Explain the Sensory Evaluation
We begin our discussion on sensory evaluation by first understanding what we mean by sensory evaluation. Sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline used to evoke, measure, analyse and interpret reactions to those characteristics of foods and material as they are perceived by the senses of sight,smell, taste, touch and hearing. Next, why use sensory evaluation? Well, sensory evaluation is used to:
- evaluate a range of existing food products
- analyse a test kitchen sample for improvements
- gauge consumer response to a product
- check that the final product meets its original specifications
One may further wonder, why does the food industry need sensory assessment? Well, the food industry always try to :
- develop new products by modifying existing formulations
- enter new markets
- compete more effectively in existing market
- keep a high level of quality
These compulsions, therefore, make sensory evaluation very essential. Food quality, or from the consumer view point, food acceptance is the most critical aspect of food. The collection of food acceptance data is a key component in studies on product development, quality control, food product acceptance in the market place and food service evaluation. How is this data collected? What are the different processes involved in the assessment of the product being developed? Usually, a sensory panel is constituted