds are important is necessary. Omission testing (removing one compound from the product and determining whether people perceive a difference) is a common methodology for this task. We conducted a study to determine whether people could learn to discriminate between a five-compound odor mixture with all compounds at the same perceived intensity and the same mixture with any one or two of the five compounds removed. During preliminary test sessions we selected, for each panelist separately, concentrations of each of the first four of these compounds that were equivalent in intensity to the fifth compound. We then constructed, for each participant, a mixture of the five compounds that were matched in intensity. Panelists then participated in 20 sessions consisting of a series of A-not-A Tests with corrective feedback. We used a discriminability index to evaluate the omission testing data by sessions, panelists, and omitted compounds. The panelists, as a group, were able to discriminate between the full five-compound mixture and mixtures with any one of the five compounds removed after 60 trials. However, low discriminability values indicated that the mixtures were extremely difficult to discriminate. This common methodology has serious weaknesses that limit its usefulness for determining the importance of an odorant to a food aroma. We conducted a study to examine the relationships among liking ratings of a wide variety of food textures and to group people based on their liking ratings. In Part 1 of this study, nearly 300 people rated their liking of over 100 food texture attributes. We expected our participants to form four groups with distinct mouth-behavior preferences, However, our participants did not form a small number of clusters differing in texture liking patterns. In Part 2 of this study we examined relationships among individuals' food texture liking ratings, mouth behavior group, and measurements of saliva flow rate, chewing efficiency, biting force, and particle size sensitivity. We observed 4 clusters of people: a 'low particle size sensitivity' cluster, a 'high biting force' cluster, a 'high saliva flow rate' cluster, and a 'low saliva flow rate and low chewing efficiency' cluster. These clusters accounted for 52% of the variation in the oral physiological measurements. The majority of individuals fell into clusters that lacked distinct texture liking profiles. We have collected data to determine the variety of foods consumed by free-living individuals who made the decisions about what they consumed and were not seriously constrained by income or accessibility. Participants completed a 28-day online food diary with seven provided eating occasions: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and morning, afternoon, early evening, and late evening snacks. Participants consumed an average of 110 unique items in 28 days with higher 28-day counts of unique items for dinner (46 items), followed by lunch (38 items), and then breakfast (21 items). The highest proportions of unique items (0.6) were consumed at lunch, dinner, early evening snack, and late evening snack. These findings will enable eating establishments, such as cafeterias, schools, nursing homes, etc., to better provide adequate variety to their customers.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Karalus, M, and Vickers, Z. (2016). Satiation and satiety produced by eating oatmeal vs. oranges. A comparison of different scales. Appetite 99 168-176.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Leak, T. Swenson, A. Vickers, Z. and Reicks, M. Behavioral economics strategies and home dinner vegetable intake among low-income children"International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity annual meeting June 8  11 2016 Capetown South Africa.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lenne, Richie; Redden, Joe; Mann, Traci; Vickers, Zata, The role of perceived variety in meal satisfaction. Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavior Medicine in DC March 30 - April 2. 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Yue, C., Anderson, N, Phelps, N, Venturelli, P, Short Gianna, Schermann, M. Vickers, Z. Economic feasibility analysis of aquaponics systems. Presented at International Society for Horticultural Science. VIII International Postharvest Symposium: Enhancing Supply Chain and Consumer Benefits  Ethical and Technological Issues June 21-24, 2016 Cartagena, Murcia Spain..
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Weiss, K and Vickers, Z. Validity of omission testing as a method for identifying important odorants in a mixture IFT annual meeing Chicago, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Kim, S. and Vickers, Z Liking of Food Textures IFT annual meeing Chicago, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Kim, S. and Vickers, Z. Liking of Food Textures. Food oral processing conference, Lausanne, Switzerland. July 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Padmapriya Swaminathan, Anne Fennell, Kalley Besler, Yuxin Yao, Somchai Rice, Jacek Koziel, Murli Dharmadhikari, Devin Maurer, Emily Del Bel, Zata Vickers, Katie Cook, Adrian Hegeman and Jim Luby. Characterization of Grape berry ripening - Genomics to Sensory RECOMB/ISCB Conference on Regulatory and Systems Genomics, with DREAM Challenges and Cytoscape Workshop
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vickers, Zata. Sensory Evaluation. Presented at the Minnesota Aquaponics Symposium. May 2016. St. Paul, MN