Evaluating sensory characteristics, consumer acceptance and volatile compounds in freeze-dried cat treats

Abstract

The freeze-dried pet food category is steadily growing along with growth in pet ownership and the importance of pet humanization trend. However, freeze-dried pet food, treats, or related freeze-dried meat products has not been studied relative to their sensory characteristics, in which descriptive sensory analysis or comparison to volatile compounds analysis has been conducted. The objectives of these studies were to 1) develop a lexicon to describe the sensory characteristics of freeze-dried cat treats products, 2) determine consumer perception of freeze-dried cat treats and emotional responses of both cats and cat owners, and compare consumer acceptance of the products between a Central Location Test (CLT) and a Home Use Test (HUT), 3) determine the volatile aromatic compounds that generate perceivable aromas from these treats and 4) examine the relationship between aromatic sensory attributes, consumer acceptance and volatile components. Thirty-two products, available in the US market, were used to develop the sensory lexicon. The products represented a range of characteristics within the product category, such as cost, meat type, and ingredient composition. Five highly trained descriptive sensory evaluators identified, defined and referenced twenty-seven appearance, aroma, and texture sensory attributes. Six of the samples were evaluated in CLT and HUT consumer tests and volatile analysis. Volatile compounds from the products were analyzed using headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME), gas-chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 9 appearance, 5 texture/handfeel, 13 aroma attributes, and more than 60 volatiles were identified to describe the samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to map the scores obtained during the validation phase of the lexicon terminology. Overall fish and cardboard were common aromatics, while the samples were differentiated by overall beef, poultry, and decaying animal attributes. The more abundant volatiles included hydrocarbons, aldehydes, and ketones. There was a significant difference in overall liking scores on some product samples from the owners and cats perspectives when comparing the CLT and HUT. Both cats and their owners seemed to prefer the single ingredient treats the most. The consumers were segmented into five clusters. The emotions of the owners and the cats were similar between the samples. The primary emotions noted for the owners included happy, interested, curious, relaxed and comfortable; while, the cats were happy, curious, excited, content/satisfied and comfortable. Combining the sensory aromatic attributes with volatile compounds helps understand sensory properties of these and similar healthy pet products. Chicken treat samples with single ingredients and fish treats with mixed ingredients were higher in oxidized oil aroma, which was associated with hexanal. This research will help the pet food industry identify the characteristics of freeze-dried cat treats, how this relates to consumer acceptance and the potential white spaces (gaps) in the product category.