VeggiEat is a 4 year EU funded project among four countries (Denmark, France, Italy and United Kingdom) encouraging a more sustainable diet based on vegetables. The study addresses the main question of what are the determinants of vegetable acceptability and intake particularly within a public sector foodservice setting, such as school and elder care homes. It has been indicated that processed fruits and vegetables, such as canned and frozen, could provide a convenient way to help promote intake, as they offer virtually the same nutrition as fresh, with the advantage of facilitating accessibility, storage and food safety disparities. In order to evaluate the acceptability and preference regarding this kind of vegetable, a sensory test with first year students (n=56) from the UK was performed.
Participants were asked to taste a frozen and canned sample for both peas and sweet corn, and indicate how much they liked them on a 9-point hedonic scale (ranging from 1 ‘I do not like it all’ and 9 ‘I like it a lot’). The differences in evaluation were assessed using the Mann-Whitney test (p<0.05). They were also asked for open ended comments. The analysis showed that for peas, the frozen sample was greatly more liked than the canned one, average scoring 6.0 and 2.6 points, respectively. This was mainly attributed to the more ‘vibrant colour’ and ‘firmness’ of the frozen peas, whilst the canned peas were considered ‘mushy’ and with a ‘not pleasant appearance’. The opposite was observed for sweet corn, although both were liked, the difference between the samples was only 1.6 score points on average (6.7 canned; 4.9 frozen). The main positive characteristics highlighted were the ‘thickness’ and ‘greater size’ of the canned sweetcorn. Both mean score differences for peas and sweetcorn were statistically significant. The opposite results regarding the two types of vegetables evaluated demonstrate the challenge of dealing with a vast range of vegetables and their particularities. However, the good acceptance of most samples indicates that processed vegetables could be an alternative to achieve people’s recommended intake. These outcomes are also useful for a foodservice perspective as indicators of the vegetable varieties to choose for a healthy and convenient dish development, as well as supporting industry to improve the sensory characteristics and promote vegetable processed products.
They were also asked for open ended comments. The analysis showed that for peas, the frozen sample was greatly more liked than the canned one, average scoring 6.0 and 2.6 points, respectively. This was mainly attributed to the more ‘vibrant colour’ and ‘firmness’ of the frozen peas, whilst the canned peas were considered ‘mushy’ and with a ‘not pleasant appearance’. The opposite was observed for sweet corn, although both were liked, the difference between the samples was only 1.6 score points on average (6.7 canned; 4.9 frozen). The main positive characteristics highlighted were the ‘thickness’ and ‘greater size’ of the canned sweetcorn. Both mean score differences for peas and sweetcorn were statistically significant. The opposite results regarding the two types of vegetables evaluated demonstrate the challenge of dealing with a vast range of vegetables and their particularities. However, the good acceptance of most samples indicates that processed vegetables could be an alternative to achieve people’s recommended intake. These outcomes are also useful for a foodservice perspective as indicators of the vegetable varieties to choose for a healthy and convenient dish development, as well as supporting industry to improve the sensory characteristics and promote vegetable processed products.
The main positive characteristics highlighted were the ‘thickness’ and ‘greater size’ of the canned sweetcorn. Both mean score differences for peas and sweetcorn were statistically significant. The opposite results regarding the two types of vegetables evaluated demonstrate the challenge of dealing with a vast range of vegetables and their particularities. However, the good acceptance of most samples indicates that processed vegetables could be an alternative to achieve people’s recommended intake. These outcomes are also useful for a foodservice perspective as indicators of the vegetable varieties to choose for a healthy and convenient dish development, as well as supporting industry to improve the sensory characteristics and promote vegetable processed products.
