Ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) are special foods used to encourage rapid weight gain in 5-year-old malnourished children, avoiding hospitalization. The factors affecting sensory characteristics and acceptability of RUTFs have been not adequately described. The aim of this work was to evaluate both the sensory properties and volatile compounds of four alternative RUTFs, varying in soy and sorghum, icing sugar, and oil content. Nine nonoral sensory attributes were evaluated by nine selected and trained assessors. The perceived intensity of five oral sensory attributes and the overall liking were assessed by 100 adult consumers. The volatile compounds were extracted and concentrated by solid phase microextraction and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. RUTF formulations significantly differed for graininess between fingers (size of granules) (P = 0.007), viscosity (P = 0.013), adhesiveness to the spoon (P < 0.044), and meltability (P = 0.005), but in consumers' opinion, they differed only for difficulty in swallowing, intensity of global odor, flavor, and sweetness. A positive correlation between overall liking and sweetness was found. Volatile compounds arising from lipid oxidation (hexanal and octanoic acid) were positively correlated with global odor and flavor. These attributes negatively affected the overall liking and were mainly contained in one out of the four formulations. Sensory and instrumental characterization identified key attributes for this kind of food, such as difficulty in swallowing, global odor, and sweetness, suggesting how to formulate an alternative RUTF to be used for a future clinical trial on malnourished children. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Starting from the world's need to fight child malnutrition, the present study tried to characterize alternative ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs), special foods used to encourage rapid weight gain in 5-year-old malnourished children, from several points of view, such as acceptability, stability, technological, and overall quality. Results obtained will be an aid to setup the technological conditions and scale-up parameters for local productions of RUTFs to be tested in real trials on malnourished children. Indeed, key sensory attributes that drive consumer acceptance for this special food, such as sweetness and difficulty in swallowing, came out from the present study.

中文翻译：

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营养不良儿童替代即食治疗食品的感官评价和挥发性化合物

即食治疗食品 (RUTF) 是一种特殊食品，用于鼓励 5 岁营养不良儿童快速增加体重，避免住院治疗。影响 RUTF 的感官特性和可接受性的因素尚未得到充分描述。这项工作的目的是评估四种替代 RUTF 的感官特性和挥发性化合物，大豆和高粱、糖霜和油含量各不相同。九个非口腔感官属性由九个经过挑选和训练的评估员进行评估。100 名成年消费者评估了五种口腔感官属性的感知强度和整体喜好。挥发性化合物经固相微萃取萃取浓缩，气相色谱/质谱分析。RUTF 配方在手指之间的颗粒感（颗粒大小）（P = 0.007）、粘度（P = 0.013）、对勺子的粘附性（P < 0.044）和可熔性（P = 0.005）方面存在显着差异，但在消费者看来，它们的不同仅在于吞咽困难、整体气味、味道和甜味的强度。发现整体喜好和甜度之间呈正相关。脂质氧化产生的挥发性化合物（己醛和辛酸）与整体气味和风味呈正相关。这些属性对整体喜好产生负面影响，主要包含在四种配方中的一种中。感官和仪器表征确定了这种食物的关键属性，例如吞咽困难、整体气味和甜味，建议如何制定替代 RUTF，用于未来营养不良儿童的临床试验。实际应用：从世界对抗儿童营养不良的需要出发，本研究试图表征替代即用治疗食品 (RUTF)，这是一种用于促进 5 岁营养不良儿童快速体重增加的特殊食品，来自几个观点，例如可接受性、稳定性、技术和整体质量。获得的结果将有助于为当地生产 RUTFs 的技术条件和放大参数设置，以便在营养不良儿童的实际试验中进行测试。事实上，推动消费者接受这种特殊食物的关键感官属性，如甜味和吞咽困难，都来自本研究。