Assessment of the sensorial shelf life of cultivated mushrooms

Debabandya Mohapatra, Fernanda A. Rodrigues, Jesus M. Frias

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Cultivated mushrooms are highly perishable on account of their high water content and lack of cell wall protection. Refrigerated storage is commonly employed to maintain the sensory attributes of mushrooms and therefore to extend their shelf life. Two main parameters are perceived to hinder the shelf life management of mushrooms i) the variability between mushroom batches ii) the variability in the consumer perception of high quality mushrooms. The objectives of this work were i) to estimate the effect of temperature on the shelf life of mushrooms based on consumer acceptance/rejection of sensory attributes and ii) to assess the relative importance of product and consumers variability. Fresh mushrooms were stored at 5, 10, 15°C and 3.5°C (control). Each day samples were removed from the chamber and sensory trials were conducted. The panelists judged the mushroom based on their overall appearance, texture of cap and stem, gill colour and opening, stipe elongation, flavour and overall acceptability. Logistic linear mixed effect models (LLMM) were built using this data to estimate: i) the effect of time and temperature on the acceptance/rejection of a particular sensory attribute from mushrooms in the form of two linear main effects and ii) the uncertainty in this acceptance/rejection associated with product variability and consumer variability. All sensory properties degraded substantially with time, till those were no longer acceptable by the consumer. Temperature of storage was found to be playing a significant role in the rejection as well. The overall acceptability and the cap hardness were found to be the critical parameters. The overall acceptability, cap hardness and maturity were the most affected by temperature. The uncertainty related to consumer variability was the most sensitive one. Stochastic simulations allowed in predicting the probable time of product rejection. Given the product and consumer variability, the model predicted a shelf life shorter than 2 days to ensure less than 5% of rejection rate in mushroom batches stored at 5°C. This study presents a methodology to define conservative shelf life estimations on risk analysis principles, without resourcing to "rule-of-thumb" conservative estimations in a highly perishable product like mushrooms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages99-101
Number of pages3
Publication statusPublished - 2008
Event2008 5th International Conference on Simulation and Modelling in the Food and Bio-Industry, FOODSIM 2008 - Dublin, Ireland
Duration: 26 Jun 200828 Jun 2008

Conference

Conference2008 5th International Conference on Simulation and Modelling in the Food and Bio-Industry, FOODSIM 2008
Country/TerritoryIreland
CityDublin
Period26/06/0828/06/08

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