Development of an aroma attributes lexicon for retorted cat foods

Abstract

AbstractThe objective of this study was to develop an aroma attributes lexicon for retorted cat foods. Total of 40 retorted cat foods were subjected to descriptive sensory analysis using a highly trained descriptive panel. The cat foods chosen varied in processing, ingredients, and packaging. The attributes were determined, defined, and referenced. In general retorted packaged cat foods can be described as meaty, brothy, and cooked, sometimes with processed, vitamin and barnyard aromatics, and depending on the formulation, with beefy, poultry, seafood, liver, and heated oil aromatics. Additional attributes detected included musty/dusty, earthy, grainy, brothy‐vegetable, pungent, vegetable, herb, hay‐like, sulfur, yeast, and butyric. Multivariate analysis revealed product development opportunities on the product maps. This research may help pet food industry better understand the retorted cat food sensory properties, market, and its opportunities.Practical applicationsThe pet food industry is continuously growing and is serving more than 150 million pets in the United States. It is important to understand which sensory characteristics are important in these products and what kind of product development opportunities exist.