EXPERIMENTAL FOOD
(SBP3013)
Topic 2: Sensory
Evaluation
Physiological Bases of Sensory
Evaluation
• Olfactory Receptors
▫ Refers to odours – volatile chemical compounds that
interact with the approximately ten million olfactory
receptors in the nose
▫ To determine odours
Sniffing a food or its headspace
Swallowing food (which creates a partial vacuum in the
nasal cavity and subsequently draws air up into the nose
from oral cavity)
Deliberately exhaling sharply after food has been
swallowing
• Taste receptors
▫ Basic taste:Salty, bitter, sweet and sour
▫ Threshold level – the level at which a taste can be
noted and it varies among individual
▫ Sub-threshold level – enables salt to increase the
apparent sweetness of a sugar solution
▫ Very important in determining acceptability and quality
of the food products
• Visual Receptors
▫ First cues about a food received through the eyes.
▫ Shape, texture and colour
Sensory Characteristics of food
• Appearance
▫ i.e color –to obtain the information on the acceptability
of the food colour in human terms
▫ i.e surface characteristics. (exterior and interior)
• Aroma
▫ Acceptability of aroma is important to the overall
acceptability of the food
▫ Particularly in food that served hot or warm
▫ During evaluation, it is important to avoid competing
aromas from different samples
• Flavours
▫ Represents the composite assessment of taste and
the blend of odour in the mouth
▫ including the presence of aftertaste
▫ The best temp for flavour evaluation is between 20
and 30°C
▫ Flavour potentiators is compound that enhances the
flavour of other compounds (MSG)
▫ Flavour inhibitors is a substance that blocks
perception of taste (miracle fruit of Nigeria)
• Texture
▫ Relies of the mouthfeel of the food
▫ Texture is general term and may lead to confusion
▫ Therefore, specific term may be required
▫ i.e crispiness, hardness, grittiness etc
Sensory Panels
• Selecting Panel Members
▫ Panellists can be screened based on a certain criteria
i.e demographics or potential use of products
▫ Divided into two: trained (QDA) and untrained
panellists (Acceptance test)
▫ Training is done to ensure the all the panellists use the
scorecard according to the same word definition.
Sample Preparation and Presentation
• Size and part of the food will be taken for the evaluation
must be consistent
• Suggestion: solid sample about 30 g each and liquid of
15 ml
• Serving - Heating or chilling
• Use random number for label to avoid bias
• Silverware, a glass of water at room temperature and a
scorecard with a pencil should be placed along with the
appropriate labelled sample.
Types of Test
• Difference Test
▫ Paired comparison – two samples are presented
simultaneously
▫ Duo-trio test – 3 samples are given. Control is
presented first. The other two sample (one is similar to
control and one is experiment sample)care presented
latter.
▫ Triangle test – 3 samples are presented
simultaneously
▫ Rank order – evaluation on single characteristic by
rank in the order of intensity of the characteristic
• Descriptive Test
▫ Conducted using a scorecard containing very careful
word descriptions that structure the form or responses
by judges
▫ Important to select the appropriate vocabulary to elicit
an accurate picture of the samples
▫
Qualitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA)
• Profiling
▫ Descriptive Flavour Analysis Panel (DFAP) is done
through a cooperative, detailed analysis of the flavour
of each of the samples.
▫ Very careful selection and training of the panellists is
essential to assure a panel that consistently develops
accurate word profiles of the product
▫ Others: Texture Profiling Analysis
▫
• Preference test
▫ 9-points or 5-points hedonic scale is commonly used -
ranging from unacceptable to very acceptable
▫ For young children, a picture range can be used.
5-point hedonic 9-point hedonic
scale scale
Summary
• Sensory evaluation is a critical part in food
experimentation because it is the means of
determining how people will react to a food
• Sensory evaluation encompasses use of all of the
senses as they come into contact with the food
being evaluated
