Sweeteners in Diet Chocolate Ice Cream: Penalty Analysis and Acceptance Evaluation

According to the consumers’ demand for healthy and nutritional food without loss of sensory perception, a study based on sucrose substitution appears to be interesting for the food industries. Thus, this study associated the most significant attributes of diet chocolate ice cream aimed to obtain a high acceptance. The difference between the ice cream samples was related to sucrose concentration (12, 14, 16, 18 and 20%). Groups of 122 potential consumers of chocolate ice creams took part in an affective test using a nine-centimeter unstructured scale. The same group analyzed the samples using a 7-point Just About Right scale (JAR) regarding sweetness, chocolate flavor and smoothness. A Penalty analysis was used to identify potential directions for the ice cream’s improvement, based on consumer tests. After choosing the best formulation of the sucrose sample, a magnitude estimation procedure was performed. The sweeteners used to replace the sucrose were- sucralose, stevioside, neotame, neosucralose and an aroma blend (aroma/sucrose). Penalty analysis based on JAR scales showed that smoothness and chocolate flavor were the most penalizing sensory characteristics causing significant drop in chocolate ice cream acceptability. Thus, the aroma compound and neosucralose blend showed the best sucrose replacements.