Fish is an important source of healthy proteins and an important economic sector in Mediterranean countries. Despite the wealth of knowledge acquired in Western countries, a gap has been found in studies in developing countries, as in the Mediterranean southern shore. Therefore, we aimed to investigate consumers’ perceptions of finfish attributes, with qualitative tools as focus groups, given the exploratory nature of the research. The focus groups have been held in Italy, Lebanon, Spain, and Tunisia; in each country, one was held in seaside areas and one in inland areas, in order to control for the availability of fish that shapes consumers’ evaluations and expectations. The focus groups have been analysed through content and semantic analyses. Results of the study yielded main themes recurring in the discussions that have been categorized along such dimensions: (1) definition of fish products; (2) context; (3) search attributes; (4) experience attributes; and (5) credence attributes. Among attributes, the ones mostly guiding consumers’ choices seem to be freshness and fish species, which are used as proxies for quality and sensory attributes. Most of the respondents preferred delicate white fish, while some exceptions were found in Tunisian respondents preferring blue fish and they also were the only ones who were not looking for convenient and already cleaned products. Trust also represented a critical element in guiding the decisions of consumers: with a lack of trust, consumers deviate from preferring local products, as noticeable especially in Lebanese respondents’ opinions. Credence attributes such as animal welfare and sustainability received a minor attention from all the respondents.

Counteracting probiotic-induced physicochemical and sensory changes is a challenge in the development of probiotic beverages. The aim of the study is to apply ultrasound and microencapsulation for the attenuation of Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 to avoid change in a probiotic tomato juice. Preliminarily, six ultrasound treatments were applied. Probiotic survival in acid environment (pH 2.5) and bile salts (1.5 g/l) after ultrasound treatment was also studied. The probiotic was inoculated in tomato juice in four forms: free cells (PRO-TJ), sonicated-free cells (US-TJ), untreated-microencapsulated (PRO-MC-TJ) and sonicated-microencapsulated cells (US-MC-TJ). Probiotic viability and pH were monitored during 28 days of storage at 4 and 20 °C. Sensory analysis was performed for PRO-TJ and US-MC-TJ sample (4 °C). Ultrasound (57 W for 6 min) did not affect cell survival and transitorily modulated probiotic acidifying capacity; it reduced probiotic survival in acidic environment but increased probiotic survival in bile salts solution. Ultrasound was effective in maintain pH value of tomato juice but only at 4 °C. Instead, microencapsulation with sodium-alginate leads to a more stable probiotic juice, particularly at 20 °C. Finally, probiotication slightly modified some sensory attributes of the juice. This study shows the potential of ultrasound and microencapsulation as attenuation strategies and highlights the need for process optimization to increase ultrasound efficacy.

Smell, which allows us to gather information about the hedonic value of an odor, is affected by many factors. This study aimed to assess the relationship among individual factors, odor sensitivity, and enjoyment, and to evaluate how overall flavor perception and liking in actual food samples are affected by odor sensitivity. A total of 749 subjects, from four different Italian regions, participated in the study. The olfactory capabilities test on four odors (anise, banana, mint, and pine), as well as PROP (6-n-prpyl-2-thiouracil) status and food neophobia were assessed. The subjects were clustered into three groups of odor sensitivity, based on the perceived intensity of anise. The liking and intensity of the overall flavor were evaluated for four chocolate puddings with increasing sweetness (C1, C2, C3, and C4). The individual variables significantly affected the perceived intensity and liking of the odors. Even if all of the odor sensitivity groups perceived the more intensely flavored samples as the C1 and C4 chocolate puddings, the high-sensitivity group scored the global flavor of all of the samples as more intense than the low-sensitivity group. The low-sensitive subjects evaluated the liking of the sweeter samples with higher scores than the moderate-sensitive subjects, whereas the high-sensitive subjects gave intermediate scores. In conclusion, odor sensitivity plays a pivotal role in the perception and liking of real food products; this has to be taken into account in the formulation of new products, suitable for particular categories with reduced olfactory abilities.