Sensory acceptability of biofortified foods and food products: a systematic review

Abstract

Context: It is important to understand the sensory acceptability of biofortified food products among target population groups if biofortification is to be realized as a sustainable strategy for mitigation of micronutrient deficiencies, able to be scaled up and applied through programs. Objective: This systemic review aims to summarize and synthesize the sensory acceptability of conventionally bred iron-, zinc-, and provitamin A–biofortified food products. Data Sources: MEDLINE (PubMed), AGRICOLA, AgEcon, CABI Abstracts (Web of Science), and organizational websites (eg, those of HarvestPlus and CGIAR and their partners) were searched for relevant articles. No access to any market research that may have been internally conducted for the commercial biofortified food products was available. Data Extraction: This review identified articles measuring the sensory acceptability of conventionally bred biofortified food products. Extraction of the hedonic ratings of food products was performed. Data Analysis: An “Acceptability Index %” was defined based on hedonic scoring to determine an overall rating, and used to categorize biofortified food products as “acceptable” (≥70%) or “not acceptable” (<70%). Additionally, this review narratively synthesized studies using methods other than hedonic scoring for assessing sensory acceptability. Conclusions: Forty-nine studies assessed the acceptability of 10 biofortified crops among children and adults, in mostly rural, low-income settings across Africa, Latin America, and India; food products made from mineral and provitamin A–biofortified food products were generally acceptable. Compared with studies on provitamin–A biofortified food products, few studies (1 to 2 each) on mineral-enhanced crops such as rice, cowpeas, lentils, and wheat were found, limiting the generalizability of the findings. Similarly, few studies examined stored biofortified food products. Few commercial food products have so far been developed, although new varieties of crops are being continuously tested and released globally. Certain crop varieties were found to be acceptable while others were not, suggesting that particular varieties should be prioritized for scale-up. Determining sensory acceptability of biofortified food products is important for informing programmatic scale-up and implementation across diverse populations and settings.