Application of fuzzy sensory analysis to evaluate consumer acceptance of vacuum dried onion slices

Abstract

Consumer acceptability of vacuum dried (60 ± 2°C temperature and 6.66 kPa pressure) onion samples was tested applying the Fuzzy Reasoning approach on the sensory data. Culinary preparation using vacuum dried onion treated with 5% sodium chloride (NaCl) and 0.2% potassium metabisulfite (K2S2O5) for 15 min and untreated onion was compared using fresh onion preparation based on sensory attributes viz., Color, flavor, taste, and mouthfeel. Panelists were asked to rate the samples in terms of each sensory attribute and the relative importance of each sensory attribute in the overall acceptability of the samples. The preference levels of individual attributes for a particular sample were assessed using “Not Satisfactory,” “Fair,” “Medium,” “Good,” and “Excellent.” While the contribution of a single quality factor in the overall selection process was categorized by “Not at all Important,” “Somewhat Important,” “Important,” “Highly Important,” and “Extremely Important” for the onion in general. Responses from the individuals were converted to fuzzy sets and relative weight was computed along with the importance of the quality aspects. All three samples were quite comparable; however, treated vacuum dried samples received the best response. Practical applications The application of Fuzzy logic is an efficient way of handling linguistic data in an interpretable manner. Sensory analysis is highly relevant when any new product is being made and consumer perceptibility toward it needs to be judged. Fuzzy logic can be applied to analyze imprecise sensory data of the panellists to convert it into a measurable metric. Vacuum dried onion slices scored high in the test which supports its high consumer acceptance.