This study examined consumer sensory responses related with the "freshness" of fruit juices in terms of the pasteurization process. Perceived sensory properties of high pressure processed juices (HPP), those of heat treated juices after a high pressure process (HPP 1 HEAT) and those of fresh juices (FRESH) were compared across five fruit varieties. Differences in perceived freshness intensities between HPP and HPP 1 HEAT samples depended on the type of fruit. In the overall analyses across the five fruit varieties, freshness responses showed positive linear relationships with perceived intensities of brightness, fresh (raw) fruit flavor and perceived (estimated) fruit content (%) as well as overall acceptability scores. However, perceived freshness levels decreased as perceived intensities of heated fruit flavor increased. Understanding the sensory attributes influencing consumers' responses regarding freshness can help in forming guidelines to optimize sensory properties of commercial fruit juices by adjusting the conditions of pasteurization. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSFreshness is one of the most important factors representing consumers' satisfaction with the sensory quality of fruit juices. Relationships among consumer acceptability, perceived freshness as well as flavor and texture properties of the juices were analyzed at three levels of controlled freshness-samples before high pressure processed (HPP), samples after HPP and samples after HPP 1 HEAT (heat treated juices after a high pressure process). Heat treated samples without HPP were not included in this study since this study focused on the quality difference among the five fruit juices caused by the controlled heat treatment within a comparable freshness range. The results indicate that consumers' perceived freshness represents the consumer acceptability, which is highly correlated with perceived intensities of fresh (raw) fruit flavor, brightness of the color and estimated fruit content (%). These findings will contribute to designing fresh fruit juices with a range of optimum particle sizes and color as well as fresh fruit flavors.

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