Sains Malaysiana 43(9)(2014): 1333–1344

Sensory Quality of Pilot-Scale Prebiotic Chocolates in Malaysia

(Kualiti Sensori Coklat Prebiotik Skala Loji Pandu di Malaysia)

H. NORHAYATI¹* & MOHD KHAN AYOB²

¹Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Food Science & Technology

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, D.E. Malaysia

²School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, D.E. Malaysia

Diserahkan:  24 Oktober 2012 /Diterima:  10 Januari 2014

ABSTRACT

Prebiotic, such as inulin, has been applied as functional food and known for its various health benefit effects such as increased mineral absorption, improved immune response and colorectal cancer prevention. An attempt was made to determine the level of Malaysian consumers’ acceptance and market potential of newly developed pilot scale prebiotic milk chocolates (MC-1) and dark chocolates (DC-1) with no sugar added as compared to control milk and dark chocolate (containing sugar), MC-0 and DC-0, respectively. Trained panels were employed to evaluate the sensory quality of the chocolate products using the quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) technique and the 7-point hedonic scale was used by consumer panels. In comparison with control milk chocolate (MC-0), consumer and trained panels gave better (p<0.05) overall acceptance score for MC-1. Both MC-1 and DC-1 showed similar smoothness attribute (p>0.05) as control chocolates (MC-0 and DC-0). Similar likeness were shown by both trained panels and untrained Malaysian public consumers, where prebiotic milk chocolate MC-1 was the most preferred compare to prebiotic dark chocolate DC-1. This could be due to bitter taste driven by high cocoa liquor content in dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate. However, both type of prebiotic chocolates have high potential (>70%) to be bought by Malaysian consumers once introduced in the market.

Keywords: Consumer preferences; dark chocolate; milk chocolate; pilot plant scale; trained panel

ABSTRAK

Prebiotik, seperti inulin, begitu dikenali sebagai makanan berfungsi kerana memberikan pelbagai manfaat kesihatan antaranya meningkatkan penyerapan mineral, meningkatkan tindak balas imun dan membantu pencegahan kanser kolon. Kajian telah dilakukan untuk menentukan tahap penerimaan pengguna Malaysia dan menilai potensi pasaran coklat susu (MC-1) dan coklat gelap (DC-1) prebiotik tanpa gula yang dihasilkan secara skala loji pandu berbanding coklat susu dan coklat gelap kawalan (mengandungi gula), MC-0 dan DC-0. Analisis deskriptif kuantitatif (QDA) digunakan untuk menilai kualiti sensori produk yang melibatkan panel terlatih manakala teknik skala hedonik 7-titik digunakan oleh panel pengguna. Panel pengguna dan terlatih menunjukkan penerimaan keseluruhan yang lebih baik (p>0.05) terhadap coklat susu prebiotik, MC-1 berbanding coklat susu kawalan (MC-0). Kedua-dua MC-1 dan DC-1 menunjukkan atribut kehalusan yang menyamai (p>0.05) coklat kawalan (MC-0 dan DC-0). Penilaian yang baik turut diberi oleh panel terlatih dan panel pengguna, dengan coklat susu prebiotik MC-1 adalah paling disukai berbanding coklat gelap prebiotik DC-1. Ini adalah kerana rasa pahit akibat kandungan likur koko yang tinggi di dalam coklat gelap berbanding coklat susu. Walau bagaimanapun, kedua-dua jenis coklat prebiotik menunjukkan potensi yang tinggi (>70%) untuk dibeli oleh pengguna Malaysia jika diperkenalkan di pasaran.

Kata kunci: Coklat gelap; coklat susu; pilihan pengguna; panel terlatih; skala loji pandu

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*Pengarang untuk surat-menyurat; email: yati@food.upm.edu.my