Conventional Sensory Profiling Research Articles

Молокосодержащее мороженое с усовершенствованным белково-углеводным и минеральным составом

Milk-containing ice-cream is low in fat and non-fat milk solids. To maintain the conventional sensory and technological properties, dry substances have to be restored, including dry milk solids. This article introduces a new formulation of milk-containing ice-cream with an improved protein-carbohydrate and mineral content and the conventional sensory profile. Whey protein concentrates and dry cheese whey served as substitute components. The research involved physical, chemical, microstructural, and thermostatic methods. In the experimental product, 2 % whey protein concentrate and 4 % dry cheese whey brought dry milk solids up to 38 %, which was similar to the control milk ice-cream sample. The dispersion of ice crystals and the thermal and shape stability were also similar to the traditional ice-cream. However, the dynamic viscosity and the temperature of freezer discharge of the experimental mix exceeded those of the control sample by 1.5 times and 0.6 °C, respectively, while the aerating ability and the air-phase dispersion were lower. Whey protein concentrates and dry cheese improved the protein-carbohydrate and mineral composition of the milk-containing ice-cream, as well as made it possible to approximate it to the traditional sensory parameters. A further study is necessary to select flavors that could improve the sensory profile of the milk-containing ice-cream product.

Evaluating the sensory properties of hybrid (meat and plant‐based) burger patties

AbstractConsumer interest in alternative plant‐based foods is growing, including products where plant proteins are isolated and reformulated to mimic meat. This study aims to investigate the fundamental changes in sensorial (textural) properties between meat and plant proteins using a hybrid protein burger matrix. Burger patties were used as a model, prepared with a range of protein composition (beef: plant‐based protein; 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100) with identical added fat (17%) and at two salt (0 and 0.6%) contents. Conventional sensory descriptive profiling elicited 21 sensory attributes and profiles of samples were obtained to explore relationship(s) with composition. Early‐stage oral processing texture attributes were well‐differentiated across the sample space, while less discrimination was observed across samples for latter stage mastication texture attributes. Animal meat content increased scores for saltiness and flavor intensity indicating that plant‐based meat analogues require a higher salt content to achieve similar levels of salt and flavor perception. These findings provide key insights into the impact of meat and/or plant‐based protein composition on sensory properties in a hybrid burger patty model system. Future work should consider the mechanical properties of such products with the objective of finetuning ingredients and processing to obtain meat analogues with desirable sensorial attributes.

Comparison of Pivot Profile (PP), Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA), and Pivot-CATA for the sensory profiling of commercial Chinese tea products

Rapid sensory profiling methods relying on consumers' perceptions are getting prevalent and broadly utilized by labs and companies to supersede conventional sensory profiling methodologies. Till now, various intensity-based sensory methods such as the newly proposed Pivot-Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) are limitedly developed and compared. In this investigation, Pivot Profile (PP), Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA), and Pivot-CATA methods were applied and validated using tea consumers and commercial Chinese tea products as samples. Data from three approaches were collected, analyzed by correspondence analysis (CA), and used to compare the three methods assessing the panel assessment process, sensory maps, confidence ellipses, and practical applications. Pivot-CATA exhibited a high similarity with RATA (RV = 0.873), and a lower similarity with PP (RV = 0.629). Of the three intensity-related methods, confidence ellipses on the RATA sensory map were the smallest and overlapped the least. However, Pivot-CATA consumed less time in collecting data and its questionnaire was more friendly to participants compared with PP and made the difference in intensity of samples more noticeable to the participants than RATA due to the existence of the pivot sample. Its experimental versatility also allows for a wide range of applications, indicating that the Pivot-CATA is an approach with great promise for routine use.

Comparison of RATA, CATA, sorting and Napping® as rapid alternatives to sensory profiling in a food industry environment

Today, there is a need to accelerate new product development to deliver faster innovations which are expected by consumers. This requires identifying rapid descriptive methodologies requiring less training than conventional sensory profiling (SP) still providing good quality data allowing to identify food sensory drivers of consumer liking. A set of nine samples covering a large sensory space has been designed systematically combining at three different ratio three commercial almond, rice, and oat-based milks. Ten expert panellists familiar with sensory profiling and naïve with the plant-based milk category performed sorting, Napping®, CATA, RATA tasks and then SP. Overall liking of each sample was rated by 80 plant-based milk consumers. Among the four alternative methodologies, RATA provided both an overall product configuration and description the closest to SP (RV = 0.93) and allowed to identify the sensory drivers of plant-based milk acceptance similarly to SP. CATA is relevant to build a product landscape and to highlight product clusters with major sensory differences whereas Sorting and Napping® are alternatives to CATA, as product mappings were close, when no previous glossary or knowledge exits on product attributes.

Alternative protein sources in Western diets: Food product development and consumer acceptance of spirulina-filled pasta

Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) is currently being increasingly researched for its usability and suitability in human nutrition. The inclusion of alternative protein sources, such as spirulina, in familiar products is a possible strategy to nudge consumers towards dietary change in Western societies. Filled pasta variants with three levels of spirulina-soy-extrudate in the filling (10%, 30% or 50%) were developed and investigated for their sensory characteristics and consumer liking. Recipe development was based on the concepts of flavor-flavor learning (beet-ginger or tomato) and masking (lemon-basil) to account for the musty and earthy notes of the alga. Consumer tests were conducted in Germany (n = 139), the Netherlands (n = 137) and France (n = 144), and conventional sensory profiling was accomplished with trained panelists (n = 12). Consumers preferred the lemon-basil flavor over tomato and beet-ginger flavored fillings. As expected, liking decreased with increased extrudate content, regardless of the flavor. For all flavors expected liking was higher than liking after product exposure; for the lemon-basil flavor the gap was the smallest. It was shown that low general food neophobia and familiarity with spirulina promoted consumer liking. The sensory profiling revealed that the spirulina-soy-extrudate content affected all sensory attributes identified across all flavors, but for the tomato flavor the most. Overall, this study confirms that it is important to consider differences in consumer motivation as well as the product’s conceptual and intrinsic sensory characteristics in new product development.

Sensory properties linked to fat content and tasting temperature in cottage cheese

There is a growing interest in developing low-fat products in response to increased consumer demand. However, fat reduction often leads to low sensory acceptability by consumers. The identification of the sensory characteristics impacted by the reduction of fat is a first step to choose the most appropriate strategy to offset the adverse effects of a fat reduction. This work examined the impact of fat content and tasting temperature on the sensory characteristics of cottage cheese. A conventional sensory profile was conducted to characterize seven cottage cheeses at two tasting temperatures (7 and 15 °C). Five products differed based on their fat content (0, 1, 3, 8, and 11%), while the last two contained 1% fat and were flavored by the addition of 0.07 and 0.13% cream flavor. Differences among the cottage cheeses varying in fat content were based on a range of differences related to aroma (mainly a cream aroma), taste (mainly bitterness), trigeminal sensation (astringency), and texture (greasy film). The tasting temperature did not impact taste, aroma, or astringency. However, thickness was strongly modified by tasting temperature, regardless of the fat content of the different cottage cheeses. Moreover, this study suggests that fattiness is difficult to define and that this descriptor could be advantageously replaced by greasy film which was shown to be highly reliable in discriminating between various fat contents in cottage cheese.

CLV3W: A clustering around latent variables approach to detect panel disagreement in three-way conventional sensory profiling data

To detect panel disagreement, we propose the clustering around latent variables for three-way data (CLV3W) approach which extends the clustering of variables around latent components (CLV) approach to three-way data typically obtained from a conventional sensory profiling procedure (i.e., assessors rating products on various descriptors). The CLV3W method groups the descriptors into Q clusters and estimates for each cluster an associated latent sensory component such that the attributes within each cluster are as much related (i.e., highest squared covariance) as possible with the latent component. Simultaneously, for each latent sensory component separately, a system of weights is estimated that yields information regarding the extent to which an assessor (dis)agrees with the rest of the panel according to the latent sensory component under study. Our new approach is illustrated with a dataset pertaining to Quantitative Descriptive Analysis applied to cider varieties. It is shown that CLV3W, as opposed to related approaches, is able to detect differential panel disagreement on various latent sensory components.

Impact of Dietary Fiber Enrichment on the Sensory Characteristics and Acceptance of French Baguettes

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the consequences of dietary fiber (DF) enrichment in standard or superior quality French baguettes. Sensory characteristics of five experimental breads and seven commercial breads were described by a trained panel using a conventional sensory profile. The same set of breads was also evaluated by a panel of consumers who had to rate their expected liking based on the external appearance of a whole bread and then their perceived liking based on the tasting of a sample of that bread. DF enrichment was responsible for deterioration in the expected and perceived liking of breads. However, this deterioration was less substantial when the DF enrichment was realized in superior quality breads, such as baguettes obtained using a traditional French bread‐making process. Indeed, this combination produces baguettes that are well appreciated by consumers upon tasting despite the unconventional sensory characteristics of these baguettes.Practical ApplicationsAs demonstrated in the present study, even when enriched in dietary fibers, baguettes produced according to traditional French bread‐making process are well appreciated by consumers. In France, the French baguette is frequently consumed by a large proportion of the population. Thus, this product could be a good medium for increasing dietary fiber intake. Applied to a large scale, this nutritional improvement of French baguette could contribute to satisfy the national and international nutritional recommendations, which encourage the increase of complex carbohydrates in the diet.

Characterisation of typicality for wines related to terroir by conceptual and by perceptual representations. An application to red wines from the Loire Valley

From the wine producers’ viewpoint, the conceptual image of a wine has consequences in technical terms. We postulate that to understand the link between wine style and terroir system, the concept of typicality must be highlighted and related to sensory perception.Producer surveys made it possible to characterise conceptual typicality and its relations to terroir dimensions. Perceptual typicality was characterised through conventional sensory profiling (expert panel), Just About Right profile, and typicality assessment (professional panel). Finally, sensory attributes and technical practises were classified according to typicality acceptability through penalty analysis and PLS regression.This study reveals the gap between conceptual typicality and perceptual typicality on the basis of terroir dimensions and sensory attributes. For the wine producers, the conceptual image of a wine, resulting from the terroir, was related to environmental factors, and practises were perceived as less important. Conceptual typicality was related to sensory attributes such as colour intensity, red fruits, and soft tannins. Sensory profiles highlighted visual descriptors but not red fruits and soft tannins. While the influence of soil was not highlighted, technical factors (oenological factors) were prevalent.

Weighted PLS-discriminant analysis with application to conventional sensory profiling

Within the framework of sensory conventional profiling, we propose a general strategy of weight assignment to the various statistical units (products × assessors). This means that for each product, an assessor who does not agree with the other assessors on the evaluation of the product under consideration will be down-weighted thus limiting their impact on the outcome of the analysis. The weights are derived from similarity measures between assessors which reflect the extent to which the assessors agree on the position of each product in the perceptual space. The weights are used to compute the usual statistical parameters such as means and variance–covariance matrices. They are also used to compute the PLS-discriminant components which reflect directions of discrimination among the products. The usefulness of the strategy of weight assignment is demonstrated on the basis of a case study where it is shown that it improves the stability of the representation of the products to small perturbations.

PLS discriminant analysis applied to conventional sensory profiling data

Several methods have been proposed in the literature to analyze conventional sensory profiling data. We focus on factor analytical methods which have been extensively used due to their ability to produce graphical displays which are both useful and easy to interpret. Available factor analytical methods include principal components analysis on averaged assessors data or on the data matrix obtained by stacking the assessors’ datasets one on top of the others, and canonical variates analysis; each method has advantages and drawbacks. As an alternative it is advocated the use of PLS discriminant analysis, which is at the intersection of the methods mentioned above. This method of analysis takes account of the within and between product variations while minimizing the impact of multicolinearity. It provides statistical tools to assess on the one hand the agreement among assessors and the discrimination among products by means of the between to total variance ratio, and on the other hand the relative importance of variables by means of VIP (variable importance in the projection) indices. The VIP indices may also be useful to guide the selection of a subset of relevant attributes from the complete set of attributes. In this paper, PLS discriminant analysis is compared with other methods, and results are illustrated through a case study. In particular, the stability of the various methods is investigated using assessors’ re-sampling (bootstrap) and confidence ellipses.

A method for perceptual evaluation of products by naive subjects: Application to car engine sounds

Vehicles makers are now extremely concerned by the perceived quality of their products. For the design of many parts of vehicles, sensory profiling techniques are used, which are traditionally carried out by experts. These tests incur a significant financial effort and are time consuming. We propose in this paper an evaluation method with naive subjects, based on paired comparisons. Two studies have been carried out on diesel motor sounds: firstly, the panel of experts of a car maker made a conventional sensory profile and an evaluation by paired comparison. Secondly, 30 naive subjects also completed two tests (ratings and paired comparisons). For the experts, we noticed a very good agreement between the sensory profile and the paired comparisons. For the naives, the paired comparisons gave a better agreement between the subjects and were more discriminating than the ratings. The results of these two tests with the naives were then compared with the conventional sensory profile of the experts using Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Results show that the consensus is better with the paired comparison test. As a result, the evaluation method proposed with naives could be an interesting method for the perceptual evaluation of products. Relevance to industry To stay competitive, a company must take into account customer’s perception and react quickly to other competitors. Industry needs efficient techniques for evaluating the perceived quality of industrial products, and to integrate this data into the design process. Using naive subjects in perceptual tests can save the industry significant costs and time reaching customer need.

Contribution of the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) method to the sensory description of subtle differences in partially dealcoholized red wines

In this study, effect of partial alcohol reduction on the sensory modification of red wines was investigated. A Merlot and a Syrah wine were partially dealcoholized using reverse osmosis technique to span a range of three different alcohol contents (14–10%) by grape variety. Preliminary triangle tests indicated the existence of very slight differences between the dealcoholized wines of the study. Therefore, adapted descriptive methodologies had to be used. In a first step, wines were described with a comparative sensory profile by 16 trained panellists on 15 sensory attributes. Then, the same panellists profiled the wines with the TDS technique, which consists in identifying and rating sensations perceived as dominant repeatedly until the perception ends. Analysis of variance of the classical descriptive data confirmed the existence of subtle sensory differences among wines from a given grape variety with only three and five discriminated attributes for Merlot and Syrah, respectively. Analysis of TDS curves emphasized twice more discriminated attributes and pointed up temporal differences between wines that did not appear with the conventional sensory profile. Used together these methods appeared as promising as they resulted in complementary and complete descriptions of wines. Effect of dealcoholization was variable from one grape variety to another one. The constant effects of alcohol reduction, common to both Merlot and Syrah were the perception decrease of heat sensation, the substitution of heat sensation in attack by astringent (Merlot) or red fruits (Syrah) sensations, the decrease of bitter sensation after attack to the expense of fruity sensations, and the decrease of length in mouth. In case of Merlot, texture and astringency sensations were also affected by alcohol reduction whereas for Syrah, sweet sensation was affected. Wine is a complex product lying on a fragile balance and the least parameter modification induces variable effects according to the type of wines. Several kinds of interactions between ethanol and wine component must take place and make difficult the generalization of alcohol reduction effect on the sensory perception of wines.

Variability of the representation of the variables resulting from PCA in the case of a conventional sensory profile

Abstract Sensory profiles are classically summed up by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) performed on the table of means crossing products and descriptors. This paper proposes a way for evaluating the variability around the variables’ representation in PCA. It is thus possible to have an idea of the uncertainty of the position of each variable. To do this, the resampling methods used take into account the special nature of sensory data.

Sensory analysis of Spanish mandarin juices. Selection of attributes and panel performance

The aim of this work is to develop a list of descriptors to evaluate fresh and processed mandarin juices by the conventional sensory profile method and to select a group of assessors for future research in this field. Descriptors to evaluate fresh juices were generated by triadic elicitation (Repertory Grid method) performed by 20 assessors with five samples of juices. Next, each assessor quantified the intensity of the elicited descriptors in 12 juice samples, using individual charts including only those attributes that she/he chose. Data were studied by Generalized Procrustes analysis to select the most suitable attributes. Descriptors to evaluate processed juices were generated using a previous list. A total of 29 descriptors constituted the final list. A group of 11 judges participated in discussion sessions to establish consensus terms and definitions for these descriptors, to fix anchor terms for unstructured scales, and to obtain consensus scores of a reference sample. The results of a conventional sensory profile carried out by these 11 judges with nine samples, including fresh and processed mandarin and orange juices, showed acceptable panel performance.

Sensory discrimination of blended Scotch whiskies of different product categories

Samples of 40 blended Scotch whiskies were analysed in a conventional sensory profiling experiment employing 26 trained assessors, nosing using a consensus vocabulary. Whisky blends were classified into four product categories on the basis of labelling and retail price: Deluxe (11), standard (22), multiple retailer (4) and West Highland (3). From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), highly significant attributes for discrimination between blended whiskies were pungent, smoky/peaty, smooth, woody, vanilla, sulphury and rancid whereas catty and sour/acetic were non-discriminating attributes. Principal component analysis (PCA) explained 58% total variance in four significant components. A version of partial least squares was used to assess the discrimination power of attributes in characterising blend categories. Deluxe category was mainly perceived as fruity, buttery, malty and nutty, standard as oily, sulphury, rancid, grainy, smooth, soapy, vanilla, solventy and sweet, retailer as solventy, soapy and rancid, and West Highland as woody, smoky/peaty, spicy and medicinal. Standard category blends were dispersed across the product spaces by sharing similarities in characters with retailer and also, less extensively, with Deluxe blends.

Consumer preference mapping of dry fermented lamb sausages

This paper focuses on using and comparing preference mapping (both internal and external) and partial least squares (PLS) regression in relating consumer preference data of six different dry fermented lamb sausages to conventional sensory profiling (quantitative descriptive analysis—QDA). For segmenting the consumers into smaller, more homogenous consumer groups, two different methods were compared, namely cluster-analysis and visual inspection of plots. The consumer groups were related to demographic and sociological variables. The alternative approaches to preference mapping provided the same general conclusions. For all the three approaches, preference was positively influenced by juiciness, acidic flavour and odour, greasiness and lamb flavour. The cluster analysis identified four subgroups with different preference patterns and indicated that there were market segments for each of the six dry fermented lamb sausages.

Selection of dry fermented lamb sausages for consumer testing

In this paper a possible strategy for selection of a reduced sample-set for preference testing is discussed. The sensory variation within commercially available dry fermented lamb sausages in Norway and their relationship to standard chemical measurements are also studied. Fourteen dry fermented lamb sausage samples were analysed by conventional sensory profiling (quantitative descriptive analysis — QDA) using 11 trained assessors. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that juiciness, colour tone, acidic flavour and rancid flavour were closely related to the first principal component, and spiciness and flavour of smoke to the second component. Partial least squares (PLS) regression indicated that fat content and juiciness were weakly correlated. Further-more, sausages with the highest intensity of juiciness were all high in water content and had high water activity. As salt increased, sausages became drier and harder. Sensory saltiness was highly correlated to salt content.

Sensory quality of low-fat sausages affected by fat substitutes

Fat substitutes have been introduced to low-fat meat products to make the texture more acceptable. This study focuses on the effect of the polysaccharides iota-carrageenan, xanthan and guar gum on the sensory quality of low-fat sausages. Low-fat sausages with these three fat-substitutes and sausages with regular fat content were analyzed by conventional sensory profiling. The data were analyzed by principal component analysis. The low-fat sausages with iota-carrageenan were most similar to the ordinary sausages. Low-fat sausages with guar gum and xanthan were similar to each other. Off-odours were perceived in the sausages with guar gum and xanthan, and these sausages were also less firm and less elastic than ordinary sausages and sausages with iota-carrageenan.