Food Review investigates the challenges and opportunities for sensory scientists addressing food and nutrition concern in less affluent societies.
The Ninth Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium was held last year, and Professor Riëtte de Kock from SA was invited to represent Africa. She discussed the role sensory science has in developing new food products for less affluent societies, where malnutrition, poverty and disease are on the rise. She posed the question: ‘When developing food products to address food and nutrition concerns in less affluent societies, what are the challenges and opportunities for sensory scientists?’
‘The world population is expected to reach eight billion by 2030, and most of that growth is expected to take place in developing countries,’ she said. ’Presently, 10 per cent of the world’s population is in Africa and by 2050 this is expected to increase to 20 per cent. Urbanisation is on the rise, with 37 per cent of people living in urban dwellings. By 2050, 60 per cent of people will be living in cities. This means that less people will be self-sustainable and there will be a huge shift in food demand and habits.’
Food security issues owing to war, climate change, economics and politics are expected to become a crisis, and on top of this, health issues such as diabetes, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS are increasing.
de Kock said, ‘We must think about food preferences when there’s nutritional intervention. Usually the most disliked foods are supplied.’ In a study conducted amongst children in Mpumalanga, children were asked what their least favourite food was and almost all said it was the stiff porridge provided as a staple from the government.
Eugenié Kaytesi from the University of Pretoria (UP) proved taste always wins in her master’s thesis. She explained that Sorghum, a staple throughout Africa, is not the most nutritious of foods. She explored the opportunities of fortifying sorghum porridge with marama beans, a legume high in protein and indigenous to many African countries. It was found that her composite porridge had very different sensory analysis to the sorghum porridge that consumers are used to. Also, despite the nutritional benefits of her newly developed porridges, the consumers chose the sorghum porridge, because of its familiar taste and appearance. ‘How can we make them accept the nutritionally enhanced products, if they don’t like the taste?’ she questioned.
Joseph Anyango, a UP student now doing his PhD, conducted research into traditional sorghum foods consumed in Africa and how nutritional quality could be improved. Once again, it was found that if certain legumes such as cow-peas were added, the sensory profile was changed. From his research, Anyango believes, ‘If the food is different, it might be rejected by the people you are trying to help!’
de Kock also touched on biofortification, an example is golden rice and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, i.e. fortified foods aimed at alleviating malnutrition. ‘However,’ she says, ‘very little work has been done on the sensory properties of these products. Does fortification change the products’ look, taste and texture, and will it still be accepted by its consumers?’
Sensory scientists can add to research conducted on foods developed for people suffering from illnesses, for instance HIV/AIDS, where sight, smell and taste become impaired. Sensory science can create products with heightened taste, texture and aroma. ‘Food changes the quality of a person’s life,’ de Kock said.
With a growing population there are increasing opportunities for South African sensory scientists to contribute towards how people choose what they eat. Numerous South African companies already supply brands throughout Africa. ‘Africa has the most diverse source of fauna and flora,’ de Kock added, ‘much of which is unexplored.’ Another area lacking research is Africa’s diverse food culture. Food producers would benefit from that and knowledge can be incorporated into new products.
‘It’s not just what sensory science can do for Africa, but also what Africa has done and can do for sensory science!’ de Kock concluded.
