Innovative approaches to develop flavors with high sensory appeal are critical in encouraging increased consumer preference and adoption of low sodium foods. Gas chromatography–olfactometry, coupled with stable isotope dilution assays and sensory experiments, led to the identification of the odorants responsible for an enhancement in saltiness perception of chicken broth prepared with thermally treated enzymatically hydrolyzed mushroom protein and cysteine, then reacted under kitchen-like cooking conditions. Comparative aroma extract dilution analysis revealed 36 odorants with flavor dilution factors between a range of 1 and 256. Sixteen odorants were quantitated and odor activity values (OAVs) calculated. Important odorants included 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, OAV 610), 1-(2-furyl)­ethanethiol (meaty, OAV 78), 3-sulfanylpentan-2-one (catty, OAV 42), sotolon (maple, OAV 20), indole (animal, OAV 8), 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)­furan (meaty, OAV 3), and p-cresol (barnyard, OAV 1). An odor simulation model was evaluated in two consumer sensory studies. These studies confirmed that the addition of the aroma model increased the perceived saltiness of low sodium chicken broth (p < 0.05).

The relative acceptability of a food or beverage is an important data point in many different scenarios. In humans, a nine-point category scale is typically used when the hedonic characteristics of several products are of interest. However, these scales are not consistently used by participants and therefore reliability is low. This article outlines the effectiveness of four techniques (mElo, Thurstonian modeling, Bradley-Terry, and Friedman) to calculate numerical values for products based upon their performance in a paired preference paradigm. In this study, acceptance data from four separate studies were compared to numeric scores constructed from a paired preference paradigm. In general, numeric ratings constructed from paired comparisons correlated very well with the mean overall liking ratings. The relationship between these acceptance ratings and numerical preference ratings did show to be somewhat dependent on the type of food product. This study serves as a guide to those looking to further quantify paired preference data. Practical Applications: Paired preference tests are simple and easy to understand for those who struggle with test instructions and numerical scales. However, in a multisample paradigm, sensory scientists have overwhelmingly chosen to use rating scales for a variety of reasons. This study shows the effectiveness of alternative data analysis techniques to extract numerical values for relative acceptance based on paired preference tests. This information could be used in the implementation of paired preference tests to replace traditional affective testing in groups that do not perform well with scales (e.g., children) or as an alternate analysis method for paired preference tests.

The relative acceptability of a food or beverage is often of interest in a variety of different research topics. In humans, a 9-point category scale is typically used when the hedonic characteristics of several products are of interest. However, these scales are not consistently used by participants and therefore reliability is low. This paper outlines the effectiveness of four techniques (mElo, Thurstonian modeling, Bradley-Terry, and Friedman) to calculate numerical values for products based upon their performance in a paired preference paradigm. In this study, acceptance data from 4 separate studies were compared to numeric scores constructed from a paired preference paradigm. In general, numeric ratings compared constructed from paired comparisons correlated very well with the mean overall liking ratings. The relationship between these acceptance ratings and numerical preference ratings did show to be somewhat dependent on the type of food product. This study serves as a guide to those looking to further quantify paired preference data.