Fuzzy Analysis of Sensory Attributes of Gluten Free Pasta Prepared From Brown Rice, Amaranth, Flaxseed Flours and Whey Protein Concentrates

Pasta is a cereal based, ready to cook, staple food, known for its affordable price, easy cooking, preferable sensory appeal and better storage stability, but its popularity is now growing as a healthy food worldwide. It is generally made from durum wheat semolina. Pasta made from gluten containing cereals creates problem for celiac patients. Hence, current study was undertaken (i) to prepare gluten free pasta from optimized levels of brown rice, amaranth flour, flaxseed flour and whey protein concentrate (WPC-70) and, (ii) to compare sensorial quality of gluten free pasta vis-a-vis available market samples of pasta to avoid market failure using fuzzy logic soft computing tool. Sensory evaluation was performed by a trained panel of sixteen judges. ‘In general’ ranking of pasta samples and their quality attributes was determined in linguistic term as (in decreasing order): Sample 4 (very good)> Sample 2 (very good)>Sample 3 (good)>Sample 1 (satisfactory) and Texture (highly important)>Flavor (highly important)> Appearance (important)>Color (important), respectively. However, exact ranking of pasta samples was obtained on the basis of maximum similarity value through fuzzy logic as shown in descending order: Sample 4 ‘very good’> Sample 2 ‘very good’>Sample 1 ‘good’>Sample 3 ‘good’. Gluten free pasta meets consumer’s preference in terms of ‘good’ sensorial quality as revealed by fuzzy logic; contains higher dietary fibre, minerals and superior milk proteins than traditional pasta made from durum wheat. Therefore, it can be considered as a better and nutritional choice for celiac patients and general consumers.