Multifactors accelerated aging of sterilized acidic pudding determined by traditional and fluorescence techniques

Abstract

The aim of this study was to reproduce quality changes occurring in shelf‐stable pudding over 368 days, in less than 100 days by using one or more accelerating factors. The effect of headspace volume, packaging permeability, combination of packaging permeability and light, iron, and heat treatment on the evolution of pudding quality during storage was studied at the molecular and macroscopic levels. For control samples, an increase in the consistency, apparent viscosity, hysteresis area, G'‐G" crossover and yellowness was observed throughout storage. The rheology, pH, and colorimetric measurements failed to discriminate samples subjected to different accelerating factors from the control ones. Regarding the shapes of tryptophan and riboflavin emission spectra, samples with high permeability to oxygen and exposed to light were the most deteriorated, followed by those supplemented with iron or subjected to high heat treatment. However, iron and heat treatment trials were found to be the most suitable parameters to accelerate aging of pudding. Finally, both, headspace volume or packaging permeability did not affect the aging of acidic pudding samples. Practical applications Severe heat treatment or the addition of iron in the pudding recipe could be used as suitable parameters to accelerate shelf‐stable acidic pudding aging. Fluorescence spectroscopy technique showed a high discrimination power and can be applied for online monitoring of shelf‐stable dairy desserts quality, as it requires no preparation of the sample.