Effects of ultrasound homogenization on the structural and sensorial attributes of ice cream: optimization with Taguchi and data envelopment analysis

In the present study, the effect of ultrasonication time (3, 5, 7 min), gum (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5%) and oil (7, 10, and 15%) ratio on melting behavior, color, sensory, steady and dynamic rheological properties were investigated and optimized. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a new approach was introduced to summarize the consumer preferences and to select optimum consumer choice. With this motivation, it was aimed to select optimum processing parameters by performing Taguchi methodology and DEA. Optimization results revealed that optimum consistency coefficient (K) value was obtained with 0.5% gum ratio, 15% oil ratio and at 3 min. The results were proven that some benefits can be achieved with ultrasound (US) such as decreasing freezing time and the ice crystal size by preventing crystallization on the freezing surface. As a result, DEA may be utilized for sensorial scores to reduce many results to one result and facilitating the explication of sensory analysis results.