Food Flavors & Quality

Food Expectations Color – quality factor Relates to quality We expect meat to be red Bananas to be yellow – not brown! Naturally occurring pigments affect food color

Food Expectations Texture – quality factor Gum to be chewy Crackers to be crisp Refers to qualities felt with fingers, tongue & teeth Changes in texture usually due to water status

Food Expectations Size & shape – quality factor Expect foods to have certain sizes & shapes Easily measured Fruits & vegetables graded by size & shapes

How Do We Taste? Tongue – taste buds – help perceive flavor 4 main tastes Bitter Sour Salty Sweet

Lifesaver Activity

Sensory Science Part of food science Dedicated to finding ways to help humans accurately describe the flavors & other sensory properties of food (scent) Flavor – quality factor People differ in preferences

Measure Taste Best method – use taste panels – professionals or customers Other evaluation methods used – chemical & mechanical

Quality Standards Help ensure food quality Types Research – setup by company Trade – setup by members of an industry Government – some mandatory, some optional All help to provide common language for all involved Quality standards by USDA http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/standards

Quality Control Manufacturing plants usually have some type of internal, formal, quality control Inspection duties Lab tests Oversee sanitation Guide research & development

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT-5sEDse3E

Classroom Taste Tests Tomorrow we are going to set up blind taste tests to see if we can taste the difference between brand name & generic foods. This is similar to how consumers would do a taste test for a company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7lw_vhxtNc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0TsqVKmjAw