Abstract
Fresh cut kiwi fruits are gaining popularity among consumers due to increased nutrition, health, and convenience. In this study ultrasound treated fresh cut kiwifruit slices were coated with different concentrations (0.6, 0.8, and 1%) of chitosan. Sensory evaluation was conducted in linguistic terms for the kiwifruit slices with a panel of 15 well-trained judges to understand the consumer preference. The linguistic approach was analysed and decoded using the fuzzy logic modeling approach to find the best sample and quality attribute responsible for consumer preference. The slices with the highest defuzzified scores were obtained for the 1% chitosan-coated sample. Ranking of kiwifruit slices was based on defuzzified scores was S1>S2>S3>S4, while ranking of the quality attributes was smell>taste>color>texture. Therefore, the fuzzy logic modeling could be a practical approach for finding the consumer preference of fresh cut kiwifruits, thus increasing product marketability.
Highlights
Fruits are a vital source of essential nutrients and take a pivotal role in maintaining our body fit and healthy
The sensory evaluation of chitosan-coated fresh cut kiwi fruits is an uncertain phenomenon that leads to an incorrect human interpretation
The results revealed that the color, smell, and taste are the important quality attribute in the case of chitosan-coated fresh cut kiwi fruits, followed by texture (Table 7)
Summary
Fruits are a vital source of essential nutrients and take a pivotal role in maintaining our body fit and healthy. Kiwi offers plenty of health benefits and is packed with a rich taste and aroma They are rich sources of carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and flavonoids, which reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular, and degenerative diseases (Amodio et al, 2007). Ultrasound is considered an innovative and promising technology to preserve fresh cut fruits' quality (Knorr et al, 2004). An ultrasound treatment followed by proper packaging or coating is essential to improve the shelf life and maintain their freshness and taste (Helander et al, 2001; Vivek et al, 2016). Chitosan is a high molecular weight linear chain polysaccharide consists of D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit) linked by randomly distributed β-(1-4) linkage It is used as an edible coating material on fruits to improve the storage shelf life by controlling microbial and non-microbial decay. The sensory evaluation of chitosan-coated fresh cut fruits is needed to know the consumer satisfaction and support research and development (Fattahi and Babri, 2010)
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