CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF REDUCED SATURATED FAT MOLDED BISCUITS MADE WITH OLEOGELS

Fat is an essential ingredient in the preparation of biscuits, which may contain a high content of saturated and/or trans fats in their composition, these fats being proven to be related to the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. As of 2023, Brazilian legislation has prohibited the use of trans fats and limited the use of saturated fats in food products, thus encouraging new technologies that are effective in replacing trans and saturated fats in foods, including oleogel technology. The objective of this work was to evaluate consumer perception, using sensory acceptance, “just-about-right” and purchase intention tests, when applying oleogels as fat substitutes in molded biscuits. Four biscuit formulations were produced, one standard, with palm fat, one control, with high-oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) without structuring agents, and two with oleogels with concentrations of sorbitan monostearate, palm oil hardfat and monoglycerides (structuring agents) in the proportions 1:1:4 and 2:2:2, respectively, in HOSO. In the sensory acceptance test, appearance, aroma, flavor, texture and overall acceptance were evaluated. The formulations were well accepted by the 126 consumers, obtaining results greater than 7 (liked moderately) for all parameters evaluated. In addition, the biscuits produced with oleogels had higher scores for acceptance (7.5) than the standard (6.6) and control samples (6.9), being significantly different at the 5% level. Regarding the “just-about-right” scale, the biscuits produced with oleogels were closer to the ideal expected by the consumers for color, hardness and crunchiness. In the purchase intention test, biscuits made with oleogels received better scores (4 - would probably buy), when compared to the other samples, reinforcing that replacing fat with oleogels is sensorially acceptable. With the results obtained, it is possible to conclude that oleogel technology is an alternative for replacing saturated fats in biscuits, with an improvement in sensory characteristics.