INNOVATIVE SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND DETECTION OF FALSIFICATION OF CHOCOLATE PRODUCTS

Abstract

Abstract. The article presents the results of scientific research on the possibilities of improving the quality and determining the falsification of chocolate products. Various research methods are recommended for this purpose. It is noted that proper technochemical control is a prerequisite for the manufacturing of products that, by all indicators, meet the established modern requirements. However, the lack of a generalized effective method creates a need for the innovative developments to improve the quality and detect possible falsification of chocolate products. In the course of the research, it was revealed that the important scientific directions for improving the quality and detecting the possible falsification of chocolate products are the improvement of technology, the use of new ingredients that are not traditional for the chocolate industry, and the latest methods of analysis. One of the key directions in improving the quality of chocolate products is the use of natural ingredients. New developments relate to the enrichment of chocolate with encapsulated blackberry juice, microalgae and other plant additives. Different types of chocolate were investigated for total polyphenol, flavonoid and phenolic acids content using spectrophotometric methods, and their volatility profile – using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. According to the latest scientific research for chocolate quality control, scientists have proposed improvements in measuring the yield strength point for chocolate. Scientists studied the aspect of providing a new chocolate recipe based on a mixture of soy flour, sesame paste and emulsifier with optimization research using the response surface methodology. RSM simulation data showed that the components of the mixture and the amount of emulsifier significantly changed the textural and thermal properties. A comparative study of the instrumental properties and sensory profiling of low-calorie chocolate containing hydrophobically modified inulin using quantitative descriptive analysis proved that an increase in the inulin content led to an improvement in the texture and color of the product. Special attention is paid to the development of the latest scientific methods for tracking cocoa beans, including high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and isotope ratio monitoring using elemental analyzer-coupled mass spectrometry (IRMS-EA).