Anais do Simpósio Latino Americano de Ciências de Alimentos
Proceedings of 14 SLACA - Latin American Symposium on Food Science

Excessive amounts of sugar, low fiber content, and artificial colorants have been the biggest problems of commercial breakfast cereals. With consumers more aware of the foods they incorporate into their diet, the search for new ingredients that offer a healthy appeal and new flavors has generated great popularity for ethnic foods. Peruvian purple maize (PPM) contains fibers and natural pigments, like anthocyanins, which could improve the quality of extruded products affecting their sensory profile. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the perception and sensory acceptance of breakfast cereals formulated with PPM whole flour by a Brazilian panel. The extruded products were developed with 25, 50, 75, and 100% PPM, in a commercial yellow corn base, without flavor or coloring agents. A total of 117 consumers evaluated these four samples through an acceptability test (nine-point hedonic scale) followed by CATA questions (35 descriptive terms) and a market research questionnaire. Results of the acceptability test showed that products formulated with 50 and 75% PPM were liked slightly since obtained scores were above 6 to the overall liking, color, aroma, and texture. The penalty-lift analysis of the CATA terms demonstrates that, for Brazilian consumers, the most important drivers of preference were attractive, crunchy, purple, naturally colored, and innovative color, while hard and brown had a negative effect. According to market research, consumers affirmed that they would consume the cereal both at breakfast and during the day as a snack; also, they pointed out that among the most outstanding characteristics of the product are the possible health benefits, innovative color, and using an exotic raw material. Therefore, the formulation of breakfast cereal with 50 to 75% PPM whole flour allows us to obtain a product with acceptable color, flavor, and texture characteristics according to the Brazilian consumers' preferences.