22-12-2012, 05:10 PM
Technological and Economic Optimization of Functional Ready to Eat Meal
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Abstract
A ready meal based on precooked gluten-free pasta with a yogurt-based sauce enriched with probiotic bacteria
was developed and optimized from both the nutritional and sensory point of view. Conceptually, the work aims
at understanding the innovation stress in consumers and check whether the “perfect beauty” of a complex food
product innovation, which is extremely admirable from a food technology point of view, could be effectively
appreciated by consumers. In other words, we are interested in knowing whether there exists a gap between
science-based or ”innovation-leading” technologists’ food preferences and consumers’ preferences, which are
taste, information, price and promotion driven.
Practical Applications
The increasing basic awareness of the metabolic and physiological action of functional compounds, that bring
better health benefits than conventional products when added to foods, is the driving force of this sector. Many
companies have invested in development, production and marketing of nutraceuticals since they recognize the
opportunity and urgency of aiming towards strengthening the tendency for innovation as a vehicle for the
completion and/or consolidation of the process of internationalization. The current work could contribute the
give answer to the need to develop processes focused on optimisation of nutrition and improvement of eating
habits.
Introduction
Typically, a functional food contains ingredients with a specific health benefit (Niva, 2007), such as vitamins
and/or minerals as vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, zinc, iron, and calcium (Sloan, 2000). Subsequently, the
focus shifted to foods fortified with various micronutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acid, phytosterol, and soluble
fibre to promote good health or to prevent diseases such as cancers (Sloan, 2002). More recently, food
companies have taken further steps to develop food products that offer multiple health benefits in a single food
(Sloan, 2004). Functional foods have been developed in virtually all food categories. Recently, the market of
functional food is dominated by gut health products, in particular probiotics and prebiotics (Alzamora, Salvatori,
Tapia, López-Malo, Welti-Chanes & Fito, 2005; Jones & Jew, 2007; Saarela, Lähteenmäki, Crittenden, Salminen,
& Mattila-Sandholm, 2002). Probiotics are defined as ‘‘live microorganisms, as they are consumed in adequate
numbers to confer a health benefit on the host’’, with ongoing controversy as to whether cultures must be viable
for efficacy in all cases (Charalampopoulos, Pandiella, & Webb, 2003; Charalampopoulos, Wang, Pandiella &
Webb, 2002; Stanton, Ross, Fitzgerald, & Van Sinderen, 2005). Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria.
Materials and Methods
Maize-based Pasta Preparation
The maize flour was bought from Bongiovanni mill (Mondovì, Cuneo, Italy) while inulin was purchased at the
company Beneo Orafit (Belgium). To prepare non-conventional dough, a portion of maize flour was
pre-gelatinized. In a steam cooker (LT50 2E Namad, Rome, Italy) water, flour and 15% (w/w) inulin were mixed
and heated to 80°C. Subsequently, in order to prepare non-conventional pasta the pre-gelatinized maize flour was
cooled to 40°C and then monoglycerides (1% w/w) were added to the mixture of the remaining maize flour.
Dough based on the sole maize flour (100%) was also prepared and then used as the control (CTRL). Macaroni
samples were produced by a pilot plant made of an extruder (60VR, Namad, Rome, Italy) and a dryer (SG600,
Namad). During drying process, the following conditions were applied: 1° step of 20 min at 55°C; 2° step of 580
min at 75°C; 3° step of 40 min at 60°C; 4° step of 20 min at 45°C and 5° step of 840 min at 40°C.
Sensory Analysis
Pre-cooked and cooked pasta samples were submitted to a panel of ten trained tasters in order to evaluate main
sensory attributes. The panellists were selected on the basis of their sensory skills (ability to accurately determine
and communicate the sensory attributes, appearance, odour, flavour and texture of a product) and trained in four
sessions held over two days (2 sessions/day, 2 h/session) (Meilgaard, Civille, & Carr, 1999). They were trained
in sensory vocabulary and in the identification of particular attributes, prior to testing macaroni, by evaluating
commercial conventional and non-conventional pasta. The panellists were asked to indicate colour, homogeneity,
resistance to break and overall quality of pre-cooked pasta. Firmness, bulkiness, adhesiveness, colour, odour,
taste and overall quality of cooked pasta were also judged. To this aim, a nine-point scale, where 1 corresponded
to extremely unpleasant, 9 to extremely pleasant and 5 to satisfactory, was used to quantify each attribute (Chillo,
Laverse, Falcone, & Del Nobile, 2007; Petitot, Boyer, Minier, & Micard, 2010). Data on sensory analysis were
compared by a one-way variance analysis (ANOVA). A Duncan’s multiple range test, with the option of
homogeneous groups (p < 0.05), was carried out to determine significant differences between pasta samples.
STATISTICA 7.1 for Windows (StatSoft, Inc, Tulsa, OK, USA) was used for this purpose.
Results and Discussion
Sensory Analysis of Prebiotic Pasta
Sensory properties of all pasta samples are listed in Tables 5 and 6. As can be seen, among pre-cooked macaroni,
the sample enriched with 15% inulin recorded a high score of overall quality and did not show significant
differences respect to the CTRL. The sole difference due to the presence of inulin is a certain lack of resistance
in the functional macaroni, compared to pasta without any enrichment. Regarding the cooked pasta, sample with
inulin also recorded a positive score of overall quality that did not differ significantly from the CTRL, even
though the presence of inulin slightly affected pasta firmness. This attribute in pasta can be generally related to
hydration of starch granules during cooking process and due to the subsequent embedding of gelatinizing starch
granules in the matrix. Therefore, the decrease in firmness may be associated to a reduction in starch
gelatinization (Brennan, Kuri, & Tudorica, 2004).
Conclusion
To sum up, the study we presented starts as a trial to confirm the need for a cooperative work between food
technologists and economists when innovation is going to be patented or produced and released on the market.
At this regard, commercial inventions should be supported by a preliminary study conducted by food economists
to ascertain the market success instead of the market failure. Optimization and final preparation then should be
conducted with a “one at the time” approach (Figure 3). In fact, we showed with this study that quality
optimality given the technological possibilities not always corresponds to maximum market success.