Concerns associated with sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have led to an increased consumer demand for sweetener alternatives that are functionally (and taste) equivalent to sucrose without the associated health risks. Measuring consumer emotions has the potential to aid the industry in subsequent ingredient decision-making. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of consumer acceptability and emotional response of sweeteners in tea using a 9-point hedonic scale, an emotion term questionnaire (explicit), and a facial expression response (implicit). Participants (n=30) evaluated a water sample (baseline), two (5%) sucrose-tea samples (control), and four equi-sweet alternative sweetener-tea samples (ace-k, sucralose, high fructose corn syrup and honey), divided by category (artificial; natural). Sessions (4 total, spread over 2 days) were divided by category and emotional response tool in a cross-over design. Facial expression responses were recorded in the first session of both days using FaceReader 5.0 and individual participant videos were analyzed per sample for 5-sec post-consumption (α=0.05) in the continuous analysis setting using automated facial expression analysis software. Emotional term responses were collected in the second session of each day and count frequencies of each term per sample were tabulated and analyzed. Hedonic acceptability was rated in all sessions on a 9-point scale. Alternative sweeteners were all rated "acceptable" (score of 5 or higher), except for honey in one session. Only one alternative in each category was statistically different (p<0.05) in liking from sucrose. Facial analysis showed minimal differences in emotion elicited across sweetener categories. Time series analysis was more robust in showing differences (p<0.05) than baseline comparisons. Emotional term selection using a CATA questionnaire showed four unique terms (disgusted, good, mild, steady) for natural sweeteners and two unique terms (bored, goodnatured) for artificial sweeteners. More research exploration related to emotions and food is needed in order to accrue a more accurate picture of consumer product preferences.

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The light-protective effectiveness of titanium dioxide polylactic acid (TiO2 PLA) nanocomposite films (T-PLA) and oleic-acid-modified (OA_TiO2PLA) nanocomposite films was investigated in ready-to-drink (RTD) green tea infusions in oxygen-impermeable glass packaging. The stability of (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was evaluated in RTD green tea infusions in glass packaging covered with PLA (polylactic acid), T-PLA and OT-PLA under fluorescent light during 20 days of storage at 4 °C. Levels of EGCG and color change of RTD green tea infusions were determined. In addition, sensory tests for difference were conducted on green tea infusions in glass packaging without and with complete light protection during 10 days of storage at 4 °C. Of the panelists, 60% noticed sensory differences in the RTD green tea infusion in two different packaging conditions during 10 days of storage under fluorescent light by a triangle test (p < 0.05). During 20 days of storage, levels of EGCG with complete light protection decreased by 10.8% (0.73 mg/mL), and there was a 42.2% loss of EGCG (0.48 mg/mL) in RTD green tea infusions in the glass packaging covered by PLA film. Finally, 3% T-PLA preserved higher levels of EGCG in RTD green tea infusions compared to 1% T-PLA and OT-PLA.