engleski

Determining the acceptability of non-alcoholic beverages made from orange juice, prepared to meet nutrition and health claims criteria

Consumers’ knowledge about the health benefits of food and beverages and their ingredients is growing over the last decade. Accordingly, the consumers’ awareness of the relationship between diet and optimal health rises, particularly the interest and the demand for functional foods. The acceptability of non- alcoholic beverages made from orange juice, with either the addition (iron, B vitamins, fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, or polyphenols) or reduction (sugar content) of selected nutrients was determined. The samples were prepared and labelled to meet the criteria for a particular claim under the Act on Nutrition and Health Claims and Food Enriched with Nutrients, taking into consideration the provisions of a specific regulation on fruit juices related to authorised ingredients in the production. The total of eight samples: two standard samples, four with nutritional claims, and two with health claims were prepared in one of the Croatian food producer research and development laboratories. Quantitative determination hedonistic scale) was used as the main tool to determine the acceptability of the prepared samples within the selected group of 50 expected consumers. The results of this study showed that the acceptability of non-alcoholic beverages made from orange juice mostly depends on the taste, regardless of the highlighted claim (6.7±1.2 vs. 6.4±1.8). But, if the organoleptic quality of the product is not significantly affected by the nutrition composition change, the claim can positively affect the acceptability (e.g. change from 6.7±0.4 to 7.3±0.5 for the juices with health claims).

acceptability determination ; fruit juices ; nutrition and health claims

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