ORONO -
One of the latest trends in fruit juice products is being scrutinized this summer by a French student in the University of Maine department of food science and human nutrition.
Catherine Hulne of Lorient, France, is testing consumer reactions to mixtures of medicinal herbs with cranberry, orange, and grapefruit juices as part of a four-month internship with Mary Ellen Camire, associate professor in the department. Among the herbs she is testing are ginseng, St. John's wort and ginkgo biloba.
All three herbs are sold as food supplements for their health benefits. Hulne is focusing on how the addition of these herbs changes the taste and appearance of the three juices. Nutrition and health issues are outside the scope of her work.
Hulne is a full-time student in Montpellier, France, at the Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique which specializes in agriculture and related natural resource topics. Internships are a compulsory part of the curriculum, and she came to UMaine as a result of an Internet search for food science sensory evaluation programs in the United States.
"Six weeks is the minimum, but I am staying until the end of August to do my study and travel," she said. She sends periodic reports back to her professors in France via e-mail.
She would like to travel to the Great Lakes region after completing her research.
"Food product development is a growing area in the French economy," Hulne said. "I would like someday to work in research and development or marketing." She has already developed crop management specifications for the country's second largest distributor of fruits and vegetables, Creno.
Hulne is evaluating fruit juice mixtures for color, sweetness, acidity and levels of phenolic compounds. Phenolics are a class of compounds that includes antioxidants. Using the department's sensory evaluation lab, she also gives consumers samples of juices with and without herbs. Consumers are not told which samples are mixed wwwithh herbs, but they are asked to report any differences in color, taste, and other factors.
"This is the first time I have done a sensory evaluation study," she said. "It's a good combination of research and marketing."
Hulne comes from a family of five. Her 19-year-old sister is serving an internship in a bank in France, and a 12-year-old brother is looking forward to summer vacation. Her mother teaches French in a secondary school, and her father runs a manufacturing company that produces large industrial equipment.
- SOURCE : Bangor Daily News
1999.07.24
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