Different methods of sensory

evaluation of foods
By:
KIRAN V R
2018694710
SENSORY EVALUATION
 Sensory - having to do with the senses of
sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch -
judgment of quality based on sensory data
 Organolepsis - subject to judgment by the
senses
 Senses - the means of receiving all
information
 THE CHEMICAL SENSES
 SIGHT- VISION
 TASTE - GUSTATION
 SMELL - OLFACTION
MECHANICAL SENSES
 TOUCH - TACTILE SENSES
 HEARING - SOUND
 KINESTHESIS - MOTION
 EQUILIBRIUM - BALANCE
OTHER FACTORS
 Social and Family
 Cultural
 Religious beliefs
 Nutrition and Health
 Economic and Marketplace factors
 Technological developments
 Emotional and psychological factors
FIVE TASTES

 Sweet - Due to alcohol (OH) groups, detected quickly, on

the tip of tongue
 Salty-Sodium ion modified by Chloride, detected quickly,
on tip of tongue
 Sour-Acid, due to hydrogen ions, detected on side of
tongue
 Bitter-taste buds at back of tongue
 Umami-savory, glutamate that occurs naturally in
food. Some examples of these foods are parmesan
cheese, bacon bits, soy sauce, meat, ketchup, from flavor
enhancers such as MSG
SENSORY TESTING

 Analytical -Laboratory evaluation, used in early

stages of product development, objective
evaluation
 Affective - Consumer evaluation to measure
acceptance and preference
 DIFFERENCE TESTS
 ACCEPTANCE/PREFERENCE TESTS
 DESCRIPTIVE TESTS
 Method concepts used for sensory evaluations by
taste panels

a) Preference tests
-most often done with large, untrained consumer panels
 if consumers like a product
 if one product is preferred over another
 if consumers intend to use a product.
Preference tests are often referred to as “acceptance” or
“consumer” tests.
Paired Preference Test
 A paired preference test is used to
express a preference between two
products.
 Tester is presented with two coded
samples
 Tester decides which one they prefer.
Hedonic Rating Scale
 Rating tests can be used to find out how
much testers like or dislike a product.
 The term hedonic means having to do with
pleasure so rating scales to do with likes or
dislikes are called hedonic rating scales.
 Tester is presented with one or more coded
samples
 Tester indicates their degree of liking for
each product
Food Action / Attitude Rating Test
 In a food action rating test a scale is used to
determine the attitudes of testers to a food.
 It is often referred to as a “FACT Scale”.
 The test can be carried out on one or more
samples of food.
 Tester is presented with one or more food
samples
 Tester indicates their attitude to the food on
prepared scales
Preference Ranking Test
 These tests are used to rank foods in order of
preference.
 They are used when two or more samples are being
tested.
 The number of samples used is dependent on the
tester’s attention span and memory.
 The tester is asked to assign an order to the samples
according to his / her preference.
 Ranking tests do not determine the degree of liking /
disliking for each of the samples.
 Tester is presented with a number of coded samples
 Tester ranks samples in order of preference
 b) Difference / Discriminative tests
-determines how products perceived and significance of
difference. it requires trained panel example
– uses triangle tests, paired comparison, ranking or
scale scoring
 Difference tests are used to detect small differences in foods.
Difference tests are used in the food industry to answer
some of the following questions:
 does a difference exist?
 would people notice the difference?
 how would you describe the difference?
Difference tests are sometimes called “discrimination” tests.
Paired Comparison Test
 This test is useful when comparing two types of the same food e.g.
baked beans, yoghurt, juice etc.
There are two different types of paired comparison test:
 Simple difference paired comparison test - are the samples
different?
 Directional paired comparison test - which sample is sweeter /
saltier?
Simple Difference Paired Comparison Test
 Tester is presented with two coded samples
 Tester is asked if there is a difference between the samples
Directional Paired Comparison Test
 Tester is present with two coded samples
 Tester is asked to determine which of the samples has a greater
degree of intensity in terms of a particular characteristic.
Triangle test
-panelists receive three coded samples, two of the
samples
are the same and that one is different (chance = 33%)
- panelists identify the odd sample
- often used as a tool in quality assurance programs to
ensure that samples from different production lots are not
different
- also used in product development studies to check
effect of ingredient substitutions or changes in processes
 Duo- Trio test
-three samples are presented : one sample is labeled
"R"(reference) and the other two are coded. One of the
coded samples is identical to "R" and the other coded
sample is different.
-panelists identify the sample that is same or different
from the reference (chance = 50%)
-both Triangle and Duo-Trio may be used to screen
panelists for their ability to repeatedly select a specific
trait when tasting products for flavor, the Duo-Trio test
is often used instead of the Triangle test because the Duo-
Trio requires less tasting.
 Descriptive Ranking test
 panelists receive three or more coded samples and are
asked to rank samples for intensity of some specific
characteristic.
 often used to screen one or two "best samples' from a
group of samples rather than to thoroughly test all samples.
 Tester is presented with a number of coded samples.
 Tester ranks samples in order of intensity of specified
attribute/s.
Descriptive Rating Test
 A sensory profile is a written description
of the sensory attributes of a food. This is
compiled from the ratings obtained for
the selected attributes.
 profiling one product using line scales
 Tester is presented with one food sample
 Tester is asked to rate the intensity of the
pre-selected attributes for the sample
Sample Ballot
305
 Descriptive Rating Test – profiling
two products using star diagrams.
 Mean attribute ratings are
calculated, statistics is used to
determine if the means are
significantly different
 The data can be plotted onto
graphs – such as the spider
plot – to easily compare
samples
 In this example three brands
of grape juice were compared:
 Which is sweeter?
 Which has more cooked
flavor?
Scale scoring (descriptive, structured)
-Hedonic scale, usually 9 points
9-extremely desirable
8-very desirable
7-moderately
6-slightly desirable
5-neither nor
4-slightly undesirable
3-moderately
2-very
1-extremely
c) Descriptive methods
-discrimination of qualitative and quantitative traits of a
sample by use of a small ( 5- 10) member, very highly
trained panel
- highly sophisticated, analytical approach
- techniques such as flavor profile, textural profile and
QDA ( quantitative descriptive analysis) are used.
- requires at least three evaluative processes;
1. discrimination of the trait ;
2. description of the trait;
3. quantifying the trait.
The steps of discrimination and description of traits are
qualitative.
-language used is developed through careful training
and practice with the panel.
-panelists develop a common vocabulary for various
sensory stimuli with descriptive language.

The third step in descriptive analysis is to quantify the traits

as to how strong they are, and sometimes the order of
detection, i.e. flavor profile (Arthur D. Little Co.)
-provides a total picture or profile of a food product
-may be used to suggest instrumental methods or more
commonly as a method of quality assurance or quality
control.
ANALYTICAL EVALUATION
 Uses equipment
 Sprectrophotometer - color
 Consistometer - consistency
 Viscometer-viscosity
COMPARING SUBJECTIVE & OBJECTIVE
EVALUATIONS
Subjective/sensory
 Uses individuals
 Involves human sensory
organs
 Results may be variable
 Determines human
sensitivity
 Determines customer
acceptance
 Time consuming, expensive
 Essential for product
development
Objective analysis
 Uses equipment
 Uses physical, chemical
techniques
 Results are repeatable
 Need to find technique
appropriate for food
 Cannot determine
consumer acceptance
 Faster, cheaper, more
efficient
 Essential for routine
quality control
 General guidelines for panels
1. sample selection – representative

2. sample handling
◦ cooking, serving temperature, appearance, sanitation,
safety

3. selection of panelists
◦ screen for color-blindness, sensitivity to specific
flavors, age, sex, dietary life styles, bias about the
product, reduce “test” mentality
 General guidelines for panels
4. lighting - controlled as appropriate for test, mask color
for flavor evaluation
5. isolation
◦ booths without interaction with others
6. standards/clearing agents
◦ a reference sample can be useful i.e. Oscar Mayer
hot dog
◦ pictures for color comparison
◦ water, fruit juice, unsalted crackers should be provided
to return taste buds to a starting point
 General guidelines for panels

7. sample codes
◦ use 3 digit random numbers
 bias for A,B,C, D sequence

8. limit samples to ~ 9 maximum at any one time

9. use an appropriate scale

◦ numbers in the middle of a numerical sequence are less
different than those on the ends
Scales –
Many types of scales or scoring systems
-may be structured word scales or graphics.
- structured scale of 7 to 10 points is recommended
because panelists will avoid using the end points on the
scale.
- fewer than 7 points scale may not allow the panelists to
show the degree of variation observed.
Hedonic scale
The word " hedonic" is of Greek origin and relates to
degree or magnitudes of like or dislike.
Rank preference
-rank samples in order of preference
-more than 4 or 5 samples in a ranking test creates
difficulty for the panelists to rank products

More re-testing is generally done in order to assure the

correct positioning of the rankings.
10. randomize order of samples evaluated
◦ a large difference between two samples will be given a
larger differential in score if one immediately follows
the other than if there are others between them
Research article:
Research article-2
References
 V.K.Joshi and Dr. Y.S.Parmar , Sensory Science ,
Principles and Applications of Food Evaluation
 Lawless, H.T. and Heymann, H., 1998. Sensory
evaluation of food. Principles and practices. Champman
& Hall, New York p.49
 www.foodafactoflife.org.uk
 http://www.sfos.uaf.edu
 Stone, H and Sidel, JL. 1993. Sensory Evaluation
Practices. 2nd ed. Academic Press: San Diego.