Shaelyn Frauenhoffer in Sensory Science Lab
Author: Shaelyn Frauenhoffer | Major: Food Science | Semester: Spring 2024
Hello! My name is Shaelyn Frauenhoffer, and I just graduated after four years as a Food Science major in the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences. This semester, Spring 2024, I completed my undergraduate honors thesis research in Dr. Han-Seok Seo’s sensory science lab.
The aim of my study was to determine differences in sensory attributes and consumer acceptance of gluten-free versus gluten-containing chocolate chip cookies. To do this, we used 12 chocolate chip cookies, with 7 being gluten-free and 5 containing gluten, that 89 participants evaluated. The participants used a 9-point hedonic scale to rate sensory acceptance (appearance, texture, flavor, and overall liking) and a 5-point just-about-right scale (JAR) to rate the level of JAR for specific attribute intensities (chocolate flavor, sweetness, chewiness, and hardness). The circumplex-inspired emotion questionnaire (CEQ) was used to assess emotional responses as well as a 9-point scale used to assess purchase intent. As many people have to follow a gluten-free diet due to medical conditions, the results of this study were really meant to help determine what exactly about gluten-free chocolate chip cookies could be improved to make them more like gluten-containing cookies and just generally make them better.
Choosing my research topic wasn’t much of a challenge as I have food allergies, one of them being to wheat, and it is a topic that I am very passionate about. I knew that I wanted to research differences in the sensory attributes of gluten-free products compared to the gluten-containing products they are meant to replace and when I brought this up to my academic advisor, she recommended I reach out to Dr. Seo to see if he would mentor me as he is the director of the sensory science center.
As I really didn’t have much experience in sensory science, Dr. Seo provided so much guidance over the course of the project. I learned so much about the different methods of sensory analysis as well as how to interpret results. With sensory testing, especially when there are multiple days of the study, there is the challenge of getting participants to return, which was something we overcame by offering the incentive of a gift card if participants completed both days. In terms of the actual topic, I learned that there is a gap in the research when it comes to looking at the sensory differences between gluten-free and gluten-containing products, specifically with commercially available products. This was a challenge when it came to trying to find previous studies and literature to reference or compare my results to, but I was able to find other studies on similar enough topics.
Besides Dr. Seo, the graduate students that work in the Sensory Science center provided so much help with my project. They wrote the sensory ballot that we used in the testing based on the objectives of the study as well as helped with actually administering the testing. Eniola Ola, one of the graduate students, instructed me on how perform instrumental analysis for color and texture as well as explained how to interpret the data.
As I just recently graduated, I will soon be starting my career in Food Science as an Application Scientist with Sensient Colors in St. Louis, Missouri specifically working with beverage and dairy. Completing an undergraduate thesis taught me so much, including time management, adapting to and overcoming challenges, and that more work needs to be done to better understand what could be improved in gluten-free products. I am so thankful to have received an Honors College grant as it allowed me to fund my study and contribute to research about gluten-free products.