69922

DESCRIPTIVE SENSORY PROFILE OF REDUCED SODIUM PROBIOTIC PRATO CHEESE ADDED WITH FLAVOR ENHANCERS USING QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS (QDA)

Favorite this paper

Nowadays, special attention has been given to excessive salt consumption, which is associated to the development of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Among dairy products, cheeses are a rich source of essential nutrients and have advantages as carriers of probiotics. However, in Brazil, cheeses present high levels of sodium. A technological alternative to reduce the sodium content in foods is to replace NaCl with potassium chloride (KCl). The present study aimed to evaluate the descriptive sensory profiling of reduced sodium probiotic Prato cheese added with flavor enhancers. Five formulations of Probiotic Prato cheese were prepared: CI (control - 100% NaCl), CII (1 NaCl:1 KCl (w/w), CIII (1 NaCl:1 KCl (w/w); 1% w/w arginine), CIV (1 NaCl:1 KCl (w/w); 1% w/w yeast extract), CV (1 NaCl:1 KCl (w/w); 1% w/w oregano extract). The analysis was conducted by ten evaluators using 20 descriptors considered defining for the product analyzed. According to the results of Quantitative Descriptive Analysis Test, the formulations CI, CII and CIV were considered more similar in appearance, taste and texture, with strong yellow color, buttery and salty taste and typical taste of Prato cheese. With respect to appearance, the formulation CIII stands out for presenting a weak yellow color and was considered brighter. About texture, the formulation CIII was considered the most cracking and CV the most soft and cohesive. With regard to aroma, CIII stands out as the formulation with sourer aroma and CV with the specific aroma of fine herbs. About taste, the CV formulation stands out among the others by the bitter and fine herbs taste. Our findings suggested that the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) proved to be an effective sensorial methodology by allowing the identification and quantification of specific attributes in reduced-sodium products, like the reduced sodium Prato cheese.