Sensory Analysis

Colourful

Tasty

BlandSpicy!

Tangy

sweet

Objectives• To know that products can be assessed using

different types of taste testing.• To know that comparative analysis looks at the

characteristics of certain products

Success Criteria: Students will be able to describe a number of different sensory analysis tests Students will use their senses to evaluate a number of food products

Key wordsSensory analysis

Comparative analysis

Sensory Analysis - What is it?

• A scientific approach to measuring human responses to food and drink

• It uses the senses – appearance, touch, odour, texture, temperature and taste.

• It provides tasters the opportunity to give feedback on new products.

What can it be used for?

• compare similarities/differences in a range of products;

• evaluate a range of existing dishes/food products; • analyse food samples for improvements; • gauge responses to a dish/product, e.g. acceptable

v unacceptable;• explore specific characteristics of an ingredient or

dish/food product; • check whether a final dish/food product meets its

original specification;

What types of test?

• Preference test – consumers state whether they like or dislike a product or characteristic.

• Discrimination test - asks people to describe a particular attribute of a product, e.g. paired comparison test.

Types of test

Preference Tests• These tests supply information about people's

likes and dislikes of a product. • Not intended to evaluate specific

characteristics, such as crunchiness or smoothness.

• They are personal tests and include hedonic, paired comparison and scoring.

Types of test

Discrimination Tests• These types of tests test specific attributes, i.e.

characteristics of products (crunchiness). • They are impersonal tests• Examples include triangle, duo trio, ranking

and paired comparison.

1. Decide on the type of test you want to perform.2. Find a clear area to hold the sensory test.

• Try to make sure that it is away from noise and cooking smells which may distract the people taking part in the test.

3. Place as many samples in serving containers as there are people taking part in the test. Code each sample with a random number, letter or symbol.

How to conduct a test

4. Have enough glasses of water for the people taking part.5. Make sure the people taking part know what is expected from them.6. Ask each person to taste one sample at a time, and record their responses then have a drink to clean their palate.

Star Diagram/Star Chart• This type of test allows a single food product, or range of

food products, intensity of its sensory attributes to be recorded.

The test can be used to:• evaluate differences in similar products. • gauge consumer response. • analyse specific attributes, e.g. shortness. • check that a food product meets its original specification. • compare similarities in a range of products.• show new opportunities for product development.

Star profile• Choose a range of attributes that describe the

characteristics of the product, e.g. crunchy, spicy or smooth.

• Decide on the intensity of each attribute, using a scale from 0 to 10 (the higher the number the greater the intensity).

• Use the information to produce a star diagram/chart of the product's attributes.