The Mediterranean diet is a type of food characteristic of some countries in the Mediterranean Sea (Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, France and others). This dietary pattern is formed by high consumption of fruits, vegetables (greens and vegetables), cereals, legumes (chick peas, lentils), oil (almonds, olives and walnuts), fish, dairy products (yogurt, cheese). This diet is rich in nutrients essential for the proper functioning of the body. The soup, a tipical Mediterrnean food, is a good way to increase the intake of vegetables and legumes. Convenience foods are used to shorten the time of meal preparation at home. Some foods can be eaten immediately or after heating like soups. The most important motivation for purchasing convenient foods is related to the health benefits associated with the consumption of vegetables have led to a growing attention to this kind of products. Moreover, some kindergartens and schools have conducted the replacement of menus considered incorrect by other more healthy in order to promote healthy eating habits early. Increasingly convinced that they must change their eating habits, consumers are starting to look healthy foods themselves and they provide satisfaction. This work follows a study of the market already developed by a consulting company and has since become established in which products are the need of consumers with interest in being produced and marketed. This market research was prompted by a company that sells vegetables in bulk and you want to enhance your business through the enhancement of its products, and that the focus on new products, aims to gain a competitive advantage relative to other companies. The products are so determined in fresh flavored soups, packaged in glass so that they can be easily drinked and that are chilled in machine "vending". The present study reports the development of flavored soups for the "vending" machines using aromatic herbs as a distinguishing factor (celery, coriander and mint) and two different bases: a white base and a yellow base. The yellow base contains potatoes, chuchu, onion, carrot and 10g of corn starch. The white base contains potatoes, chuchu, onion and 25g of cornstarch. Optimized formulations were based on physical parameters, consistency, synerisis and sensory characteristics. A descriptive sensory tests were performed in the sensory laboratory of the Department of Food Science and Technology, ISA/UTL. The sensory evaluation was performed by a total of ten semi trained judges (food engineering students and staff). All of them were non-smokers and their age ranged from 25 to 63 years old. The room, at 20 °C, was equipped with seven isolated sensory booths. The tasting sessions occurred in the period from 10.00 AM to12.30 PM. Panellists performed a descriptive test and were asked to analyse the samples for: intensity of color, characteristicflavor, off flavors, characteristic tast, salty tast, off tastes, consistency, smooth and an overall quality. In a second step nutritional and chemical characterization (moisture, ash, mineral composition of the ash, crude fat, crude protein, crude fiber, nitrogen-free extract and calorific value) of the previously established formulas were conducted. In addition, shelf life was established monitoring physical, microbiological and sensory parameters during four weeks. Microbial account included: total mesophiles, coliform bacteria, clostridia, psychrotrophic and yeasts and molds. The developed soups presented a lower caloric value than the commercial ones. Results indicated that samples were stable during the preservation period (four weeks) for microbiological and sensory parameters. From a rheological point of view, the soups of mint and coriander showed very similar behavior with consistency increases throughout the preservation period, while the soup of celery had the lowest consistency.-----------------------------------O desenvolvimento de novos produtos, em resposta às necessidades do consumidor actual, pode constituir uma vantagem competitiva para as empresas. Assim, o presente estudo teve como objectivo o desenvolvimento de sopas aromatizadas destinadas ao mercado de “vending”. Apostou-se no desenvolvimento de sopas utilizando plantas aromáticas como factor distintivo (aipo, hortelã e coentros) e duas bases diferenciadas (uma base branca e uma base amarela). Numa primeira fase optimizaram-se as formulações das bases em relação aos parâmetros: consistência, sinerese e características sensoriais. Numa segunda etapa procedeu-se à caracterização nutricional, físico-química, microbiológica e sensorial das fórmulas estabelecidas anteriormente. Procedeu-se ainda ao estabelecimento do tempo de vida útil dos produtos pelo acompanhamento dos mesmos ao longo de quatro semanas a nível físico, microbiológico e sensorial. As sopas desenvolvidas apresentaram um valor calórico inferior às já existentes no mercado. As análises microbiológicas e sensoriais efectuadas demonstraram que as amostras se mantiveram estáveis ao longo das quatro semanas de conservação. Do ponto de vista reológico as sopas de hortelã e de coentros evidenciaram comportamentos muito semelhantes com aumento de consistência ao longo do período de conservação, enquanto a sopa de aipo apresentou valores mais reduzidos e estáveis.

Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar - Tecnologia dos Produtos Vegetais - Instituto Superior de Agronomia