1. Food Flavors & Quality

2. We hold certain expectations for food
We hold certain expectations for food. Brainstorm food expectations with partner.

3. Food Expectations 1. Color – quality factor
Relates to quality and/or perceived quality
(ex: white and orange carrots = same taste/quality)
We expect meat to be red
Bananas to be yellow – not brown!
Naturally occurring pigments, freshness, oxidation (air), etc. affect food color

4. Food Expectations 2. 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 moisture status

5. Food Expectations 3. Size & shape – quality factor
Expect foods to have certain sizes & shapes
Easily measured
Fruits & vegetables graded by size & shapes

6. Food Expectations 4. Taste– quality factor
Expect foods to have certain taste
5 different tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami aka savory)
Ex: milk to be lightly sweet not sour

7. * Each of the papillae (finger like projections or receptacles) contain many taste buds. * Most taste buds are on the sides, back, and tip of your tongue.

8. How Taste Work
Tiny finger-like structures on papillae called microvilli with hundreds of receptors on them (areas on the cell wall that can tell if specific chemicals are near them)
Send signals to the brain to acknowledge the specific taste and store it to memory
The five different tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami aka savory) affect the taste receptors

9. Scientific Controversy on Taste Buds… are certain areas more strong than others?
View 1 - taste buds help perceive flavor – certain areas of tongue are more sensitive to certain flavors
View 2 – areas disproven Most areas of the tongue can taste each of the five tastes

10. Taste Lab

11. Food Expectations 5. Smell– quality factor
Expect foods to have certain smell or no smell
Rancid foods occur when fat is oxidized and can lead to a sour or un-fresh smell
Ex: molding bread
Consumers anticipate a smell prior to a taste

12. How Smell Works
Flavor = The combination of pure taste and smell (olfaction)
Humans are usually able to distinguish over 4,000 scents, but some people are able to smell 10,000 different odor molecules
Used primarily for safety and protection from outside dangers (leaking gas, rotten food, etc.

13. How Smell Works

14. Lifesaver Activity

15. Questions/ Comments on Food Expectations?

16. 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

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

18. 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

19. Cheese Food Quality Assessment

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

21. Sensory Bias Humans avoid flavors after paired with gastric illness
All senses are change detectors so after continuous exposure receptors stop responding
Humans biased by opinion/others easily
Past assumptions, comments
Lighting, sound, temperature
Prefer first samples over last – only handle 4-5 samples at a time

22. Sensory Taste Test – Market Research
This is similar to how consumers would do a taste test for a company.
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