Sensory and Emotional Profiling of Different Processed Oat Products—A Pilot Study

This study aims to compare differently processed oat products in terms of sensory and emotional perceptions by trained and untrained observers. A descriptive analysis was carried out for sensory profiling, and a hedonic test was conducted by 26 mothers. The Empathic Food Test (EFT) was used by trained subjects and 15 mothers for emotional profiling. Four products were compared: two products approved for infants (Holle and Hipp); one hydrothermally processed whole-meal oat flour (TAU®); and oat flakes (Bauck). The sensory descriptive analysis revealed that the products for infants clearly differed from the other products in terms of their significantly lower aroma and flavor intensity. The TAU® and Bauck products varied widely in their sensory properties regarding bitterness, sweetness, taste, and smell. The emotional profiling conducted by trained observers revealed differences between the infant products and the other products. TAU® and Bauck scored higher than the two products approved for infants. Consumer tests indicate slightly greater differences in emotional profiling compared to hedonic sensory profiling. Intensively processed oat products can be clearly distinguished from less processed ones via sensory and emotional profiling. The results were more distinct for trained observers. Due to the small sample size, the generalizability of the results needs to be verified by further research.