Características reológicas e sensoriais de bebidas lácteas funcionais

This research studied the effects of the independent variables whey protein concentrate - WPC (3.0; 3.5; 4.0%), skimmed milk powder - SMP (4.0; 5.0; 6.0%), and isolated soy protein - IPS (1.5; 2.0; 2.5%) on the rheological and sensorial characteristics of functional dairy beverages. In all tests 7% of sucrose was added to the ingredients. The rheological parameters were obtained in duplicate at the temperature of 10° C using a cone and plate rheometer, and fitted to the Power law model. The samples revealed a non-Newtonian fluid behavior both in the upward and downward curves, typical of a tixotropic fluid. The dairy beverages were submitted to a sensory analysis by a group of fifty untrained tasters who used a hedonic scale of nine points, the extremes being 1 - disliked extremely and 9 - liked extremely, in order to evaluate the following parameters: general acceptability; appearance and color; consistency; taste and aroma. The dairy beverage produced with 3% WPC, 6% SMP and 1.5% IPS, (treatment 3), was the one that obtained the best average score for those attributes and was preferred by the tasters. The variables SMP and IPS and the interaction between WPC and SMP presented a positive effect on the sensory consistency attributes: the higher amount of those ingredients in the formula the more the tasters liked the consistency.