FREE COMMENT AS A VALUABLE APPROACH TO CHARACTERIZE AND IDENTIFY THE DRIVERS OF LIKING OF HIGH-PROTEIN FLAVORED MILK DRINK SUBMITTED TO OHMIC HEATING

Flavored milk is a popular dairy product traditionally processed by pasteurization, which is a safe and robust process. Ohmic heating (OH) has been proposed as an alternative to dairy products processing. This study used Free Comment, an underexplored methodology in sensory studies, to characterize five samples of high-protein vanilla-flavored milk: PAST (conventional pasteurization 72 ºC/15s) and ohmic heating samples (OH6.96, OH8.70,OH10, OH12, 5.22 , 6.96 V/cm, 8.70 V/cm, 10.43 V/cm). Multiple-response Correspondence Analysis (MR-CATA), Clustering around Latent Variables (CLV) and Multiple-response hypergeometric test was used to the data treatment. Free Comment raised similar descriptors to those found in studies that used more consolidated descriptive methods using consumers. The employed statistical approach allowed observation that pasteurization and OH treatment have different effects on the sensory profile of products, and the electrical field strength of OH also has a significant impact. PAST was slightly to moderately negatively associated with “acid taste,” “fresh milk taste,” “smoothness,” “sweet taste,” “vanilla flavor,” “vanilla aroma,” “viscous,” and “white color.” On the other hand, OH processing with more intense electric fields (OH10 and OH12) produced flavored milk drinks strongly associated with the “in natura” milk descriptors (“fresh milk aroma” and “fresh milk taste”). Furthermore, the products were characterized by the descriptors “homogeneous,” “sweet aroma,” “sweet taste,“ “vanilla aroma,” “white color,“ “vanilla taste,” and “smoothness.” In parallel, less intense electric fields (OH6 and OH8) produced samples more associated with a bitter taste, viscosity, and lumps presence. Sweet taste and fresh milk taste were the drivers of liking. In conclusion, OH with more intense electric fields (OH10 and OH12) was promising in flavored milk drink processing. Furthermore, the free comment was a valuable approach to characterize and identify the drivers of liking of high-protein flavored milk drink submitted to OH.