Children's acceptability profiles for biscuits with different fibre content.

Due to the widespread rejection by children of products with high-fibre content, new approaches to meet the dietary recommendations on fibre intake are necessary. To understand which sensory properties influence this rejection, children's acceptability was examined in high-fibre biscuits and drivers of liking were identified. One hundred and ten Spanish children (6-12 years old) evaluated the overall liking of eight commercial biscuits with variable fibre content and stated their preference. To study the drivers of liking, the samples were characterised through a quantitative descriptive analysis, the determination of the moisture and water activity as well as the instrumental evaluation of texture with a texture analyser. It was suggested that the addition of fibre in biscuits reduced children's liking ratings. High-fibre samples were sensory and instrumentally described as harder, crispier and more chewing than the samples with medium and low fibre content. The main sensory driver of liking identified in this study was the soft texture. Despite their hard texture, high- and medium-fibre samples were chosen as the preferred ones for 14% of the children that participated when they included chocolate taste. Drivers of disliking identified in this study were related to the addition of fruit as a filling or as dehydrated pieces. This knowledge about children's acceptability of high-fibre products might be of interest for the food industry with the aim of developing well-accepted products that supply nutritional deficiencies associated with the fibre intake.