Sensory quality and consumer perception of fruit-based beverages processed by high-pressure

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), eating plenty of F&V (fruit and vegetables) is one of the 5-key to a healthy diet, and consumers are increasingly demanding food that is fresh, healthy, convenient, sustainable, locally produced and free of additives. To meet their needs, the EU-funded SHEALTHY project employs non-thermal processing technologies to improve safety and retain nutritional and sensory properties of F&V with prolonged shelf life. This Ph.D. project is part of SHEALTHY project, and focused on High pressure processing (HPP) which is successfully applied to a wide variety of fruit-based products.

HPP is highlighted to minimize the negative impacts on nutritional and sensory profile, compared to thermal processing (TP) able to deliver similar microbiological safety. However, to realize the potential benefits of HPP, it is crucial to understand consumers’ reaction to high pressure treated products. In this context, the overall objective of the Ph.D. project is to understand the sensory quality of fruit-based beverages treated by HPP (relative to TP) and to give a deep insight into consumer perception of these products.

To reach the aim, several approaches are conducted:

• Forming a comprehensive view of sensory and consumer standpoint to fruit beverages treated by HPP
• Evaluating sensory quality of fruit juices treated by HPP and TP and stored at different conditions
• Investigating consumer perception of these products, and exploring sensory drivers for consumers liking.
• Understanding consumers’ willingness to buy to fruit puree treated by HPP and TP
• Giving deep insight to consumers’ response to different information labelling of these products

The Ph.D. project is commenced in October 2020 with a duration of three years, and conducted in collaboration between different industrial partners and university partners.