Sensory characteristics and consumer acceptability of four variants of mabisi, a traditionally fermented Zambian dairy product

Consumer acceptability of four variants of mabisi, a traditional fermented Zambian dairy product, was determined as a first step towards identifying directions for improving and stabilizing consumer-oriented product quality. The four mabisi variants differed in their production methods and associated sensory properties. The variants were tonga, backslopping, barotse and illa mabisi, characterized by undisturbed fermentation, using part of a previous batch, removing whey followed by the addition of fresh milk and vigorous shaking, respectively. Sixteen panelists generated and evaluated the intensity of ten descriptive sensory terms while 268 consumers rated their preferences for overall liking and five other hedonic attributes. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed between the four variants for all sensory attributes except fermented odor. The products were distinguished by the textural attributes of thickness, smoothness, and creaminess. A multifactor analysis further demonstrated that textural attributes were the drivers of mabisi liking. When clustered according to overall liking, consumers were segmented into 3 clusters namely with a barotse-tonga preference (n = 94), absolute barotse preference (n = 84), and backslopping-illa-tonga preference (n = 90). Overall, our findings show that barotse and tonga mabisi were more appealing to larger consumer segments, warranting further research into the optimization of product quality.