Chapter 2 = Dimensions of Food

Product Acceptability & palatability.

A) What is the importance of sensory evaluation?

"Sensory evaluation is the scientific discipline used to measure, analyze and interpret reactions to that characteristic of food and material with the use of human senses ( sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste SSHTT) for the purpose of evaluating the product."

• Why do you do a sensory evaluation:  The food industries rely on the sensory food evaluation to develop new product and also to maintain the quality control in existing food product.
• What is the importance: In order to improve acceptability, prolonged shelf life, to maintain quality, product reformulation, product specification and product matching.
• In house testing, A preliminary test: where sensory evaluation is conducted within food company to field testing and test marketing, evaluation are carried are by a trained sensory panelist.

B) Type of sensory tests and scorecards.

1) Discrimination / difference test: to evaluate whether the product has differences/preferred compared to others.
>There are 3 types of sensory test:

>Pair test : 2 samples are compared for differences/ which more appealing… A or B

>Triangle test (A..B..A) find similar/ odd sample/ different in what term?-taste, aroma, texture and appearance.

>Duo-Trio (R…..A..B) Compare with the reference- 2 most similar to one another.

2)Affective / Hedonic Test = Acceptance testing to test which is most preferred. –Qualitative-like or dislike.

1) 9 Hedonic test- food acceptability 1-like………9-dislike

2) 8 point scale for meat product evaluation

3) 10 point for quality scale

4)  the smiley face J for children to evaluate 

3)Descriptive test= Quantitative description of products based on trained panelist…. QDA Qualitative Descriptive Analysis  >>>>>used to define product sensory profile (10-12 ppl)

C) Sample preparation &presentation

>Sample size: refers to the number of observations required for the study.

The numbers of assessors depend on the sensory method> descriptive*8-12 trained assessors, triangle test diff*18, triangle same *30 minimum

>Sample preparation (factors that can modify judgment of the samples)

[size of the sample, location, marking of sample]

i>                   Paired test

ii>                 Triangle test

iii>                Duo-trio test

           

 D) Sensory characteristic of food

Refer to attributes of food that requires evaluation by sensory method in order to gain knowledge about human perception of food. These attributes are (LAATF)

-Aroma

( odor of food, determine by abundance of volatile compound)

>Floral, rotten, musty, pungent, acrid, fragrant

-Appearance

 (expectation of the actual product; color and surface characteristic; sign of quality/ acceptability of standard product)

>Dull, wet, fizzy, flat, stringy, crystalline

-Texture

 (evaluation relies on the mouthfeel of the food; stickiness, crunchy,tender,chewy)

>Brittle, sandy, tender, soft, waxy

-Flavor

(main assessment to determine level of acceptability of the total flavor; aftertaste; temperature of food served can change the flavor)

>Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, rich, hot

>As they are perceived through 5 sensesL(SSHTT)

-Sight can indicate color of the food

-Smell can indicate the presence of rancidity

-Hearing can indicate the crunchiness of a potato chip

-Touch can indicate the firmness of a muscle food

-Taste can indicate the sweetness of the food