Comparison of performance and quantitative descriptive analysis sensory profiling and its relationship to consumer liking between the artisanal cheese producers panel and the descriptive trained panel

Abstract

The aim of this research was to compare the performance and sensory profiling of a panel of artisanal cheese producers against a trained panel and their relationship to consumer liking (external preference mapping). Performance was analyzed statistically at an individual level using the Fisher's test (F) for discrimination, the mean square error for repeatability, and Manhattan plots for visualizing the intra-panel homogeneity. At group level, performance was evaluated using ANOVA. External preference mapping technique was applied to determine the efficiency of each sensory profile. Results showed that the producers panel was discriminant and repetitive with a performance similar to that of the trained panel. Manhattan plots showed that the performance of artisanal cheese producers was more homogeneous than trained panelists. The correlation between sensory profiles (Rv = 0.95) demonstrated similarities in the generation and use of sensory profiles. The external preference maps generated individually with the profiles of each panel were also similar. Recruiting individuals familiar with the production of artisanal cheeses as panelists is a viable strategy for sensory characterization of artisanal cheeses within their context of origin because their results were similar to those from the trained panel and can be correlated with consumer liking data.

Analytic hierarchy process as an alternative for the selection of vocabularies for sensory characterization and consumer preference

“…The attributes Coffee‐A, Caramel‐A and Papery‐A characterized the M1 and M5 coffees while in the case of the M6 product, a specific assignment of some attribute is not shown. This could be due to the fact that this product was perceived with intermediate intensities in all the attributes (Ramirez Rivera et al, ). Figure b shows the sensory characterization of the samples of the coffees generated by the COM‐P panel.…”

“…In steps 4–5, the panel chose the commercial references of coffee (Nescafé®, Nestlé de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Ciudad de México, México) and their value in the scale for each sensory attribute to streamline the training process (Rainey, ). In steps 6–15, the panel evaluated the coffee samples based on the attributes obtained using a 9 cm scale (Ramirez Rivera et al, ). In step 16, the repetition session (three tastings on the same day) was carried out to determine the performance of the panel and these sessions lasted approximately 50 minutes.…”

“…The consumer study data were formed in a matrix of J*I , where J = 6 coffees and I = 100 consumers. The PREFMAP's were developed according to Ramirez Rivera et al (). As a first step, the classes of consumers were defined using the Ascending Hierarchical Classification (AHC) technique with the Ward method.…”

“…In research and the food industry one of the needs is the selection of sensory attributes for product characterization (Ramirez Rivera et al, ). The field of sensometry has developed conventional and rapid techniques that help meeting this need (Worch, Le, Punter, & Pagés, ).…”

“…The field of sensometry has developed conventional and rapid techniques that help meeting this need (Worch, Le, Punter, & Pagés, ). The Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA®) is a technique widely used to characterize foods because it provides a complete description of the sensory properties of the product (Ramirez Rivera et al, ). The sensory vocabulary generated by this descriptive technique can also be related to hedonic data to explain the consumer's preference through External Preference Mapping (PREFMAP) and its variants such as PrefMFA (methodology based on Multiple Factorial Analysis), Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling and Quadratic PLS regression (Cariou, Verdun, & Qannari, ; Tenenhause, Vinzi, Chatelin, & Luaro, ; Worch, ).…”