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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Félix DEPLEDT: Honorary forensic chemist at the Paris Court of Appeal - Member of the French Academy of Agriculture
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François SAUVAGEOT: Doctor of Science - Head of the "Gestion des propriétés sensorielles des aliments" postgraduate diploma (DESS) - École nationale supérieure de biologie appliquée à la nutrition et à l'alimentation (ENSBANA) – Université de Bourgogne
INTRODUCTION
Over the past twenty years, sensory analysis and metrology have undergone undeniable development. This development is due both to the food industry's desire to know more about the products they put on the market, and to the demands of mass retailers who want to ensure that the products they market under their own brands have characteristics that distinguish them from (or make them resemble) leading products. It has been supported by advances in knowledge and the availability of standardized methods.
In recent years, the field of application has extended beyond the food industry to include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumery, hygiene products, packaging, fabrics, mechanics, furnishings, advertising and more.
There are two distinct approaches to sensory evaluation. The first, generally referred to as sensory analysis, seeks to determine the organoleptic properties of foods, i.e. their action on the various sensory receptors stimulated before, during and after ingestion of a food, whether liquid or solid. The practitioner's aim is often to specify the distinct sensory effects of the product's various constituents. Classically, there are two main categories of test: discriminative tests, which aim to determine whether or not two or more products are different, and descriptive or profile tests, which aim to highlight the similarities and differences between products, in the form of sensory maps. The second perspective seeks to specify the preferences or rejections brought about by these organoleptic properties; it is characterized by the expression hedonic evaluation. This distinction is fundamental: sensory analysis focuses on the product for its own sake, while hedonic analysis looks at how a product is accepted by a target group of consumers. The two complementary perspectives are referred to as sensory evaluation or sensory metrology. They share a certain number of chemical, physiological and psychological foundations, and the interpretation of results is based on appropriate statistics. This explains why the standards drawn up by Afnor (or Iso) for these two perspectives were the fruit of the work of the same commission.
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Sensory evaluation of food products
Sensory evaluation
Bibliography
References
Standardization. Accreditation
Association Française de Normalisation AFNOR
The latest edition of all existing standards for the sensory evaluation of food products:
Sensory Analysis (651 p.) dates from January 2002.
The most important documents include :
- Analyse sensorielle. Méthodologie. Directives générales pour la réalisation d'épreuves hédoniques en laboratoire...
Organizations
Research organizations
In addition to the ACTIA centers, which develop applied research activities in the field of sensory metrology alongside their activities as service providers, most agri-food schools, notably Enitia (Nantes), Ensbana (Dijon) and Ensia (Massy), have a sensory evaluation research group.
At INRA, the most active laboratories in the sensory field are certainly those at...
Software
Leading sensory data capture software includes :
Compusense Inc. (Canada) http://www.compusense.com
Fizz (Biosystèmes) (France) http://www.biosystemes.com
Tastel, ABT Informatique (France) http://www.abt-sensory-analysis.com
Manufacturers
Grosseron sensory evaluation booths (Nantes).
Sentosphère (Paris) scent boxes.
Éditions Jean Lenoir (Carnoux-en-Provence)
Les Maisons du goût, Pôle Alimentec (Bourg-en-Bresse)
Burghart (Germany) http://www.bughart.net
This company offers a set of "Sniffin'sticks" to identify anosmics and hyposmics...
Service providers
Numerous organizations offer custom assessments in the discriminative, descriptive and hedonic fields.
A number of these centers, which come under the auspices of technical centers or CRITTs, are members of ACTIA (Paris). ACTIA has drawn up a Guide to Good Practice (see above) for clients of ACTIA centers who "sell" sensory evaluation and who undertake to comply...
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