Acceptability of reformulated whole-grain products using net acceptance score (NAS) and relative acceptance score (RAS)

Objectives: (1) To determine the proximate composition and sensory qualities of three traditional, commonly consumed Omani grain products (samoon, khubs, and rekhal), while replacing refined refined-wheat flour by whole wheat flour at three levels (0%, 50%, and 100%). (2) To develop the Net Acceptance Score (NAS) and Relative Acceptance Score (RAS) based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) using sensory evaluation results. Materials and Methods: Samoon, khubs, and rekhal were reformulated with whole wheat flour at three levels: (i) RF100 (refined flour 100%, control), (ii) RF50 WWF50 (refined flour 50% + whole wheat flour 50%), and iii) WWF100 (whole wheat flour 100%). Proximate composition analysis and sensory evaluation [using the hedonic scale (9–1)] were conducted for each product type. The hedonic scores received from the panelists were then used to calculate the Net Acceptance Score (NAS) and the Relative Acceptance Score (RAS). The NAS is an indicator of the net acceptability of an individual product, whereas RAS is the relative acceptability of the reformulated product with respect to the control product. Results: Among all three product types, NAS of taste was the highest for WWF100. The NAS values of the taste attribute for WWF100 were 42%, 73%, and 16% for rekhal, khubs, and samoon, respectively. Both RF50 WWF50 and WWF100 rekhal products yielded the RAS value of 100%.