Sensory analysis (or sensory evaluation) is a

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

discipline that applies principles of

experimental design The design of experiments (DOE, DOX, or experimental design) is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. The term is generally associ ...

and

statistical analysis Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying distribution of probability.Upton, G., Cook, I. (2008) ''Oxford Dictionary of Statistics'', OUP. . Inferential statistical analysis infers propertie ...

to the use of human

sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the cen ...

s (

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the ...

, smell,

taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

and

hearing Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psycholog ...

) for the purposes of evaluating consumer products. The discipline requires panels of human assessors, on whom the products are tested, and recording the responses made by them. By applying statistical techniques to the results it is possible to make

inferences Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word ''infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinction that in E ...

and

insights Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intuit ...

about the products under test. Most large consumer goods companies have departments dedicated to sensory analysis. Sensory analysis can mainly be broken down into three sub-sections: * Analytical testing (dealing with objective facts about products) * Affective testing (dealing with subjective facts such as preferences) * Perception (the biochemical and psychological aspects of sensation)

Analytical testing

This type of testing is concerned with obtaining ''objective facts'' about products. This could range from basic

discrimination testing Discrimination testing is a technique employed in sensory analysis to determine whether there is a detectable difference among two or more products. The test uses a group of assessors (panellists) with a degree of training appropriate to the compl ...

(e.g. Do two or more products differ from each other?) to descriptive analysis (e.g. What are the characteristics of two or more products?). The type of panel required for this type of testing would normally be a trained panel. There are several types of sensory tests. The most classic is the sensory profile. In this test, each taster describes each product by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire includes a list of descriptors (e.g., bitterness, acidity, etc.). The taster rates each descriptor for each product depending on the intensity of the descriptor he perceives in the product (e.g., 0 = very weak to 10 = very strong). In the method of

Free choice profiling Free-choice profiling is a method for determining the quality of a thing by having a large number of subjects experience (view, taste, read, etc.) it and then allowing them to describe the thing in their own words, as opposed to posing them a set of ...

, each taster builds his own questionnaire. Another family of methods is known as ''holistic'' as they are focused on the overall appearance of the product. This is the case of the categorization and the napping.

Affective testing

Also known as ''consumer testing'', this type of testing is concerned with obtaining ''subjective'' data, or how well products are likely to be accepted. Usually large (50 or more) panels of untrained personnel are recruited for this type of testing, although smaller

focus group A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

s can be utilised to gain insights into products. The range of testing can vary from simple comparative testing (e.g. Which do you prefer, A or B?) to structured questioning regarding the magnitude of acceptance of individual characteristics (e.g. Please rate the "fruity aroma": dislike, neither, like).

Notes and references

Bibliography

* ASTM MNL14 The Role of Sensory Analysis in Quality Control, 1992 * ISO 16820 Sensory Analysis - Methodology - Sequential Analysis * ISO 5495 Sensory Analysis - Methodology - Paired Comparisons * ISO 13302 Sensory Analysis - Methods for assessing modifications to the flavour of foodstuffs due to packaging * Sensory Evaluation Techniques- Morten C. Meilgaard, Gail Vance Civille, B. Thomas Carr - 4th edition, 2007

External links

ISO 67.240 - Sensory analysis
- A series of ISO standards
Sensory evaluation practice
Herbert Stone, Joel L. Sidel {{Authority control Product testing Psychophysics

Analytical testing

Affective testing

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links