LWT - Food Science and Technology 137 (2021) 110454

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LWT
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt

Impact of temporary frozen storage on the safety and quality of four typical
Belgian bakery products
Filip Van Bockstaele a, Els Debonne a, b, *, Ingrid De Leyn a, Kathou Wagemans c, Mia Eeckhout a, b
a
Research Unit of Cereal and Feed Technology, Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Valentin
Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
b
Laboratory of Applied Mycology (MYCOLAB), Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Valentin
Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
c
FGBB Vzw – Asbl – Federatie van Grote Bakkerijen Vzw, Fédération des Grandes Boulangeries Belges GBB Asbl (Integrated Member of FEVIA), Belgium

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: EU regulation No. 1169/2011 states that foods that have been frozen and thawed before being sold, the name
Bakery products shall be accompanied by the designation ‘defrosted’. This requirement does not apply when defrosting has no
Frozen storage negative impact on their safety and quality. Producers should be able to show that defrosting has no negative
Microbial safety
impact during the shelf-life. Therefore, the impact of temporary frozen storage on the quality and safety of
Quality
industrially produced bakery products, including wholemeal bread, sandwich rolls, sponge cake and pie, was
Sensory properties
studied in comparison with non-frozen products. Total plate count, aw, texture analysis and sensory analysis were
applied to assess microbial, physico-chemical quality and consumer acceptability of the products. All tests were
performed before and after the defrosted shelf-life period. Freezing and defrosting of bakery products did not
enhance microbial spoilage. All values remained under the maximal limit of microbial contamination, respec­
tively 5 log CFU/g for bread products and 4 log CFU/g for sponge cake and pie. Texture analysis and aw showed
only limited differences between fresh and defrosted products. Although a slight difference in texture was
observed for sandwich rolls, sponge cake and pie through sensory trials, all products were found acceptable for
consumption.

1. Introduction preservation have been elaborately investigated, including the preven­

Bakery products are known to have a limited shelf-life due to fast
physico-chemical changes and/or microbial deterioration after pro­
duction. Longer shelf-lives are necessary in order for the bakery industry
to take advantage of the increasing globalization of retail markets and to
help reduce economic losses due to spoiled bakery products (Cook &
Johnson, 2009, pp. 223–244). Food related conditions such as pH and
water activity (aw) determine which type(s) of microbiological spoilage
can occur. For bakery products, microbial spoilage is mainly caused by
moulds (Smith, Daifas, El-Khoury, Koukoutsis, & El-Khoury, 2004). The
aw of intermediate moisture foods such as bakery products is generally
between 0.75 and 0.90 (Marın et al., 2002), not limiting mould growth.
Moreover, the aw of bread is usually greater than 0.90 (Debonne et al.,
2018; Smith et al., 2004). Further, the pH range for the growth of fungi is
very broad (1.5–11) (Deschuyffeleer et al., 2011). In order to meet
consumer’s demands for safe bakery products, different methods of
tion, destruction and/or control of post-baking microbial contaminants
(Smith et al., 2004).
In the bakery industry, freezing is a widely used preservation strat­
egy to extend the shelf-life of bakery products (Bárcenas, Haros, Bene­
dito, & Rosell, 2003; Debonne, Van Bockstaele, Philips, De Leyn, &
Eeckhout, 2017; Santos, Vampa, Califano, & Zaritzky, 2010). Frozen
storage is used for both fully as partially baked products which are then
distributed to shops or end users. In the shops, these products are thawed
and, if necessary, fully baked before being sold as fresh products. The
combination of low temperatures and the conversion of liquid water into
ice crystals results in a retardation of chemical and enzymatic reactions
and microbial growth. Thus, the freezing process greatly slows down the
deterioration of colour and texture, loss of nutrients and development of
off-flavours during storage (Cheng, Zhang, Xu, Adhikari, & Sun, 2015).
On the other hand, the formation of ice crystals during freezing can
cause significant damage to the tissue of frozen foods (Saclier, Peczalski,

* Corresponding author. Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000, Gent, Belgium.

E-mail address: els.debonne@ugent.be (E. Debonne).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.110454
Received 3 August 2020; Received in revised form 14 October 2020; Accepted 23 October 2020
Available online 26 October 2020
0023-6438/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F. Van Bockstaele et al.
Fig. 1. Selection of bakery products: [A] wholemeal bread; [B] sandwich rolls;
[C] sponge cake with whipped cream and fruit filling and [D] cherry pie.
& Andrieu, 2010) depending on the nature of the food product and the
applied freezing technology. Further, also the thawing process can bring
about physical and chemical changes in frozen foods and it can affect the
quality of the product if carried out sub-optimally (Stinco, Fernán­
dez-Vázquez, Heredia, Meléndez-Martínez, & Vicario, 2013). The pro­
cess of freezing and frozen storage can speed up the staling rate of
bakery products after defrosting (Bárcenas et al., 2003). For example, a
detrimental effect on volume, texture and moisture content has been
reported for cake (Díaz-Ramírez et al., 2016) and par-baked bread
(Bárcenas & Rosell, 2006b) especially at long frozen storage time.
In industry, temporary frozen storage of freshly produced bakery
products is sometimes used to deal with fluctuations in production and
distribution volumes (Bárcenas & Rosell, 2006a; Rosell, 2019, pp.
333–343). The main goal of this intervention is to minimize product
losses and to preserve the freshness of the products. According to EU
regulation No 1169/2011 it is necessary that for foods that have been
frozen before sale and which are sold defrosted, the name of the food
shall be accompanied by the designation ‘defrosted’. However, this
requirement does not apply for foods for which the defrosting has no
negative impact on the safety and quality of the food, such as bakery
products. However, producers should be able to clearly show that
defrosting has no negative impact on the quality and safety of the bakery
products. To our knowledge, no studies are available in literature
combining both microbial as textural evaluation of frozen and defrosted
bakery products. Thus, the goal of our study was to investigate the
impact of temporary frozen storage and defrosting on the quality and
safety of a selection of industrially produced bakery products (bread
products, sponge cake and pie). To address both issues of safety and
quality, evaluation of the products included total plate count, water
activity, texture evaluation and sensory trials. All quality tests were
performed both at the start and the end of the shelf-life period of the
non-frozen and frozen/thawed bakery products.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental setup
The impact of short term frozen storage was investigated on a set of
industrial bakery products, more precisely wholemeal bread (from
Quintens Bakeries Belgium), sandwich rolls, sponge cake and cherry pie
(from La Lorraine Bakery Group N.V.). These respective products were
selected because they are currently subjected to a short period of frozen
storage at the industrial bakeries. This in order to have a better trade-off
between production time and the sales market. For this study, the total
aerobic plate count, aw and texture were analyzed on the fresh (non-
2
LWT 137 (2021) 110454
frozen) and frozen/thawed bakery products. The products were evalu­
ated both at the start (day 0) and at the end of their respective shelf-life:
2 days (sponge cake), 3 days (wholemeal bread) and 4 days (sandwich
rolls and cherry pie). Products were stored under controlled temperature
of 22 ◦ C (bread and sandwich rolls) and 5 ◦ C (sponge cake and pie). This
resulted in four different storage conditions for each bakery product: (1)
non-frozen at the start of the shelf-life; (2) non-frozen at the end of the
shelf-life; (3) frozen/thawed at the start of the shelf-life; and (4) frozen/
thawed at the end of the shelf-life.
2.2. Bakery products
Following bakery products were supplied by Belgian industrial
bakeries: wholemeal bread, sandwich rolls, sponge cake and cherry pie
(Fig. 1). For all these products, both freshly produced as products which
had been frozen immediately after production were provided by the
bakeries. When frozen, the baked goods were subjected to blast freezing
(- 30 ◦ C) immediately after production to speed up the heat removal and
to cool down the products. The duration of the frozen storage differed
among the products to resemble industrial practices: 1 day (sandwich
rolls, sponge cake, pie) or 2 days (wholemeal bread). Wholemeal bread
(600g) was provided sliced and packaged under air atmosphere in
plastic material. Sandwich rolls (45g) were delivered in plastic bags
under air atmosphere containing 10 rolls per bag. The sponge cake
(750g) was a biscuit combined with whipped cream on the outer layer
and whipped cream and fruit filling in the middle of the biscuit. The
sponge cakes as well as the pie, a Dutch type cherry pie, were individ­
ually packaged in plastic cake boxes. Wholemeal bread, sandwich rolls,
sponge cake and cherry pie were thawed at room temperature in the
packaging material before analysis on day 0. The rest of the frozen
bakery products were then placed at either 22 (bread products) or 5 ◦ C
(sponge cake and pie) and analyzed at the end of their respective shelf-
life times.
2.3. Microbiological quality
For the determination of the microbiological quality of the bakery
products, the international standard ISO 4833-1:2013 method was fol­
lowed. Approximately 10g of sample, representative for the whole
product, was diluted ten times with maximum recovery diluent (MRD,
Oxoid, Belgium) in a stomacher bag and blended with a stomacher
(Stomacher 400, Steward Laboratory, UK). Decimal dilutions were
prepared in duplicate in MRD. From the diluted samples, 1 mL was
transferred onto a sterile Petri dish and 10 mL of plate count agar (PCA,
Oxoid, Belgium) was added. Once the media had set, the plates were
incubated under aerobic conditions for 48 h at 30 ◦ C, after which the
number of colony-forming units (CFU/g) was counted. The number of
repetitions for each condition was three.
2.4. Water activity
The aw was determined with a LabMaster-water activity meter
(Novasina, Nederland). As bakery products are often composed het­
erogeneously, samples from different parts were analyzed: crust and
crumb (at ¼ and ½ section of the bread) for wholemeal bread; upper
crust, bottom crust and crumb for sandwich rolls; lower and upper part
of the sponge cake and upper crust, bottom crust and fruit filling of the
pie. All analyses were performed in triplicate on independent samples.
2.5. Texture evaluation
The texture of the bread products (wholemeal bread and sandwich
rolls) was determined with a texture analyzer (TA.XTplus, Stable
Microsystems, UK). A texture profile analysis (TPA) was performed on
the center crumb of three stacked slices (total height: 27 mm) of the
bread product resulting in two consecutive compression cycles of 40%
F. Van Bockstaele et al.
Fig. 2. Total aerobic plate count (log CFU/g, n = 3) of non-frozen (black) and frozen/thawed (white) bakery products at the begin and end of the shelf life period:
[A] wholemeal bread (3 days); [B] sandwich rolls (4 days); [C] sponge cake with whipped cream and fruit filling (2 days) and [D] cherry pie (4 days) (- –: upper limit
of acceptability; ….: lower limit of acceptability). Bread products stored at 22 ◦ C and sponge cake/pie products at 5 ◦ C. Values indicated with different letters are
significantly different.
strain at a test speed of 1.7 mm/s, with of pause of 5 s. The compression
probe differed in diameter depending on the product type: 35 mm for
wholemeal bread and 25 mm for sandwich rolls. Sandwich rolls were
sliced in the lab before texture analysis. For wholemeal bread, 3 breads
were analyzed 5 times (new slices) per analysis (n = 15). For sandwich
rolls, 6 products were analyzed 2 times (new slices) due to smaller
product size (n = 12). Because of the complex composition of the sponge
cake and pie, no texture measurements could be performed on these
products.
2.6. Triangle test
A triangle test (ISO 4120:2004) was used to evaluate if the samples
were perceived to be different in their sensorial properties (Klotz,
Winkler, & Lachenmeier, 2020). In this study, the triangle test was
applied to detect the difference between non-frozen and frozen/thawed
bakery products both at the start and end of their shelf-life period. For
the test, three representative samples with randomized three-number
codes were offered: two identical and one odd sample in six random­
ized serving orders. The participants needed to detect the odd sample.
The participants were employees working at or in close proximity to the
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (Campus Schoonmeersen, Ghent).
They had no previous experience in sensory evaluation. Demographic
data of the subjects (n = 18–26; 70–75% females and 25–30% males,
aged 25–58 years, mean 42 years). When no differences are discerned,
the probability of selecting the correct sample is 1/3. If the samples are
3
LWT 137 (2021) 110454
distinguishable, the proportion of correct answers will be larger than
1/3. The minimal number of correct judgements to establish significance
at a probability level of 5% (one tailed, p = 1/3) was taken from Lawless
and Heymann (2010). Further, participants were asked to indicate
whether all three products were still acceptable for consumption
(regardless of the product being frozen or not).
2.7. Statistical analysis
To assess significant differences among samples, a multiple com­
parison analysis of samples was performed using SPSS Statistics version
24. In case the results were normally distributed, either a Tukey test
(homoscedasticity) or a Dunnett T3 (no equal variances) test was used as
post-hoc test to group the means with 95% confidence (p = 0.05).
3. Results & discussion
3.1. Total aerobic plate count
Microbial analyses showed that there was no enhanced microbial
proliferation due to the frozen storage and subsequent thawing. On the
contrary, wholemeal bread and sandwich rolls showed a significantly
lower amount of CFU/g, respectively at the start and the end of the shelf-
life. Fig. 2 summarizes the results for the total aerobic plate count of
non-frozen (fresh) and frozen/thawed bakery products at the start and
end of the shelf-life period. For wholemeal bread, frozen storage led to a
F. Van Bockstaele et al. LWT 137 (2021) 110454

Table 1 Table 2
Water activity (aw, n = 3) of non-frozen and frozen/thawed bakery products at Texture profile analysis parameters of crumb of non-frozen and frozen/thawed
the start and end of the defrosted shelf-life period: wholemeal bread (3 days); bread products at the begin and end of the shelf life period: wholemeal bread (3
sandwich rolls (4 days); sponge cake (2 days) and cherry pie (4 days). Bread days; n = 15); sandwich rolls (4 days; n = 12). Values indicated with different
products stored at 22 ◦ C and sponge cake/pie at 5 ◦ C. Values indicated with letters within the same row are significantly different.
different letters within the same row are significantly different. Product TPA Start of shelf-life (d0) End of shelf-life
Product Start of shelf-life (d0) End of shelf-life parameter
Non- Frozen/ Non- Frozen/
Non- Frozen/ Non- Frozen/ frozen thawed frozen thawed
frozen thawed frozen thawed
Wholemeal Hardness (g) 487 ± 480 ± 40a 541 ± 538 ± 40a
Wholemeal Crust 0.950 ± 0.947 ± 0.952 ± 0.960 ± bread 63a 48a
bread 0.012a 0.019a 0.006a 0.002a Adhesion (g. 1.1 ± 0.8 ± 0.4a 0.4 ± 1.4 ± 1.3a
Crumb 0.971 ± 0.977 ± 0.971 ± 0.977 ± s) 0.3a 0.1a
(¼section) 0.007a 0.002a 0.005a 0.008a Cohesion (− ) 0.75 ± 0.71 ± 0.73 ± 0.69 ±
Crumb 0.975 ± 0.976 ± 0.975 ± 0.980 ± 0.01a 0.01b,c 0.01a,b 0.01c
(½section) 0.003a 0.002a 0.005a 0.005a Springiness 0.93 ± 0.90 ± 0.92 ± 0.90 ±
Sandwich Crust 0.921 ± 0.878 ± 0.922 ± 0.921 ± (− ) 0.01a 0.01b 0.01a 0.01b
rolls (upper) 0.008a 0.022b 0.010a 0.007a Chewiness 341 ± 308 ± 19a 363 ± 334 ± 17a
Crumb 0.930 ± 0.939 ± 0.923 ± 0.925 ± (− ) 45a 33a
0.005a,b 0.002b 0.007a 0.005a Resilience 0.38 ± 0.34 ± 0.36 ± 0.31 ±
Crust 0.918 ± 0.898 ± 0.921 ± 0.920 ± (− ) 0.02a 0.02b,c 0.01b 0.01c
(bottom) 0.003a 0.015b 0.005a 0.009a Sandwich Hardness (g) 240 ± 236 ± 33a 419 ± 428 ± 18b
Sponge cake Top layer 0.924 ± 0.955 ± 0.911 ± 0.909 ± rolls 31a 21b
0.010a 0.025a 0.003a 0.010a Adhesion (g. 3.3 ± 4.3 ± 0.5b 1.3 ± 2.28 ±
Bottom 0.911 ± 0.922 ± 0.909 ± 0.907 ± s) 0.6a 0.5c 0.13d
layer 0.072a 0.007a 0.007a 0.017a Cohesion (− ) 0.63 ± 0.55 ± 0.5 ± 0.43 ±
Cherry pie Crust 0.883 ± 0.888 ± 0.897 ± 0.907 ± 0.01a 0.04a,b 0.01b 0.01c
(upper) 0.003a 0.006a.b 0.000b.c 0.006c Springiness 0.81 ± 0.81 ± 0.82 ± 0.79 ±
Fruit filling 0.979 ± 1.000 ± 0.977 ± 1.000 ± (− ) 0.01a 0.02a 0.02a 0.01a
0.041a 0.005a 0.036a 0.005a Chewiness 123 ± 105 ± 11a 171 ± 6c 143 ± 3b
Crust 0.861 ± 0.877 ± 0.911 ± 0.912 ± (− ) 16a,b
(bottom) 0.008a 0.017a.b 0.013b 0.023b Resilience 0.23 ± 0.18 ± 0.16 ± 0.13 ±
(− ) 0.01a 0.02b 0.01b 0.01c

significant decrease in CFU/g at the start of the shelf-life, respectively

3.5 ± 0.1 log CFU/g and 1.8 ± 0.7 log CFU/g. It is already known that
the mechanical action of ice crystals may affect the structure and
properties of frozen dough by putting stress on the yeast cells during
frozen storage (Baier-Schenk et al., 2005; Giannou, Kessoglou, & Tzia,
2003). Besides that, frozen storage can also act as a preservation strategy
(Kennedy, 2000). During storage, intracellular freezing does not only
affect yeasts cells. Also the cell membrane of many spoilage moulds can
be affected, resulting in loss of viability and therefore reduced microbial
counts (Archer, 2004). For bacteria, freezing can either kill or cause
sublethal injury to the cells. The numbers of dead, injured and uninjured
bacterial cells after frozen storage are dependent on many factors,
including type of bacteria, food composition and treatments before/after
freezing (Speck & Ray, 1977).
At the end of the shelf-life, the CFU/g were still lower for frozen
bread (3.6 ± 0.4 log CFU/g) but this was not significant compared to the
non-frozen bread (4.4 ± 0.2 log CFU/g). For sandwich rolls, the initial
CFU/g was similar (1.3 ± 0.4 log CFU/g, n = 6) but at the end of the
shelf-life, less microbial development took place on the sandwich rolls
which had temporarily been stored in the freezer compared to non-
frozen sandwich rolls (respectively 1.9 ± 0.2 and 3.9 ± 0.1 log CFU/g,
n = 3). For the other bakery products (sponge cake and pie) no signifi­
cant differences were found between non-frozen and frozen products
during the entire shelf-life period (start and end). Mean values for
sponge cake and cherry pie were respectively 3.7 ± 0.4 log CFU/g (n =
12) and 1.8 ± 0.5 log CFU/g (n = 10). All values remained below the
upper tolerable limit of microbial contamination as defined by the Auto
Control Guide for the bakery industry in Belgium, respectively 5 log
CFU/g for dry bread products and 4 log CFU/g for cold stored pastry
including sponge cake with whipped cream and cherry pie (FAVV,
2013). In Fig. 2 also the low tolerance limit for acceptable quality are
indicated, 4 log CFU/g for bread products and 3 log CFU/g for cold
stored pastry. For sandwich rolls and cherry pie, the microbiological
quality levels remained even below the low tolerance limit after four
days of storage. Further, it can be observed that for the bread products in
general CFU/g increase but that CFU/g for sponge cake and pie remain
constant during the shelf-life period. Of course, storage temperature
played an important role in this, which was 22 and 5 ◦ C for bread
products and sponge cake/pie respectively. So, it can be concluded that
the microbial shelf-life of the frozen/thawed bakery products is similar
to the fresh products, certainly not worse.
3.2. Water activity
The results of the water activity measurements are summarized in
Table 1. Water activity was analyzed of different parts of the bakery
products, as baking leads to moisture gradients in baked goods and some
products were composed heterogeneously (e.g. sponge cake and cherry
pie). In general, non-frozen and frozen/thawed products did not show
differences in aw, both at the start and end of the shelf-life period. Only
for sandwich rolls, a significant lower aw was found for the crust (both
upper and lower) at the start of the shelf-life (e.g. upper crust at the start
of the shelf-life: aw, non-frozen = 0.921 ± 0.008 versus aw, frozen/thawed =
0.878 ± 0.022). Concerning the sandwich rolls, the observed difference
between aw of non-frozen and frozen samples on day 0 may be explained
by the fact that the sandwich rolls were put in the freezer quite fast after
baking, thus limiting water migration from crumb to crust and aw in­
crease. It is known for bread crust that the largest increase in moisture
and water activity happens during the first 2 h after baking (Primo-­
Martin et al., 2006).
For all bread products, it was observed that the aw of the crumb is
higher than for the crust at the start of the shelf-life. Due to water
migration during storage, aw of crumb and crust become more equili­
brated at the end of the shelf-life (Baik & Chinachoti, 2000). The aw of
the crumb remains constant during shelf-life for wholemeal bread
(mean ± standard deviation = 0.975 ± 0.005, n = 24 (sum of all mea­
surements of bread crumb)) or decreases slightly (sandwich rolls),
whereas the aw of the crust increases. Differences in absolute values
among the bread products can be attributed to differences in initial
formulation of both dry ingredients and water, baking conditions,
sample size and crumb to crust ratio.
For sponge cake, no significant differences were observed between
top and bottom layer of the cake although aw seemed to drop slightly

4
F. Van Bockstaele et al.
Table 3
Triangle test results comparing non-frozen and frozen/thawed bakery products at the start and end of their shelf-life period (time, day x (dx) of the shelf-life); n =
number of participants; # correct answers = number of participants which could distinguish the odd sample (showing differences between the frozen non-frozen
bakery products); threshold = number of correct judgements needed for significant difference detection); product acceptability = number/percentage of partici­
pants that found both frozen and non-frozen samples acceptable for consumption.
Product Time n # correct answers
Wholemeal bread d0 19 9 (47%)
d3 21 6 (29%)
Sandwich rolls d0 26 17 (65%)
d4 25 10 (40%)
Sponge cake d0 25 15 (60%)
d2 18 10 (56%)
Cherry pie d0 19 6 (32%)
d4 18 10 (56%)
during the shelf-life. For the cherry pie, a large difference in aw was
found between the pie crust and the fruit filling. The aw of the pie crust
increased significantly during storage whereas the fruit filling showed a
constant aw. A water activity of 1 was measured for the fruit filling of the
frozen/thawed samples, indicating that the water was less bound in the
fruit filling matrix due to freezing and thawing.
3.3. Texture profile analysis
The crumb texture of the bread products was tested by texture profile
analysis (TPA). Texture of the sponge cake and cherry pie was not
measured as these are very heterogeneous products, not suitable for
reproducible TPA. TPA results in several texture parameters which are
listed in Table 2. For wholemeal bread it was found that hardness,
adhesion and chewiness were not significantly different between non-
frozen and frozen/thawed samples. However, cohesion, springiness
and resilience were significantly lower for frozen/thawed samples both
at the start and end of the shelf-life. None of the texture parameters
significantly changed upon storage, however slightly higher values for
crumb hardness were observed after 3 days (respective values for
hardness of non-frozen bread on day 0 of 487 ± 63 g and on day 3 of 541
± 48 g (n = 15), similar trend was observed for frozen/thawed whole­
meal bread). For sandwich rolls, differences were observed for adhesion,
cohesion, chewiness and resilience between non-frozen and frozen/
thawed samples. Hardness and springiness were not significantly
affected by freezing. Storage time also strongly impacted most texture
parameters, including hardness, adhesion, cohesion, chewiness and
resilience, which is in accordance with results of Bárcenas and Rosell
(2006b).
3.4. Triangle test
To assess whether consumers could perceive a difference in sensory
attributes between non-frozen and frozen/thawed products, triangle
tests were performed at the start and end of the shelf-life (Table 3). No
differences were noticed for wholemeal bread on day 0 and day 3 be­
tween frozen and non-frozen bread. Non-frozen and frozen/thawed
sandwich rolls were found to be different at the start of the shelf-life.
After 4 days, no significant effect of freezing could be observed. Half
of the panelists which could indicate the odd samples of the sandwich
rolls, indicated that their choice was based on differences in texture. The
different state of water activity in the crust between fresh and frozen/
thawed sandwich rolls probably led to a difference in texture perception
resulting in a significant difference in the triangle test of the sandwich
rolls at the start of the shelf-life. However, this did not impact consumer
acceptability of the sandwich rolls. For sponge cake, a significant dif­
ference was found both at the start and end of the shelf-life. Panelists
mentioned texture, taste, smell and moistness as basis for selecting the
odd sample. In case of the cherry pie, the difference at the end of the
shelf-life was mostly based on differences in texture. Although triangle
tests showed differences in some cases, especially for sponge cake,
5
LWT 137 (2021) 110454
Threshold Significant difference Product Acceptability
11 No 15/19 (79%)
12 No 12/21 (57%)
14 Yes 22/26 (85%)
13 No 25/25 (100%)
13 Yes 20/25 (80%)
10 Yes 17/18 (94%)
11 No 15/19 (79%)
10 Yes 15/18 (83%)
product acceptability scores were quite high, even at the end of the shelf-
life. Excluding wholemeal bread at the end of the shelf-life (57%
acceptability rate), the product acceptability rates of the sandwich rolls,
sponge cake and cherry pie were higher than 83%.
4. Conclusion
This study showed that temporary frozen storage of bakery products,
including wholemeal bread, sandwich rolls, sponge cake and cherry pie,
does not reduce their microbial quality compared to fresh non-frozen
products during the defrosted shelf-life period. Even at the end of the
shelf-life, consumer acceptability remained high indicating that tem­
porary frozen storage does also not reduce perceived quality to the
extent of products being rejected by consumers.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Filip Van Bockstaele: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing -
original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Supervision. Els
Debonne: Writing - review & editing, Visualization. Ingrid De Leyn:
Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investi­
gation. Kathou Wagemans: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing -
review & editing. Mia Eeckhout: Conceptualization, Resources, Fund­
ing acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
None.
Acknowledgments
The authors want to acknowledge the federation of the large Belgian
bakeries (FGBB) for the funding and following bakery companies for
providing the samples: La Lorraine Bakery Group N.V. (Ninove,
Belgium), Bakkerij Quintens (Asse, Belgium). Annemarie Vroman and
Ann De Wulf are acknowledged for performing the microbial analyses.
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