This study was conducted to develop food for the elderly, which is easier to chew and swallow, using gelification. Various foods for the elderly with chewing and swallowing difficulties were used for sensory assessment. The sensory panel consisted of 10 dieticians (10 women) working in nursing care facilities. The sensory optimal composite recipes were determined by the central composite design (CCD). The optimum formulation of hot pepper paste stir fried pork calculated by the numerical and graphical method was 1.48 g of sugar and 18.97 g of hot pepper paste. The optimum formulation of seasoned spinach was 8.0 g of sesame oil and 5.41 g of soy sauce. Moisture content, hardness, and adhesiveness of hot pepper paste stir fried pork was 76.49%, 2.50, and －1.20, respectively. Moisture content, hardness, and adhesiveness of seasoned spinach was 83.48%, 2.27, and －1.17, respectively. This study provides the basic materials for the development of easily chewable and swallowable foods for the elderly, which can reduce the risk of food going down the wrong pipe, and the preference can be improved by eating solid food instead of porridge or liquid food. The development of food for the elderly, which takes the difficulties in chewing and swallowing among the elderly into consideration and reflects their preference and has sufficient amount of nutrients, is important to enable the elderly to enjoy their meals and it is one of the biggest challenges in Korea, as Korean society is aging rapidly.

The principal objective of this study was to determine the quality characteristics of seasoned sauce and seasoned pork rib to which pine needle powder was added during storage. The pH value, color value, active bacterial cell count, lipid oxidation, shear force, and sensory evaluation of seasoned sauce and seasoned pork rib to which 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4% pine needle powder was added were measured during storage at 5℃. The storage periods for the seasoned sauce were 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 and 30 days, and the storage periods for the seasoned pork ribs were 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 days. We determined that the pH values of both seasoned sauce and seasoned pork rib decreased with increasing quantities of pine needle powder and longer storage periods. The lightness (L) and yellowness (b) of the seasoned sauce were increased and the redness (a) of that decreased with increasing pine needle powder contents and longer storage periods. The L, a, and b values of the seasoned pork rib decreased with increasing pine needle powder contents, whereas the L and b values of that were decreased and the a value increased with longer storage periods. The active bacterial cell count of the seasoned sauce was detected at between 102 to 104 CFU/mL over a storage period of 30 days, regardless of the addition of pine needle powder; additionally, the addition of 4% pine needle powder resulted in the lowest active bacterial cell count among the samples. The active bacterial cell count in the seasoned pork rib decreased with increasing additions of pine needle powder, and was increased during storage. The influence of pine needle powder contents on the active bacterial cell count of seasoned pork rib were minimal, and the active bacterial cell count of that was suppressed by the addition of only 1% pine needle powder. Lipid oxidation in the seasoned pork rib was suppressed by the addition of more than 2% pine needle powder. We noted no difference in the shear force of the seasoned pork rib to which pine needle powder was added. In our sensory evaluation, the intensity of color (greenish brown), flavor (herbal flavor) and taste (bitter & herbal taste) of the seasoned pork rib increased with increasing pine needle powder contents, whereas the texture of the seasoned pork rib evidenced no differences. The overall acceptability of the seasoned pork rib with 0, 1 and 2% added pine needle powder was higher than that of the seasoned pork rib with 3 and 4% added pine needle powder. Thus, the addition of 2% pine needle powder to seasoned pork rib sauce yielded appropriate results with regard to antibacterial, antioxidative, and sensory properties.

The characteristics and quality changes of sauces containing different concentrations (5, 10, and 15%) of fermented Oenothra biennis juice (FOBJ) were studied for its potential as a new meat seasoning suace. pH of the seasoning sauce was ranged from 5.23 to 5.37. Sugar content of seasoning sauces increased decreasing on increase of FOBJ concentration while the color (L, a, b) decreased. DPPH radical scavenging ability and TBARS values of the seasoning sauce was increased significantly by the addition of FOBJ (p<0.05). The total bacteria number of the seasoning sauces was approximately 3 log CFU/g while coliform bacteria were not detected in all tested sauces. The sauce containing 5% FOBJ showed the highest value in taste, color, overall acceptability among all tested sauces. The pH and titratable acidity of the meat seasoning sauces was not changed significantly during 25 days at 10℃. The total bacteria number of the seasoning sauces was steadly 3.62~3.83 log CFU/g for 25 days at 10℃. The number of coliform was not detected during storage periods. These results suggested the possibility of development of new meat seasoning sauce containing FOBI.