Chapter 18 - Technical team testing in the food industry

Abstract

Increasingly, we need to evaluate our products through projects inside project teams. This type of evaluation, which we call ``team testing'', needs to integrate a trade-off between an easy set-up that is adapted to our constraints, and the preservation of a sound and objective sensory description. Therefore, first we define the four main aims of the evaluation: describe, follow, rank and compare. On the basis of these four goals, three methods are customized and adapted. Taking account of the judges' low numbers and low level of training, we use an approach based on consensus or robust statistical tests. This approach has a very positive impact on the integration of sensory reactions into such projects, in two regards: the project team is more involved, and the most precise tools can be used for the most important steps of the project.