Sensory Driven Optimization of Dr. Bob's Low Fat Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie
Open Access
- Author:
- Harding, Margaret M
- Area of Honors:
- Food Science
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Robert F Roberts, Thesis Supervisor
Gregory Ray Ziegler, Thesis Honors Advisor
John E Hayes, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Strawberry yogurt
sensory analysis
mean drop analysis
Dr. Bob's
optimization
reformulation - Abstract:
- Dr. Bob’s Low Fat Strawberry Smoothie is currently sold in the Penn State University Creamery. The objective of this project was to determine what attributes contribute most to “liking” of the product as part of a comprehensive program to improve overall liking, under the assumption that liking is a major driver of repeat sales. The original smoothie was tested using untrained participants who evaluated overall liking and provided Just About Right ratings for sweetness, sourness, thickness, strawberry flavor, and color. Mean drop analysis was used on the JAR data to determine which attributes caused the greatest drop in overall liking. Analysis of the original product indicated a need to boost strawberry flavor. In the second test, the original product was re-tested as a control, along with a reformulated product that contained added natural strawberry flavor (0.20% wt/wt). Results indicated the number of participants who rated the reformulated product as “Not Enough Strawberry” decreased substantially, but the number of participants who rated the flavor added product as “Too Much Strawberry” also increased substantially. A third round of testing was conducted with 0.10% and 0.15% (w/w) added flavor in order to determine a concentration of added strawberry flavor that would keep “Not Enough Strawberry” ratings sufficiently low while driving the number of “Too Much Strawberry” ratings closer to the level found in the original product. The 0.10% flavor added product showed the lowest percent of respondent ratings for “Not Enough Strawberry” while maintaining a very low level of ratings for “Too Much Strawberry.” The reformulated product containing 0.1% added strawberry flavor fared better with respect to the attribute “strawberry flavor” than any of the other treatments. However, for all of the flavor added treatments, overall liking was not significantly greater than any of the original treatments.