Joanne (2014) Phenotypic variation in oronasal perception and the relative effects of PROP and Thermal Taster Status. Food Quality and Preference, 38. pp. 83-91. Abstract Individual variation in taste perception has long been investigated, particular in relation to PROP taster status (PTS). Recently, a new marker has been identified, Thermal Taster Status (TTS), whereby individuals are categorised as thermal tasters (TTs) or thermal non-tasters (TnTs) based on their ability to perceive taste solely from temperature stimulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of thermal tasters and relative effects of PTS and TTS on oronasal sensitivity across the whole perceptual range. Both detection thresholds (ASTM E679) and intensity measures at suprathreshold level (rated on gLMS) for stimuli from a range of modalities were determined from up to 124 subjects pre-screened for their PTS and TTS. No significant differences were found within either PTS or TTS groups at detection threshold level, with one exception; TTs has a lower threshold for sucrose (p<0.05). At supra-threshold level, PROP supertasters (pSTs) and medium tasters (pMTs) rated stimuli higher than non-tasters, and a consistent trend was observed that TTs rated stimuli higher than TnTs, although only ratings for temperature (warm and cold) reached significance. Global analyses applied across each modality, showed that in general TTs rated gustatory and trigeminal modalities significantly higher than TnTs, whilst this was not the case for olfactory stimuli, indicating that the mechanism for increased perception for TTs may be located in the oral cavity. PTS and TTS were shown to be independent phenotypes, but interestingly, ANOVA revealed significant interactions between TTS and PTS across the three modalities. Most notably, within pMTs, TTs rated stimuli intensity higher than TnTs, while the opposite trend was observed for pSTs. The intensity advantage gained by thermal tasters appears to be more apparent for pMTs than the already highly sensitive pSTs.

HighlightsDifferent levels of acetic acid were used to pre-treat Robusta green coffee beans.Acetic acid pre-treated Robusta had a more similar aroma profile to Arabica.The optimum level of acetic acid treatment was 2%.The maximum level of Robusta coffee added in a blend increased from 20% to 80%.

Highlights:1. Varying levels of sugars were used to pre-treat Robusta green beans.2. Treatment increased the similarity of Robusta to Arabica.3. The optimum level of sugar treatment was Robusta soaked in 15F solution.4. For coffee aroma the blending ratio can be increased from 20% to 80% Robusta.5. The aroma of treated Robusta coffee was more stable than Arabica.

With current global challenges such as population growth, climate change and water scarcity, it is critical to develop sustainable strategies to achieve food security. One way to tackle this is by developing new products that use alternative and more sustainable ingredients. Bambara groundnut is a low-impact African legume as it can be grown on marginal soils and is resistant to high temperatures. The aim of this study was to investigate UK consumer acceptability and emotional response to snack products containing Bambara groundnut flour as an alternative sustainable ingredient.A key objective was to understand the contribution that measuring emotional response would reveal. Additionally the impact of extrinsic information on consumer acceptability and emotional response to snack products was investigated by sharing information concerning Bambara groundnut's sustainability and nutritional credentials. 100 UK participants were recruited to evaluate two biscotti and two cracker products. For each category a standard product made from standard ingredients sourced commercially, and one made replacing some of standard flour with Bambara flour were obtained. For each sample, participants were asked to rate their overall liking and emotional response based on sensory properties of the product (the blind condition). Participants were invited back for a second session, where they were informed about global resource challenges, and the sustainable features and nutritional value of Bambara,

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Humans are innately predisposed to enjoy sweetness. However, excessive sugar consumption has been linked to a range of health issues. In order to develop an effective strategy to provide customised products and promote healthy eating, it is important to understand individual variation in sweetness preference. This study investigated how both Sweet Liking Status and PROP Taster Status impact on liking and emotional response to an ice tea product varying in sweetness intensity. One hundred and seventy five consumers were invited to rate liking and sweetness intensity of 5 sucrose solutions and emotional response, liking and sweetness intensity of ice tea samples varying in sweetness concentration (Low, Medium and High), and with sugar type (Sucrose and sweetener).Cluster analysis followed by validation test within each cluster group has identified 34% High Sweet Likers (HSL), 16% Medium Sweet Likers (MSL), 35% Low Sweet Likers (LSL) and 15% Unclassified group (UN). LSL had an overall heightened sweetness sensitivity than HSL for the sucrose solutions. For ice tea samples, no significant differences on liking and emotional response were observed between the two types of sugar, indicating consumers have a high acceptability when using sweetener as a sugar substitute in beverages. Overall, liking and positive emotions were rated more intensely for the Medium sweetened ice tea, whereas the opposite was found for the Low sweetened ice tea. A significant Sweet Liking Status*Concentration interaction was observed, where for High sweetened ice tea, LSL significantly disliked the sample and associated with lower positive and higher negative emotions, but an opposite trend was observed for HSL. For ideal sweetness, LSL indicated a significant lower ideal sweetness level in ice tea than HSL. Unlike Sweet Liking Status, an overall PROP Taster Status effect on both liking and emotional response was observed, but the effect was found to be independent of sweetness levels. A relative effect of Sweet Liking Status and PROP Taster Status on emotional response was also observed, where the effect of Sweet Liking Status was more pronounced in both pST and pNT group.

With an increasingly competitive global market, understanding consumer emotional response to products can provide a different perspective to identify drivers of consumer food choice behaviour beyond traditional hedonic measurement. This study investigated how two taste phenotypes (Thermal taster status (TTS) and PROP taster status (PTS)) impacted liking and emotional response to beers varying in bitterness, carbonation and serving temperature. Volunteers (n = 60, balanced for TTS and PTS) were invited to express their liking and emotional response to 2 commercial beers of contrasting bitterness, presented at two different carbonation levels (commercial carbonation and low carbonation level) and served at two temperatures (cold and ambient). In general, when beers were served at their commercial carbonation level and at a cold temperature, they received higher liking scores and evoked more positive emotions and less negative emotions. Signficant temperature*carbonation interactions were found for liking and some emotion categories. At commercial carbonation levels, cold beer was better liked and evoked more positive emotions than beer served at ambient temperature, but no such temperature effect was observed at the low carbonation level. Although the sample size is relatively small, significant effects for liking were observed for PTS but not TTS, suggesting PTS is a more influential factor regarding liking than TTS. However, thermal tasters (TT) rated 6 out of 10 emotion categories significantly higher for beer than thermal non-tasters (TnT), indicating emotional response may be more sensitive to capture the differences across taste phenotypes than liking, and that TT show increased negative emotions to beer in general. PROP supertasters (ST) rated some emotion categories significantly higher than non-tasters (NT) and, in contrast to TTS these were the more positive emotions, such as excited and content. This is the first study to report an impact of both TTS and PTS on emotional response. Furthermore, this study observed significant relative effects of TTS and PTS on emotional response, where the effect of PTS was more pronounced in TnT. This highlights the importance of investigating the combined effects of different phenotypes on consumer response representing the reality of different consumer segments.

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