Sensory Properties of Food
Sensory Evaluation Tests
Dr Huda Al-Kateb (February 2016)
Sensory Properties
• Organoleptic – properties which can be measured or detected by the human sensory
organs
• Sensory evaluation - scientific discipline - analyses and measures human responses to
the composition of food and drink
• A range of senses are used when we eat
• Sensory perception results from the integration of information from multiple sensory
organs
What is sensory evaluation?
A scientific discipline to analyse and measure
human responses to composition of food and
drink
Can be used to:
• evaluate a range of existing food products
• analyse food samples for improvements
• gauge consumer response to a product
• explore specific characteristics of an
ingredient
• check that a final product meets its
original specification
• provide objective and subjective feedback
data
Sensory properties
What are the Sensory Attributes
We tend to perceive the attributes of the food in an order such
as....
• Appearance
• Odour/aroma/fragrance
• Consistency and texture
• Flavour (aroma, taste and chemical sensation)
But attributes overlap and are difficult to assess individually
Evaluating foods by Sensory methods
• Taste panels
• Based on human judgment
• Consistency of sample
preparation
• Environment
• Selection & training
• Difference testing
• Quality testing
• Instrumental analysis
How to Measure Sensory • Physical/chemical tests
Properties • Sensory analysis or sensory evaluation
• Human subjects
Instrumental sensory analysis encompasses
the use of devices to capture:
• Appearance (visual impact), e.g. spectrophotometers, colorimeters, and
electronic eyes for colour and shape evaluation
• Smell, e.g. sensor-based electronic noses, gas chromatographs or ion-
mobility spectrometry based electronic noses
• Taste, e.g. electronic tongues
• Texture, consistency, mouthfeel or viscosity, e.g. texture analysers,
viscosimeters, rheometers, crustometers
Instrumental v Sensory Analysis
• Advantages?
• Disadvantages?
Instrumental v Sensory analysis
Advantages Disadvantages
Physical/chemical • Usually inexpensive to run • Initial capital costs may be
tests • Reproducible results high
• No fatigue • Not always sensitive enough
• No restrictions on time of • Do not indicate significance
of results obtained
day
Human tests • Initial capital costs low • Expensive to operate
• Direct indication of human • Reproducibility not always
response reliable
• Sometimes more sensitive • Inconvenient, time of day
than instruments critical
• Judges fatigue easily
What is Sensory Evaluation
The use of group of people (assessors or consumers) to provide
subjective measurements of foods
Sensory assessment can be very objective; eg using trained
assessors to evaluate sensory attributes
Or, it can be very subjective; eg using consumers to provide
hedonic judgments (liking, wanting, purchase, intent,
conceptualisation etc
Overview of sensory tests
Sensory Tests
Analytical Affective
Sensitivity Quantitative Qualitative Preference Acceptance Hedonic
Discrimination Descriptive Paired
Scaling
Analysis comparison
Triangle Ranking Flavour profile
Duo-Trio Category Texture profile
Paired comparison Ratio QDA
Based on Pangborn 1978
Classification of Test Methods in Sensory
Evaluation
Class Question of interest Type of Test Panellist Characteristics
Discrimination Are products Analytic Screened for sensory
different in any way? acuity, oriented to test
method, some times
trained
Descriptive How do products Analytic Screened for sensory
differ in specific acuity and motivation,
sensory trained or highly trained
characteristics
Affective How well are Hedonic Screened for product
products liked, or used, trained
which products are
preferred?
Three basic types of sensory tests
– Discrimination/Difference Tests make comparisons between
foods
– Affective Tests evaluate liking for foods. These are sometimes
called consumer tests
– Descriptive Tests describe the sensory attributes of a food
• Descriptive analysis is concerned with trying to provide
description of the sensory qualities of food
14
Sensory Properties of Food:
Colour and Flavour
SENSORY TESTING TECHNIQUES
Preference test - whether people like or dislike a product. E.g.:
Hedonic scale
Paired comparison tests
Scoring
Discrimination test - to describe a particular attribute of a product. e.g.
Triangle test
Duo trio test
Paired comparison tests
Ranking
Preference test
Hedonic Scale
• Prepare the food samples
• Each taster tastes each sample in turn and ticks a box -
from '1 dislike very much' to '5 like very much' to
indicate their preference.
• May also comment about the product’s appearance,
taste, odour and texture
• Analyse the results - which sample received the
greatest/lowest scores?
Scoring Tests
• Samples scored on a scale, between like and dislike
• Allow tasters to evaluate samples and score in order
of preference, record responses
Typical hedonic scale
Hedonic = to do with pleasure
Rating of food samples according to a scale to find out the degree of
preference for each food sample
Hedonic Scale 1-9
• Rank samples in order of preference
• Comment on texture, appearance and taste
1 = dislike extremely
2 = dislike very much
3 = dislike moderately
4 = dislike slightly
5 = neither like nor dislike
6 = like slightly
7 = like moderately
8 = like very much
9 = like extremely
Paired comparison tests
Test 1 – Preference
Prepare two samples of food product to be tested
Ask each taster which product they prefer
Record the response from the tasters
Test 2 – Discrimination
Prepare two samples of food product to be tested
Compare one attribute, eg, which one is smoother?
Record the response from the tasters
Triangle test – discrimination test
• Prepare three samples, two of which are the same
• Arrange the samples in a triangle
• Decide which of the samples is the odd one out
• Record the responses from the tasters
• Present samples in different order, so sample ‘A’ not always first
• Samples given random 3 digit codes eg,
– Low fat - 767
– Low fat - 198
– Original - 213
– Original - 570
Discrimination test
• Duo trio test
• Prepare three samples, two of which are the same
• Using one of the two identical samples as a control,
decide which of the other samples is the same as
the control Control
• Record tasters’ responses
536 304
• Ranking
• Decide on attribute to be ranked, eg, smoothness
• Allow tasters to evaluate samples and place them
in rank order
• Record the responses
Discrimination Testing Examples
Triangle test : choose the sample that most different
Duo-trio: choose the sample that match the reference
Paired comparison: which sample is bitter?
