Davide Giacalone

Alternative methods of sensory testing: working with chefs, culinary professionals and brew masters

Abstract We present two case studies with fast sensory methods to capture and document the core of sensory properties in an inexpensive manner outside the safe environment of the sensory laboratory. One is in the development lab with prototypes, with brewers, and one is with chefs working in a more explorative fashion to chart the properties of a large range of spice blends. For users of fast sensory methods who are not sensory scientists, the main challenge is the data analysis. The necessary statistical skills are often lacking with these professionals. The chapter includes recommendations for further development of fast sensory methods and their data analysis to accommodate the working environment and skills available in development labs.

Sensory and Consumer Approaches for Targeted Product Development in the Agro-Food Sector

Abstract Successful innovation is essential for survival in today’s competitive market, yet it is estimated that 75%–90% of new food and beverage products fail within their first year. Sensory properties of food and beverages are key benefits that must cater to the target consumer’s preferences and expectations, if repeat purchase, and hence market success, is to occur. Sensory science is a multidisciplinary field investigating how people perceive and respond to food and beverages (as well as other consumer products). Sensory methods are a vital tool in the context of new product development, where they are used to link ingredients and product formulations to consumer responses, and to use these insights to reach an informed go/no-go decision on whether a new product has market potential. In marketing, sensory science is increasingly used to link intrinsic product properties (e.g., the flavor) to extrinsic product properties (e.g., the packaging), thereby ensuring that sensory properties are congruent with brand communication and advertising. This chapter reviews methods and applications of sensory and consumer science at different stages of the NPD process. Opportunity identifications, product benchmarking, difference testing, preference trials, and sensory-based market segmentation will be discussed. Particular focus will be given on recent trends of relevance for SMEs, that have thus far not full taken advantage of sensory science. For example, the recent development of rapid sensory methodologies that can provide a useful tool to understand how different formulations affect sensory characteristics, even when time and/or resources are limited. Relevant case studies (from the authors own research and/or from the literature) will be used throughout to chapter to illustrate how sensory science can be used in the NPD process.

Product performance optimization

Abstract Product performance optimization is an important part of the development process for foods and other consumer products. In light of the high failure rate of new products currently observed, effective ways to predict product performance are highly sought after. Situated within this context, this chapter starts by providing an overview of the main approaches to product optimization used in sensory science. Both classical methods, such as response surface optimization and just-about-right scales, and novel methods such as the ideal profile method, are discussed. While current methods have undoubtedly much practical value, a possible limitation is that they all consider acceptability as the main optimization criterion. Evidence that acceptability in and of itself has limited value as a predictor of marketplace success has prompted a new quest for meaningful measures of product performance. The second part of the chapter reviews the new set of product performance variables that are increasingly used by sensory and consumer scientists, including emotional responses to food products, conceptual associations, and cognitive–attitudinal measures.

Whey protein stories – An experiment in writing a multidisciplinary biography

This is an experimental, dual-purpose article about whey protein and how to conduct interdisciplinary analyses and writings. On the one hand, this article is a multidisciplinary commodity biography, which consists of five descriptions of whey protein written by the five different research groups involved in the interdisciplinary research project CALM(Counteracting Age-related loss of Skeletal Muscle Mass). On the other hand, it is a meta-analysis, which aims to uncover and highlight examples of how the five descriptions contribute to each other with insights into the contextualisation of knowledge, contrasts between the descriptions and the new dimensions they bring to established fields of interest. The meta-analysis also contains a discussion of interdisciplinary study objects and the usefulness of the multidisciplinary commodity biography as a format for interdisciplinary publications. The article contributes to the field of food studies with a multidisciplinary biography of whey protein - including its sensory qualities and challenges, insights into its cultural history, its nutritional value and effects on the human body and an analysis of how it is perceived by people who consume it. The biography thereby expands upon existing understandings of whey protein while discussing the usefulness of employing the commodity biography format in interdisciplinary writing. Moreover, the article contributes to the field of interdisciplinary research by providing a practical example of a joint publication and reflections upon the existence, interaction and possibilities of monodisciplinary knowledge structures within interdisciplinary studies and publications.