Natural Alternatives to Potassium Sorbate in Fruit Preparations: Sensory Evaluation

The replacement of synthetic preservatives with natural alternatives is a major challenge in developing clean-label fruit preparations while maintaining consumer acceptance. This study evaluated the sensory acceptance of red fruit and strawberry preparations preserved with a combination of lemongrass essential oil (LEO) and propionic acid (PA) as an alternative to potassium sorbate (PS). Fruit preparations containing PS (0.1%) or LEO combined with PA at MIC/2 and MIC/4 were incorporated into commercial yogurts at 15% for red fruit preparations in low-fat natural yogurt and 5% for strawberry preparations in Greek yogurt. Red fruit formulations were evaluated by 22 consumers using a 9-point hedonic scale, followed by a preliminary sensory assessment conducted by the industrial partner. The red fruit preparation containing LEO and PA at MIC/2 achieved the highest overall liking (7.8 ± 0.8), surpassing the PS control (7.1 ± 1.0). Although both natural formulations exhibited dominant citrus notes, the MIC/4 formulation received lower acceptance because its aroma was perceived as excessively floral and artificial. During the industrial assessment, both red fruit formulations were considered acceptable, whereas strawberry preparations were perceived as overly acidic and dominated by lemongrass flavour, mainly due to the lower fruit preparation content (5%), although the MIC/4 formulation performed better than MIC/2. Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of LEO and PA as natural preservation systems to replace PS in fruit preparations while highlighting that fruit matrix composition and incorporation level strongly influence the sensory perception and consumer acceptance of clean-label preservation strategies, supporting their future industrial application.