PREDICTION OF CONSUMER ACCEPTABILITY OF YOGURT BY SENSORY AND ANALYTICAL MEASURES OF SWEETNESS AND SOURNESS

The objective of this study was to determine whether predictions of consumer overall liking for yogurt could be made using trained panel ratings of sweetness and sourness and analytical measures of sugars and acids. Forty-nine commercial prestirred yogurts (14 strawberry-flavored, 12 raspberry-flavored, 6 lemon-flavored, and 17 unflavored) were evaluated for sweetness and sourness intensity by a trained panel (11 panelists) and for overall liking by a consumer panel (90 to 182 panelists). Titratable acidity and pH were measured for all samples, but sugars were measured by HPLC only for the flavored yogurts. Consumer overall liking was significantly correlated with sweetness intensity, sweetness:sourness ratio, and the summed impact of sweetness and sourness for strawberry and raspberry yogurt. No correlations between analytical measurements and overall liking were found for any of the yogurts. A sweetness:sourness ratio greater than 1.0 for strawberry-flavored and greater than .8 for raspberry- and lemon-flavored yogurts appeared necessary for high consumer acceptance. Generally, it was found that the sweeter the yogurt, the higher the acceptance of these fruit-flavored yogurts by consumers. No relationships were found for any sensory and analytical measurements for predicting the overall liking of plain yogurt. The best predictors of consumer liking of fruit-flavored yogurt were the descriptive panel ratings.