Optimizing the sensory characteristics and acceptance of canned cat food: use of a human taste panel

Abstract

SummaryA methodology based on descriptive analysis techniques used in the evaluation of human food has been successfully refined to allow for a human taste panel to profile the flavour and texture of a range of cat food products (CFP) and their component parts. Included in this method is the development of evaluation protocols for homogeneous products and for binary samples containing both meat chunk (MC) and gravy/gel (GG) constituents. Using these techniques, 18 flavour attributes (sweet, sour/acid, tuna, herbal, spicy, soy, salty, cereal, caramel, chicken, methionine, vegetable, offaly, meaty, burnt flavour, prawn, rancid and bitter) and four texture dimensions (hardness, chewiness, grittiness and viscosity) were generated to describe the sensations elicited by 13 commercial pet food samples. These samples differed in intensity for 16 of the 18 flavour attributes, which allows for individual CFP flavour profiles to be developed. Principal components analysis (PCA) could successfully discriminate between samples within the PCA space and also reveal some groupings amongst them. While many flavour attributes were weakly correlated, a large number (describing both taste and retro-nasal aroma qualities) were required to adequately differentiate between samples, suggesting considerable complexity in the products assessed. For both MC and GG, differences between samples for each of the texture dimensions were also found. For MC, grittiness appears to be the most discriminating textural attribute, while for GG viscosity discriminates well between samples. Meat chunks and gravy/gels differed significantly from each other in both flavour and texture. Cat food products differed in their liking ratings, although no differences were found between homogeneous, MC and GG samples, and eight flavour attributes were correlated with overall liking scores. It is now necessary to determine the usefulness and limits of sensory data gathered from human panels in describing and predicting food acceptance and preference behaviours in cats. For instance, while the sense of taste in cats appears generally similar to that of other mammals, they lack a sweet taste receptor (Li et al., 2006), which may limit the applicability of sweetness ratings obtained from humans. Modification of existing techniques used with human food research, such as external preference mapping (Naes and Risvik, 1996) may be useful. Ultimately, this may facilitate more economical and efficient methods for optimizing cat food flavour and texture and predicting the effects of composition and processing changes on cat

An Initial Lexicon for Sensory Properties of Dry Dog Food

“…In the lexicon developed in this study, flavor attributes were detected, defined and referenced for the first time that we found for dry dog food. Similar studies with cat food products were carried out by Pickering (, ). For dry cat food, 20 flavor and four texture attributes were developed in the earlier study.…”

“…Humans, as pet owners, make decisions on the purchase of pet food products. In addition, the comparison between flavor profiles created by human panelists and data obtained from pet acceptance and preference trials may enable a more rapid, quantitative and predictive indication of the effects of ingredients and processing changes on the products (Pickering ). The pet food industry commonly conducts in‐house tasting trials using human testers (Pickering ).…”

“…() assessed the effects of extrusion parameters (fat type, fat content and initial moisture content) of some sensory characteristics of extruded pet food during storage using a human sensory panel. In addition, Pickering (, ) studied dry and canned cat food products by descriptive analysis techniques traditionally used for human food. Behavioral studies such as preference and acceptance tests with animals can be conducted to improve the product development process, but they are expensive, time consuming and yield limited and often equivocal data (Booth ).…”

The Impact of Rendered Protein Meal Oxidation Level on Shelf-Life, Sensory Characteristics, and Acceptability in Extruded Pet Food

“…Descriptive sensory analysis using a human panel enables quantification of the aroma, flavor, appearance, and texture properties of food and non-food products, including pet food [10]. Rancidity-related sensory attributes, which are the indicator of lipid oxidation, have been detected and evaluated in pet foods [11,12,13]. Furthermore, when pet food is served to the pet, the owner is the mediator and an evaluator of the pet food acceptability.…”

“…In case the pet food exhibits off-aromas that are related to an unacceptable product, the pet owner may elect not to serve those foods to their pet. Therefore, using sensory profiles created by human panel and acceptability data from pet owners may enable a more rapid, quantitative and predictive indication of the effects of ingredients and changes on the products due to processing and storage [11,13]. …”