Addition of acids to foods allows for enhanced food safety. Acids are the primary form of defense against microbial contamination in refrigerated foods, while use of acids in conjunction with heat or high hydrostatic pressure processing lowers energy usage resulting in cost reduction. However, addition of acids to food or beverage formulations often reduces palatability due to higher sourness and this has limited the food industry's ability to better utilize them as preservatives. This study was aimed at gaining a better understanding of sourness suppression and its underlying mechanisms so that such limitations might be ultimately overcome. This work was divided into three parts dealing with the suppression of the sourness of citric, lactic and malic acids, as perceived by a trained sensory panel in a) binary mixtures with sugars, b) binary mixtures with salts and c) tertiary mixtures. The results of the first part showed that suppression was not mediated by sugar molarity or weight, but was significantly influenced by its perceived sweetness intensity in most cases. Sucrose and fructose were more effective than glucose in suppressing acid sourness and the data supported a separate receptor site/mechanism for glucose. Suppression was thought to have both central and peripheral components. In binary acid-salt mixtures sodium acetate (NaAc) affected the most sourness reduction, along with the largest concurrent pH increase (above 4.4). Sodium chloride (NaCl) mixtures showed significant suppression without a pH increase. Sodium gluconate (NaGluc) mixtures showed moderate suppression with citric and malic acids with pH increases remaining below 4.4, but showed little effect on lactic acid sourness. Saltiness appeared to drive suppression only in the case of NaCl, while pH change was responsible for reduction of sourness with NaAc and NaGluc. The tertiary trials indicated that a two-component multiple masker was more effective when its components stimulated different (as opposed to similar) receptors/receptor mechanisms in the taste system, irrespective of taste quality. Furthermore, a two-component masker was more effective than each component alone, and both components of a two-component masker did not have to be effective individually for them to function together as an effective multiple masker. / Graduation date: 2002

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Texture, a critical property of Asian wheat noodles, is normally assessed by sensory evaluation. However, sensory evaluation may be impractical for wheat breeders and noodle researchers who need to evaluate a large number of samples and have limited sample. Instrumental Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) has been widely employed to evaluate Asian wheat noodle texture. Nevertheless, a standardized method for performing TPA on these products has not been established. A series of studies were conducted to develop a testing method to best relate TPA results to sensory texture characteristics of Asian wheat noodles. First, the optimum TPA testing conditions (crosshead speed and degree of deformation) were determined for each noodle category (alkaline, instant fried, salted flat, and salted round), and were defined as the conditions which best related their results to the sensory data. Partial Least Squares (PLS2) was used to examine relationships between sensory first-chew characteristics (hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, denseness, starch between teeth, and toothpull) and TPA output (peak areas and heights). Response Surface Methodology determined the optimum TPA conditions (crosshead speed and % deformation) as follow: 1 mm/s and 85 % for alkaline, 1 mm/s and 70% for instant fried and salted round, and 5 mm/s and 65 % for salted flat noodles. Second, the effects of two sample cooking factors: noodle weights (20, 50, 100 g) and noodle to water ratios (1:10, 1:20) and three holding factors: media (with, without water), temperatures (25, 55 °C), and times (2, 15, 30 min), on the TPA results were investigated. Cooking factors did not significantly affect the TPA results but higher holding temperatures, the use of water as a holding media, and longer holding time significantly decreased most TPA parameters' values. Third, relationships between TPA and sensory first-chew parameters were examined for each noodle category. Predictive models of each sensory first-chew attribute were developed using linear and nonlinear (Fechner and Stevens) models, with single and multiple parameters. Hardness could be satisfactorily predicted by a single TPA parameter (area 1 or area 2), but other attributes required multiple parameters in the models to be satisfactorily predicted. Different model types were selected for each sensory attribute and noodle category. TPA peak area 1 and 2 were the best predictors for first-chew characteristics of cooked Asian wheat noodles. / Graduation date: 1998

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 S37 / Master of Science

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-219). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-219). Also available on the Internet.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 D66 / Master of Science

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 1967. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: no abstract available / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: geen opsomming