Block protocol for conventional profiling to sensory characterize plant protein isolates

• Published in: Food quality and preference 2020-07, Vol.83, p.103927, Article 103927
• Main Authors: Cosson, Audrey, Delarue, Julien, Mabille, Anne-Cécile, Druon, Amandine, Descamps, Nicolas, Roturier, Jean-Michel, Souchon, Isabelle, Saint-Eve, Anne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cognitive science; Food engineering; Life Sciences; Neuroscience
• ISSN: 0950-3293; 1873-6343
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.103927

•We developed a new sensory profiling protocol for evaluating pea-protein-based foods.•In this protocol, food attributes are evaluated in blocks.•Block protocol led to better discrimination among pea protein solutions.•Low PROP tasters were less able to discriminate among pea protein solutions. Pea protein isolates are promising ingredients to use when designing new plant-based foods; have interesting functional properties (e.g., emulsification, foaming) and can serve as alternatives to animal proteins. However, their sensory properties must be considered if their use is to be optimized. Indeed, pea proteins are often perceived as having a highly persistent bitter, astringent, or beany flavor, which can strongly impact sensory assessments (e.g., carry over, sensory fatigue) during sample evaluations. Here, we proposed an explorative study for the use of an adapted sensory evaluation protocol, that could be used by trained panelists to effectively evaluate pea-protein-based foods. In short, we adapted a classical protocol - we incorporated relative-to-reference evaluation, and panelists assessed attributes in blocks rather than all at once. We conducted an experiment in which both classical and block protocols were used to evaluate pea protein solutions made with one set of isolates. Similar results were obtained with classical versus block protocol, although panelist performance (reproducibility and homogeneity) was better with block protocol. Sensitivity to bitterness was also investigated for this limited number of panelists (PROP test), and it was found that high and medium PROP tasters could better discriminate among pea protein solutions.