Characterization of Food Products by Chemical, Physical and Sensory Properties: a Combined Approach

The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to show the results of a combined approach related to the characterization of food products by chemical, physical and sensory properties. The two main objectives are the discrimination of food products, according to analytical characteristics (chemical, physical and sensory) and related to compositional and/or technological variables, and the relationship study between the sensory profile and some chemical-physical characteristics used for valorization and quality testing of a food product. The research method leads to investigate the main drivers of the consumer's overall liking. The strategy implemented highlights the effectiveness of sensory and instrumental methodologies in food quality investigation due to the complementary information that they can provide. Some trials are related to the study on sunflower and hazelnut cold-pressed oils, the investigation on the effectiveness of the Flash Gas Chromatography Electronic Nose (FGC E-nose) as a tool to rapidly discriminate among commercial virgin olive oils, the characterization of Taralli, the characterization of different commercial categories of Italian cooked hams, the quality evaluation and consumers’ acceptance of a set of different extra virgin olive oils purchased on the Italian market, and the possible influence of aromatization process on the quality of “flavored olive oils”. The obtained results feature specific sensory attributes and chemical-physical properties that contribute to better defining product characteristics, the perception of food quality and its typicality. These investigations highlight the importance of familiarity with the products and eating habits in the definition of consumer behavior. The findings reveal an important insight for which additional efforts should be addressed towards dissemination of accurate information about the relationship between product composition and sensory characteristics.