Quantitative sensory description using the Optimized Descriptive Profile: Comparison with conventional and alternative methods for evaluation of chocolate

Abstract

Conventional descriptive methods require extensive training time of the sensory team to ensure that the vocabulary and rating scales are used consistently. Seeking to reduce the sensory analysis time, the Ranking Descriptive Analysis (RDA) was developed in the last decade which enabled a satisfactory reduction in time, but allowed only for a qualitative assessment of sensory attributes. Accordingly, the Optimized Descriptive Profile (ODP) was proposed which also sought to reduce the time needed for descriptive analysis and at the same time estimate the magnitude of sensory difference between the products. This technique was applied in characterization of creamy cheeses and showed similar results to the conventional method. In an attempt to perform a more detailed study of the ODP, the authors saw the need to apply this sensory characterization method to products with smaller magnitudes of difference in sensory attributes. Thus, the objective of the present study was to use the ODP to obtain the sensory profile of chocolate, as well as compare the sensory description acquired by this method to the profile obtained by the conventional (CP) and alternative methodologies (RDA). For this purpose three teams of judges participated in the sensory evaluation of chocolates, where each team utilized an assessment protocol according to the three different methodologies. It was found that the three descriptive techniques presented similar sensory profiles for the chocolates. The ODP and CP showed greater discrimination in relation to the RDA for the four chocolate formulations. The form in which the unstructured scale was used by the judges presented different behaviors in the two quantitative techniques, where in the ODP the scores were more homogeneous in comparison to the PC. Thus, sensory characterization by means of the ODP was similar to the alternative and conventional methods, but with higher discrimination power for the formulations. The ODP permitted a 50% reduction in sensory time compared to the CP without loss of information and with high discrimination power of chocolates and quantitative description of the sensory attributes.