Visual texture perception in formulated chilled dairy desserts

This study aimed to examine in detail the underlying factors which affect visual texture perception based on existing sensory methodology. The visual properties of dairy dessert samples were manipulated via a full factorial design, with four factors, screened from a fractional design of eight factors. Fifteen assessors, trained solely in visual profiling based on the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA)1 method, analysed 16 formulations of mousse dessert products over ten visual texture attributes. The visual profile data were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA), principal component analysis (PCA) and generalised Procrustes analysis (GPA) methods. ANOVA results showed that cream levels significantly affected all the visual textures (p < 0.05). It was also found that levels of blue colourant significantly affected the perception of creaminess (p < 0.05). The results suggest the possibilities of food formulators producing detectable variation in visual texture parameters which may subsequently affect quality perception in chilled dairy dessert products.