The present study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Aegean, Greece (no. 13, 18 February 2022). All participants provided written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki [37 (link)]. Any information that might reveal the identity of the study participants was omitted, and the participants were number coded.
The study was conducted from March to December 2022. Participants were recruited randomly by the research team via social media and online announcements at the Agricultural University of Athens and the University of Aegean, Lemnos, Island, Greece. All participants were randomly selected, and no further educational/informative leaflets were given about the fortified dairy products.
Two organoleptic evaluations were performed as presented inFigure 1 . The first organoleptic study was performed in Athens, Greece (Agricultural University of Athens) with a total number of 22 participants being women (n = 19) and men (n = 3) and the second organoleptic study was implemented in Lemnos Island, Greece (University of Aegean) with a total number of 25 participants, women (n = 18) and men (n = 7). In both studies, unlabeled non-colored disposable plastic containers with 20 g of fortified dairy product were provided to the participants. The studies were conducted in a room with 20–22 °C temperature and 50–65% humidity. Enhanced dairy products were provided to each of the participants, and they did not have any information on which type of fortified product they were censoring. Furthermore, a questionnaire was administered to each participant to evaluate the appearance, taste, flavor, and smell of the product on a scale from ‘1 = I do not like it’ to ‘5 = I highly like it’. Between each sample, the participants were instructed to drink water to clean their mouth.
During the first organoleptic study, the participants tested and evaluated 4 different yogurt samples and 3 vegan yogurt samples. In more detail, plain yogurt without the addition of any extract, yogurt with St. John’s Wort extract, yogurt with dittany extract, yogurt with pennyroyal, and yogurt with lemon balm extract were provided to each participant. After finishing the evaluation of the above samples, participants then tested and evaluated the vegan yogurt samples: a control without any extract added, a vegan yogurt with spearmint, and a vegan yogurt with lavender. The samples were provided in different orders for each participant.
During the second organoleptic study, the participants tested 4 kefir samples and 4 cream cheese samples. Specifically, a control kefir with no added extract, kefir with bitter orange peel extract, kefir with both bitter orange peel and lemon peel extracts, and kefir with bitter orange peel and rosehip seed extracts were evaluated. After finishing with the evaluation of the above samples, participants proceeded with the evaluation of cream cheese samples: plain cream cheese with no added extract, cream cheese with mountain tea extract, cream cheese with St. John’s Wort extract, and cream cheese with both mountain tea and St. John’s wort extracts. The samples were provided in different orders for each participant.
The study was conducted from March to December 2022. Participants were recruited randomly by the research team via social media and online announcements at the Agricultural University of Athens and the University of Aegean, Lemnos, Island, Greece. All participants were randomly selected, and no further educational/informative leaflets were given about the fortified dairy products.
Two organoleptic evaluations were performed as presented in
During the first organoleptic study, the participants tested and evaluated 4 different yogurt samples and 3 vegan yogurt samples. In more detail, plain yogurt without the addition of any extract, yogurt with St. John’s Wort extract, yogurt with dittany extract, yogurt with pennyroyal, and yogurt with lemon balm extract were provided to each participant. After finishing the evaluation of the above samples, participants then tested and evaluated the vegan yogurt samples: a control without any extract added, a vegan yogurt with spearmint, and a vegan yogurt with lavender. The samples were provided in different orders for each participant.
During the second organoleptic study, the participants tested 4 kefir samples and 4 cream cheese samples. Specifically, a control kefir with no added extract, kefir with bitter orange peel extract, kefir with both bitter orange peel and lemon peel extracts, and kefir with bitter orange peel and rosehip seed extracts were evaluated. After finishing with the evaluation of the above samples, participants proceeded with the evaluation of cream cheese samples: plain cream cheese with no added extract, cream cheese with mountain tea extract, cream cheese with St. John’s Wort extract, and cream cheese with both mountain tea and St. John’s wort extracts. The samples were provided in different orders for each participant.
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