The sensory properties of foods are the most important reason people eat the foods they eat. What those properties are and how we best measure those properties are critical to understanding food and eating behavior. Appearance, flavor, texture, and even the sounds of food can impart a desire to eat or cause us to dismiss the food as unappetizing, stale, or even inappropriate from a cultural standpoint. This Special Issue focuses on how sensory properties are measured, the specific sensory properties of various foods, and consumer behavior related to which properties might be most important in certain situations and how consumers use sensory attributes to make decisions about what they will eat. This Special Issue contains both research papers and review articles.
Principles of Sensory Evaluation of Food covers the concepts of sensory physiology and the psychology of perception. This book is composed of 11 chapters that specifically consider the significance of these concepts in food sensory analysis. After providing a brief introduction to problems related to sensory evaluation in food industry, this book goes on examining the physiology and psychology of the senses. The succeeding chapters survey the status of methodology and appropriate statistical analyses of the results. These topics are followed by discussions on the problems of measuring consumer acceptance. Food acceptance and preference depend on human sensory responses. The remaining chapters describe the relationship between sensory characteristics and various physical and chemical properties of foods. This book will prove useful to food scientists and researchers.
The sensory properties of foods are the most important reason people eat the foods they eat. What those properties are and how we best measure those properties are critical to understanding food and eating behavior. Appearance, flavor, texture, and even the sounds of food can impart a desire to eat or cause us to dismiss the food as unappetizing, stale, or even inappropriate from a cultural standpoint. This Special Issue focuses on how sensory properties are measured, the specific sensory properties of various foods, and consumer behavior related to which properties might be most important in certain situations and how consumers use sensory attributes to make decisions about what they will eat. This Special Issue contains both research papers and review articles.
The field of sensory evaluation has matured in the last half century to be come a recognized discipline in the food and consumer sciences and an important part of the foods and consumer products industries. Sensory pro fessionals enjoy widespread recognition for the important services they provide in new product development, basic research, ingredient and process modification, cost reduction, quality maintenance, and product op timization. These services enhance the informational support for manage ment decisions, lowering the risk that accompanies the decision-making process. From the consumers' perspective, a sensory testing program in a food or consumer products company helps ensure that products reach the market with not only good concepts but also with desirable sensory attrib utes that meet their expectations. Sensory professionals have advanced well beyond the stage when they were simply called on to execute "taste" tests and to provide statistical summaries of results. They are now frequently asked to participate in the decision process itself, to draw reasoned conclusions based on data, and to make recommendations. They are also expected to be well versed in an in creasingly sophisticated battery of test methods and statistical procedures, including multivariate analyses. As always, sensory professionals also need to understand people, for people are the measuring instruments that provide the basic sensory data. People are notoriously variable and diffi cult to calibrate, presenting the sensory specialist with many additional XV xvi PREFACE measurement problems that are not present in instrumental methods.
A comprehensive review of the techniques and applications of descriptive analysis Sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline used to evoke, measure, analyse and interpret responses to products perceived through the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. It is used to reveal insights into the ways in which sensory properties drive consumer acceptance and behaviour, and to design products that best deliver what the consumer wants. Descriptive analysis is one of the most sophisticated, flexible and widely used tools in the field of sensory analysis. It enables objective description of the nature and magnitude of sensory characteristics for use in consumer-driven product design, manufacture and communication. Descriptive Analysis in Sensory Evaluation provides a comprehensive overview of a wide range of traditional and recently-developed descriptive techniques, including history, theory, practical considerations, statistical analysis, applications, case studies and future directions. This important reference, written by academic and industrial sensory scientist, traces the evolution of descriptive analysis, and addresses general considerations, including panel set-up, training, monitoring and performance; psychological factors relevant to assessment; and statistical analysis. Descriptive Analysis in Sensory Evaluation is a valuable resource for sensory professionals working in academia and industry, including sensory scientists, practitioners, trainers and students, and industry-based researchers in quality assurance, research and development, and marketing.
The link between nutrition, food and health is well established, but new information is being generated every day. This book pulls together the latest research on food and flavours as well as covering food functionality the molecular biology and delivery systems, for example encapsulation and flavour release. Written by experts in the field and edited to a high standard, this title will provide a unique reference for researchers and other professionals in the industry and academia, particularly those involved directly in food science.
The ?eld of sensory science has grown exponentially since the publication of the p- vious version of this work. Fifteen years ago the journal Food Quality and Preference was fairly new. Now it holds an eminent position as a venue for research on sensory test methods (among many other topics). Hundreds of articles relevant to sensory testing have appeared in that and in other journals such as the Journal of Sensory Studies. Knowledge of the intricate cellular processes in chemoreception, as well as their genetic basis, has undergone nothing less than a revolution, culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize to Buck and Axel in 2004 for their discovery of the olfactory receptor gene super family. Advances in statistical methodology have accelerated as well. Sensometrics meetings are now vigorous and well-attended annual events. Ideas like Thurstonian modeling were not widely embraced 15 years ago, but now seem to be part of the everyday thought process of many sensory scientists. And yet, some things stay the same. Sensory testing will always involve human participants. Humans are tough measuring instruments to work with. They come with varying degrees of acumen, training, experiences, differing genetic equipment, sensory capabilities, and of course, different preferences. Human foibles and their associated error variance will continue to place a limitation on sensory tests and actionable results. Reducing, controlling, partitioning, and explaining error variance are all at the heart of good test methods and practices.
In defining sensory properties of products, descriptive techniques that utilize trained panels are used. Arthur D. Little, Inc. pioneered a desriptive technique in the 1950's known as the "Flavor Profile" that laid the foundation for the development of current desriptive techniques used today in academia and industry. Several collections of published papers are reprinted in this book. The main areas covered include dairy products, meats, alcoholic beverages, textile materials and general applications. In addition, Dr. Gacula has prepared 40 pages of new text material on (1) Descriptive Sensory Analysis Methods, and (2) Computer Software. Methods for statistical systems (SAS) computer programs are provided
When it comes to food selection, consumers are very reliant on their senses. No matter the date on a carton of milk or the seal on the package of meat, how that milk smells and the color of that meat are just as critical as any official factors. And when it comes to meal time, all the senses must conspire to agree that taste, smell, color, and texture are appealing. Fidel Toldrá was named 2010 American Meat Science Association Distinguished Research Award recipient Compiled by two of the most esteemed researchers in the food science industry, Leo M.L. Nollet and Fidel Toldrá, Sensory Analysis of Foods of Animal Origin identifies and quantifies the quality attributes to help those in the industry understand the importance of perceived sensory quality. This book is divided into four parts: meat; processed meats and poultry; fish and seafood products; and milk and dairy products. In all four parts, the authors – Describe the analysis of color and texture of the different foods of animal origin, as well as recent advances in texture measurement Discuss techniques for sampling and identifying volatile compounds Detail and quantify a number of sensory aspects including descriptors, perception, and aroma Include subjective quality index methods that have recently been developed Each chapter starts with a discussion of the parameter in question, and as necessary, sample preparation methods are reviewed in depth. This is followed by a discussion and assessment of the sensory qualities, or a detailed overview of different detection methods. Finally, a brief summary covers the presence of these parameters in different end products, regions, and countries. With all the chapters written by experts in their fields, only the most recent techniques and related literature is included.
Sensory analysis is not new to the food industry, but its application as a basic tool in food product development and quality control has not been given the recognition and acceptance it deserves. This, we believe, is largely due to the lack of understanding about what sensory analysis can offer in product research, development and marketing, and a fear that the discipline is 'too scientific' to be practical. To some extent, sensory scientists have perpetuated this fear with a failure to recognize the constraints of industry in implementing sensory testing procedures. These guidelines are an attempt to redress the balance. Of course, product 'tasting' is carried out in every food company: it may be the morning tasting session by the managing director, competitor comparisons by the marketeers, tasting by a product 'expert' giving a quality opinion, comparison of new recipes from the product development kitchen, or on-line checking during pro duction. Most relevant, though, is that the people respon sible for the tasting session should know why the work is being done, and fully realize that if it is not done well, then the results and conclusions drawn, and their implications, are likely to be misleading. If, through the production of these guidelines, we have influenced some people suffi ciently for them to re-evaluate what they are doing, and why, we believe our efforts have been worthwhile.
Sensory testing has been in existence ever since man started to use his senses to judge the quality and safety of drinking water and foodstuffs. With the onset of trading, there were several developments that led to more formalized testing, involving professional tasters and grading systems. Many of these grading systems are still in existence today and continue to serve a useful purpose, for example in assessing tea, coffee, and wines. However, there has also been a growing need for methods for well-repli cated, objective, unbiased sensory assessment, which can be applied rou tinely across a wide range of foods. Sensory analysis seeks to satisfy this need. Sensory analysis is not new to the food industry, but its application as a basic tool in food product development and quality control has not always been given the recognition and acceptance it deserves. This, we believe, is largely due to the lack of understanding about what sensory analysis can offer in product research, development, and marketing and a fear that the discipline is "too scientific" to be practical. To some extent, sensory scien tists have perpetuated this fear by failing to recognize the industrial con straints to implementing sensory testing procedures. These Guidelines are an attempt to redress the balance.
This book extends the analysis of perception of food qualities to the area of multivariate methods. It presents the field of sensory analysis and gives the reader first-hand descriptions of research approaches and applications.
