How to determine Iso-sweet concentrations for various sweeteners: Insights from consumers and trained panels

Abstract

To determine the iso-sweet concentrations for a variety of sweeteners effectively, it is important to understand how the changes in sweetness intensities over time affect judgments on perceived sweetness made by consumers. This research aimed to comprehend these effects and examine how accurately trained panelists would be able to predict consumers’ perception of sweetness using conventional sensory techniques. Two studies have been conducted. In study I, 182 consumers were recruited to participate in a set of four paired comparison (2-Alternative Forced Choice) tests, followed by one ranking test. The same set of tests were ‘repeated’ three times by varying their expectorating time (2 s, 5 s, 8 s). In study II, two trained panels were employed to assess the static sweetness intensities with quantitative descriptive analysis and the dynamic release of sweetness with Time-intensity analysis. It was found that consumers tended to make comparisons and sorting decisions on sweet taste based on perceived sweetness during the first few seconds (2 ∼ 5 s) in the oral cavity. In addition, results obtained from the trained panels suggested that expectorating at 5 s with quantitative descriptive analysis and swallowing at 2 s with Time-intensity analysis were more suitable tasting protocols for better prediction of consumers’ perceived sweetness than other protocols.