Tran Xuan, Antille Nicolas, Devezeaux de Lavergne Marine, Moccand Cyril, Labbe David
Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., 1000 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Foods. 2024 Oct 21;13(20):3342. doi: 10.3390/foods13203342.
Freshness is an important quality attribute for vegetables. Identifying the sensory drivers for freshness is important to promote vegetable consumption. Due to the lack of research on freshness of prepared vegetables, this study focused on the role of visual cues of common vegetables (carrot, beetroot, bell pepper) on perception of freshness. Twenty-seven vegetables were prepared by varying five factors and photographed in a plate: (1) shape (stick, large cube, small cube), (2) vegetable presence for each of the three vegetables (yes, no), (3) number of vegetables conjointly present in the plate (1, 2, 3), (4) color (green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper), (5) combined vegetables prepared with same or different shapes. Freshness was rated online by 156 consumers. Visual cues leading to the main increase in freshness were the stick shape vs. large and small cubes, the absence of beetroot, and the presence of green bell pepper vs. yellow bell pepper. Overall, it seems that visual cues associated with minimally processed vegetables, such as stick shapes, which allow to recognize the vegetables in comparison to cube shapes, promote freshness. These results are particularly valuable for culinary and catering professionals and food industries involved in the preparation and/or manufacturing of prepared vegetables.
新鲜度是蔬菜的一项重要品质属性。识别影响新鲜度的感官驱动因素对于促进蔬菜消费至关重要。由于对加工过的蔬菜的新鲜度缺乏研究，本研究聚焦于常见蔬菜（胡萝卜、甜菜根、甜椒）的视觉线索对新鲜度感知的作用。通过改变五个因素准备了27份蔬菜，并在盘子中进行拍照：（1）形状（条状、大立方体、小立方体），（2）三种蔬菜中每种蔬菜的呈现情况（有、无），（3）盘中同时呈现的蔬菜数量（1、2、3），（4）颜色（青椒、黄椒），（5）相同或不同形状的组合蔬菜。156名消费者在线对新鲜度进行了评分。导致新鲜度主要提升的视觉线索是条状形状与大、小立方体形状相比，甜菜根的缺失，以及青椒与黄椒相比。总体而言，与最少加工的蔬菜相关的视觉线索，如条状形状，与立方体形状相比能让人识别出蔬菜，似乎能提升新鲜度。这些结果对于参与加工蔬菜制备和/或制造的烹饪和餐饮专业人员以及食品行业尤为有价值。
