Sensory evaluation of food

Introduction to sensory
evaluation

At the end of this chapter, you will be able

to:

Understand the definition of sensory.

Sensory evaluation in product development.
Sensory evaluation in food industry.
A Physiological and Psychological
Perspective

WHAT IS SENSORY EVALUATION?

Sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline used to
evoke, measure, analyze and interpret reactions to
those characteristics of foods and materials as they
are perceived by the senses of sight, smell, taste,
touch and hearing.

Eating quality parameters

We, as consumers, eat only that food which is palatable and
enjoyable.
Palatability
The quality of food should be appealing and appetizing and we
crave for more.
Other quality parameters, such as nutrition and wholesomeness are secondary.

For the consumers the eating quality attributes are:

aroma, taste, aftertaste, tactual properties and appearance are
the deciding factors in food acceptance.
Thus quality is that which the consumer likes bestand the grades of
quality are understood more by the degree of desirable attributes and
absence of undesirable characteristics.

The importance of sensory evaluation

1. Determination of consumer preferences
Todays consumers are discerning, demanding, and
more knowledgeable about food and expect products
which are safe, good value, and of high sensory
quality. Therefore, knowing consumers preferences
and perceptions of the sensory characteristics of
food/drink products is very important to food
manufacturers and retailers alike (FIF, 2005).

2. Market testing of new or modified products

Understand how their product performs against competitors
products in relation to consumer perceptions and/or sensory
characteristics;
Determine whether or not consumers can detect differences
between products, e.g., me too products, or changes in the
product due to recipe modifications
Sensory evaluation helps customers to reduce risks, improve their
products consumer appeal and enhance quality of outcomes.

3. Assisting with product development

According to a survey more than 90%of the new
products developed result into failure mainly because
of poor sensory attributes and rejection by the
consumers.
The adoption of appropriate sensory methods during
new product development is thus inevitable.

4. Quality control
The modern day concept of Total-Quality-Control (TQM)
involves sensory evaluation at all stages of product flow.
This includes, not only the sensory quality of raw material,but
also quality of product during processing and storage.
The changes in product quality in terms of colour, flavour and
texture during processing and storage has to be regularly
monitored using sensory techniques.

5. Selection of Packaging Material:

Now the consumers have become very quality conscious and
prefer to buy properly packaged processed food.
This has resulted into development of various types of packaging
materials for food applications.
The suitability of these films for packaging a particular dairy
product in respect of containment of product, its nonreactiveness with food ingredients and compatibility to storage
conditions has to be examined adopting sensory analysis along
with some chemical/ instrumental method.

6. Cost Reduction
In addition to eating quality of a dairy product, the
cost is also an important consideration for selection of the
product by consumers.
Hence, dairy product manufacturers always try to reduce
the cost by either using low cost ingredients or adopting
good management skills.
The use of low cost or alterative ingredients may
adversely influence the sensory characteristics of the
product and may not find good acceptability.

The sensory evaluation of product during these

modifications is, therefore, highly advantageous.

7. Shelf Life Studies

Dairy products during storage undergo many types of
changes, for example, chemical, bacterial, enzymatic, physical,
etc.
All these alter the sensory properties, such as taste, colour,
flavour, texture and appearance.
Application of sensory evaluation not only monitors these
changes but also determine the nature and extent of the
defects in dairy product during storage so that corrective
measures can be adopted.
The expiry date has to be determined by using chemical and
sensory techniques together.

8.Establishing Analytical/ Instrumental/

Sensory Relationships
Such relationships are highly useful for quick evaluation of the product
quality and for designing new equipment for product manufacturing.
Some relationships between sensory properties of milk and dairy products
with that of analytical or instrumental techniques have already been
established.
For example,
the titratable acidity of fresh milk ranges between 0.14 to 0.16%, and at
0.17% and above it may impart sour flavour.
the free fatty acid (as oleic acid) in ghee of good quality (no rancidity)
should be less than 2.8%.
Relationship between sensory textural attributes, hardness, stickiness,
chewiness, gumminess and elasticity/ sponginess with that measured by an
instrument can also be established. (For example : Texture Analyzer)

Role of Sensory evaluation in product

development.
Sensory evaluation techniques are mostly quantitative in
design and can be used to:
1. test concepts and -prototypes,
2. compare competitive products,
3. determine the effects of ingredient substitution, process changes and -shelf life on prototypes and
existing products.

Qualitative tests (such as focus groups and brainstorming) can

also be used to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

generate descriptive terminology,

address the validity of questionnaires,
indicate what would make a product different or special,
understand what would make consumers buy the product,
and
5. provide greater insight into evaluation results and consumer
opinion.

Additional info;
Sensory analysis is increasingly becoming
an integral part of the product
development process.
If a product does not taste good,
consumers will not make repeat
purchases.

Sensory evaluation in food

industry.
Nowadays, sensory evaluation becomes a tool
irreplaceable in food industry while interacting with the
key sectors in food production (Fig. 1).
When a consumer buys a food product, they can buy
nutrition, convenience, and image. Nevertheless, most
importantly consumers are buying sensory
properties/performance and sensory consistency.
Therefore, sensory evaluation should be an integral
part in defining and controlling product quality.

 As a way to reduce risk and uncertainly in

decision making.
When a product development manager asks
for a sensory test, it is usually because
there is some uncertainly about exactly
how people perceive the product.
.

Fig. 1: Sensory evaluation in relation with different

sectors of food production

A Physiological and Psychological

Perspective

From study of the physiology and anatomy

of the systems, each sense modality has
its own unique receptors and neural
pathways to higher and more complex
structures in the brain.
products are a complex source of
stimulation and that stimulation will not be
exclusive to a single sense, such as vision
or taste.

 Consider an evaluation of a strawberry jam

that has visual, aroma, taste, and textural
properties. Requiring subjects to respond only
to textural attributes (and ignore all other
stimuli) will lead to partial or misinformation
about the products, at best. Whyyy????

Response to all other stimuli will be embedded in

the textural responses which, in turn, leads to
increased variability and decreased sensitivity.

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SENSORY

EVALUATIION