This week my work mostly surrounded a class for industry members about fruit pomace. The pomace is all the fruit fibers and sugars left after removal of the juice from a fruit. The research on pomace is important because fruit companies normally have to figure out a disposal method of the left over pomace, but pomace can be used in cooking which creates a product high in fiber, antioxidants and an increased fruit flavor. Plus pomace is very cheap so if you use it in place of parts of other ingredients it can reduce some cost while also increasing the nutrient content of the product. There were many lectures that went a long with the class about how to dry pomace, how to begin formulation of a product containing pomace, doing sensory work, product labeling, and shelf life testing. The most interesting thing that I learned, not related to pomace, is that labeling requirements will be changing soon to make serving size more representative to the amount most people would consume. For example beverages instead of having an 8oz serving on the label it will be required to have the entire bottle as the serving size. The reason I find this so interesting is because I feel like once consumers see the nutrition facts for things like soda and sports drinks in terms of the whole bottle it will deter consumers from buying them since the calories and sugar content will be very high. In a way I believe this change could end the era of “super sized” products. Consumers are being much more mindful of what they consume now and wanting to know exactly what they are eating down to a level of knowing every ingredient in a product as well as being aware of quantity. During the class we had the opportunity to create prototypes of muffins and granola bars containing pomace and it was found that people preferred the added pomace for aroma,creating a good fruit flavor and making the product taste cohesive in flavor.
