Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Nutrition has always been an issue in the Philippines. and even to the

world. More so that fast food chains and preserved goods have become a trend

to the modern world.

According to UNICEF (2019), one in three Filipino children under five

years old are stunted, which means they are too short for their age, while roughly

7 per cent of children are too thin for their height. Moreover, a tenth of Filipino

adolescents are now overweight. Increased vulnerability to disease due to poor

health-seeking behaviour, incomplete immunization, poor hygiene and care

practices, and inadequate diet – both in quantity and quality – causes

undernutrition in early childhood. Around 44 per cent of children aged 6-23

months are not fed fruit and vegetables.

Moreover, Filipinos are now eating more meat and less fruits and

vegetables. They want more of the unhealthy kind, more salt or more sugar, and

more calories. According to the WHO, about 1.7 million deaths worldwide are

linked to low fruit and vegetable consumption (ABS-CBN, 2012).

To be more specific on vegetables less taken in by Filipinos, a study

revealed that prevalence of inadequacies were as follows: protein 12–47%, total

fat (as percentage of energy) 38–52%, calcium 92–94%, iron 75–90%, vitamin C

68–96%, folate 61–93%, vitamin A 58–81%, riboflavin 58–91%, thiamin 27–75%,

and phosphorus 18–91% (Angeles-Agdeppa et al.,2019). As one can see, most

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of the inadequately taken are Vitamins including vitamin C 68–96%, folate 61–

93%, vitamin A 58–81%, riboflavin 58–91%, and thiamin 27–75%.

Knowing that most would not eat vegetables especially children, the

researchers were urged to conduct an experiment on a food that would contain

these vitamins. These can be found in vegetables. Vitamin C is in tomatoes,

Vitamin A is in squash, Vitamin B is in malunggay, and riboflavin is in cheese.

This convinced them to pursue the study entitled, "The Sensory Acceptability of

Vegetable-mixed Puto Cheese in the Community". Since puto cheese is one of

the enjoyed snacks among Filipinos and it is quite economical to make, thus it

was chosen as the main food. The study primarily aims to determine the sensory

acceptability of vegetable-mixed puto cheese in the community. It also seeks to

answer questions including: What is the sensory acceptability of tomato-mixed,

squash-mixed, malunggay-mixed, and triple vegetable-mixed puto cheese in the

community in terms of color, aroma, palatability, texture, and feeling of fullness?

What is the level of consumer acceptability across age brackets and gender?

What is the level of general acceptability of Potato Puto? And what are the

nutritional components of each type of vegetable-mixed puto cheese?

This study is deemed relevant not only to nutritionists, but also to medical

professionals, parents, patients, food enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, concerned

government agencies, and other researchers.

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Statement of the Problem

The study primarily aims to determine the sensory acceptability of

vegetable-mixed puto cheese in the community.

Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the sensory acceptability of tomato-mixed puto cheese in the

community in terms of:

1.1. color,

1.2. aroma,

1.3. palatability,

1.4. texture, and

1.5. feeling of fullness?

2. What is the sensory acceptability of squash-mixed puto cheese in the

community in terms of:

2.1. color,

2.2. aroma,

2.3. palatability,

2.4. texture, and

2.5. feeling of fullness?

3. What is the sensory acceptability of malunggay-mixed puto cheese in the

community in terms of:

3.1. color,

3.2. aroma,

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 3.3. palatability,

3.4. texture, and

3.5. feeling of fullness?

4. What is the sensory acceptability of triple vegetable-mixed puto cheese in the

community in terms of:

4.1. color,

4.2. aroma,

4.3. palatability,

4.4. texture, and

4.5. feeling of fullness?

5. What is the level of consumer acceptability across:

5.1 age brackets:

5.1.1 3-5 years old

5.1.2 6-11 years old

5.1.3 12-19 years old

5.1.4 20-39 years old

5.1.5 40-64 years old, and

5.1.6 65 years old up; and

5.2 gender?

6. What is the level of general acceptability of vegetable-mixed puto cheese?

7. What are the nutritional components of each type of vegetable-mixed puto

cheese?

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Hypotheses

1. Tomato-mixed puto cheese is not acceptable in the community in terms of

color, aroma, palatability, texture, and feeling of fullness.

2. Squash-mixed puto cheese is not acceptable in the community in terms of

color, aroma, palatability, texture, and feeling of fullness.

3. Malunggay-mixed puto cheese is not acceptable in the community in

terms of color, aroma, palatability, texture, and feeling of fullness.

4. Triple vegetable-mixed puto cheese is not acceptable in the community in

terms of color, aroma, palatability, texture, and feeling of fullness.

5. There is a low level of consumer acceptability of vegetable-mixed puto

cheese among children and males.

6. Vegetable-mixed puto cheese is not acceptable to the community in

general.

7. There are no significant nutritional components under each type of

vegetable-mixed puto cheese.

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Significance of the Study

This study is deemed relevant not only to nutritionists, but also to medical

professionals, parents, patients, food enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, TLE teachers,

and concerned government agencies.

Nutritionist. This study will give them a new item for the patient’s diet

considering what vitamin the patient need most.

Medical Professionals. This study will help them especially nurses and

dieticians who are most concerned of the nutrition of the patient.

Parents. This study will give parents an idea on a new snack to offer to

their children that is rich in vitamins.

Patients. Mostly when visited, patients receive fruits as a customary get

well soon gift from their visitors. The new recipe in this study will give those

visitors a new item to bring instead of fruits when visiting patients. In turn, this will

be nutritious for the healing patient.

Food Enthusiasts. This study will give them a taste of nutrition and a

break from the trending preserved foods they are eating nowadays.

Entrepreneurs. This result of this study will give them an idea whether the

new type of snack will be marketable to consumers.

TLE Teachers. This study will give them a new recipe to ask the children

to cook especially during nutrition month. This may also be served as snacks to

school visitors.

Concerned Government Agencies. These agencies including the

Department of Health and the Department of Food and Agriculture will find this

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study a new thing to be promoted to the masses especially that in these times,

people need to eat more nutritious foods.

Other researchers. Researchers who are interested on making their on

study related to this topic may use this research as a source. The

recommendations presented will help them on which parts to improve to make

their research better.

Scope and Limitation

This study focuses on the acceptability of vegetable-mixed puto cheese in

the community. The respondents of this study are limited only to the residents of

Brgy. Montebello, Kananga, Leyte classified under the age brackets of 3-5 years

old, 6-11 years old, 12-19 years old, 20-39 years old, 40-64 years old, and 65

years old up. It will be done in within the entire First semester of the school year

from the construction of the proposal, making of the instruments, conduct of

experiment, gathering of data, and analyzing the results.

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Operational Definition of Terms

To facilitate the better understanding of the terms used in this study, the

following were operationally defined:

Aroma – refers to the criteria of acceptability of the smell of the types of

vegetable-mixed puto cheese measured through a 5-point Likert-scale ranging

from strongly dislike to very satisfying.

Color – refers to the criteria of acceptability of physical appearance of the

types of vegetable-mixed puto cheese measured through a 5-point Likert-scale

ranging from dull to very attractive to the eyes.

Feeling of fullness – refers to the criteria of acceptability of the fullness

satisfaction of the types of vegetable-mixed puto cheese measured through a 5-

point Likert-scale ranging from strongly dislike to very satisfying.

Level of Consumer Acceptability – refers to the acceptability of each

type of vegetable-mixed puto cheese across age brackets and gender.

Level of General Acceptability – refers to the overall acceptability of

vegetable-mixed puto cheese measured through the average of the acceptability

of the four types of vegetable-mixed puto cheese.

Malunggay-mixed Puto Cheese – refers to a type of vegetable-mixed

puto-cheese whose main addition to the standard recipe is malunggay.

Nutritional Components – refers to the vitamins offered by the different

types of vegetable-mixed puto cheese including Vitamin A, B, and C.

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 Palatability – refers to the criteria of acceptability of the taste of the types

of vegetable-mixed puto cheese measured through a 5-point Likert-scale ranging

from strongly dislike to very satisfying.

Sensory Acceptability – refers to the acceptability of the types of

vegetable-mixed puto cheese based on the senses in terms of color, aroma,

palatability, texture, and feeling of fullness.

Squash-mixed Puto Cheese – refers to a type of vegetable-mixed puto

cheese whose main addition to the standard recipe is squash.

Texture – refers to the criteria of acceptability of the roughness or

smoothness in the mouth of the types of vegetable-mixed puto cheese measured

through a 5-point Likert-scale ranging from strongly dislike to very satisfying.

Tomato-mixed Puto Cheese – refers to a type of vegetable-mixed puto-

cheese whose main addition to the standard recipe is tomato.

Triple Vegetable-mixed Puto Cheese – refers to a type of vegetable-

mixed puto-cheese whose main addition to the standard recipe includes a

mixture of tomato, squash, and malunggay.

Vegetable-mixed Puto Cheese – refers to a healthy food variant usually

for snacks produced following the standard recipe of cooking puto cheese but

added with vegetables including tomato, squash, and malunggay.

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