Introduction to FORWARD SENSORY ACADEMY: A Comprehensive Approach to Sensory Evaluation
Sensory evaluation is critical to product development, particularly in the food and beverage industry. It systematically assesses products using human senses, such as taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing.
At FORWARD Insight and Strategy, we have developed a structured approach to introduce clients to sensory evaluation, ensuring they understand its importance and can effectively apply it to their products.
Understanding the Senses
The first step in our approach is to provide clients with a comprehensive understanding of the senses involved in sensory evaluation. We explain how multi-modal sensory evaluation involves various senses such as taste, flavor, aftertaste, texture, mouthfeel, and aroma. We use engaging examples to differentiate between these senses and to show how they interact to form overall perception.
Introducing Olfaction and Specific Anosmia
We introduce clients to orthonasal and retronasal olfaction concepts, critical for understanding aroma perception. We also discuss specific anosmia – low sensitivity, or insensitivity to specific flavor/aroma compounds. This helps clients understand how individual differences in sensory perception can influence product evaluation.
Exploring Taste, Flavor, Texture and Mouthfeel
Taste and flavor are explored with specific examples for each category. Multiple solutions and food samples are utilized to describe and develop suitable vocabularies needed for ongoing assessments.
Texture and mouthfeel are also essential components of sensory evaluation. We explain the difference between these modalities and provide examples to illustrate the concepts. This includes discussing trigeminal responses, sensations of irritation, temperature, and touch in the mouth.
Factors Influencing Sensory Acuity
We educate clients on the various factors influencing sensory acuity, such as genetics, familiarity with the sensation, and external factors like pungent foods, smoking, illness, or allergies. Understanding these factors helps client’s control and minimize bias during sensory evaluation.
Controlling Bias in Sensory Evaluation
We emphasize the importance of controlling and minimizing bias during sensory evaluation to ensure accurate and reliable results. This includes considering the number of participants, sample size, serving conditions, blinding, randomization, and the evaluation environment. We also discuss the importance of palate cleansing and breaks to prevent sensory fatigue.
Types of Questions and Data Analysis
We guide clients on the types of questions to include in sensory evaluation questionnaires, such as hedonic, sensory profiling, and intensity. We introduce them to data analysis techniques, including means and standard deviations, citation frequencies, and spider plots. This helps clients visualize and interpret the data effectively.
Practical Exercises and Resources
Finally, we provide practical exercises to help clients apply their knowledge and skills in sensory evaluation. This includes tasting exercises, data collation, and interpretation. We also offer resources and support to ensure clients can continue to develop their sensory evaluation capabilities.
Conclusion
Following this structured approach, we help clients develop a solid understanding of sensory evaluation and its application in product development. This ensures they can create high-quality products that meet consumer expectations and stand out in the market.
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