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Sensory evaluation of plant-based meat, egg and dairy products

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Agenda

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  • An introduction to sensory evaluation of foods
  • The hedonic test
  • Guidelines for sensory evaluation
  • Sensory attributes of plant-based dairy products
  • Sensory attributes of plant-based meat products
  • Sensory attributes of plant-based egg products

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What is sensory evaluation?

“Sensory evaluation has been defined as a scientific method used to evoke, measure, analyze, and interpret those responses to products as perceived through the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.”

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Reference: Stone & Sidel, 2004

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What is the importance of sensory data?

Research & development (New product development)

Consumer tests & competitor benchmarking

Validation of instrumental methods for sensory evaluation

Quality assurance and control

Track changes in sensory quality during the shelf-life period of a product

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Classification: Methods of sensory evaluation

Methods of sensory evaluation

Affective testing

Difference testing

Descriptive analysis

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Difference testing

Difference testing compares food items to evaluate the differences between them.

  • Triangle test
  • Duo-trio test
  • Paired comparison test

Reference: Stone & Sidel, 2004

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Descriptive analysis

Descriptive analysis provides the complete profile of a food product’s sensory attributes and quantifies the perceived intensities of the sensory characteristics of a product.

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  • Flavor profile
  • Texture profile
  • Quantitative descriptive analysis

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  • Performed by trained panelists

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Affective testing

Affective testing attempts to quantify the degree of liking or disliking

of a product.

  • Paired preference test
  • Ranking test
  • Hedonic test:
  • The hedonic scale can be used to determine the degree to which products are liked or which products are preferred.
  • This is a categorical scale with an odd number of categories (five to nine), ranging from “dislike highly” to “like extremely.” There is a neutral middle (neither like nor dislike).
  • Based on their responses, customers rank the product on a scale.

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Hedonic scale

Reference: Xia et al. (2020), Food Research International, 133, 109140

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  • Panelists who take part in hedonic scale testing can be untrained, but should be the regular users of the product.
  • Usually, a large panel size is considered for hedonic testing (75-150 panellists).

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General guidelines of sensory evaluation

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Guidelines for sensory evaluation

  • Hold the test in a quiet, odor-free area. The room should be clean, well ventilated, and well lighted.
  • Refrain from eating for at least an hour before sensory sessions.
  • Sip water or eat a plain biscuit to cleanse your palate while switching from one sample to another.
  • Record observations or ratings/scores as you go to ensure correctness.
  • If it is prescribed to taste the product at a particular temperature, please follow the same.
  • Never sniff or taste a product without ascertaining its intactness/food safety.

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Sensory evaluation of plant-based milk products

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Sensory attributes of plant-based milk

  • Appearance:
  • Color (opacity)
  • Uniformity (no phase separation between liquid and solids)
  • Consistency/Viscosity: To evaluate visually as well as in terms of the mouthfeel
  • Flavor:
  • Smell (pleasant; unpleasant; characteristic of the product)
  • Taste (Undesirable: Beaniness, Grassiness, Bitterness; Desirable: Sweetness; Subjective: Nuttiness)
  • Aftertaste (Undesirable: Bitterness; beaniness; Desirable: No after taste)
  • Mouthfeel (Desirable: Smooth & creamy; Undesirable: Rough, gritty)
  • Overall acceptability

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Sensory evaluation of plant-based meat products

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Sensory attributes of plant-based meat

  • Appearance
    • Color
    • Fibrousness (Detection of fibers)
  • Degree of cooking
  • Texture
    • Hardness (Force required to compress the food between the molar teeth)
    • Chewiness (Toughness of the products, the amount of work required to chew the product)
    • Cohesiveness (Ease of fragmentation of the product upon mastication)
    • Greasy
    • Crispiness
    • Firmness
    • Brittleness
  • Flavor
    • Meat-like (umami)
    • Smokey
    • Spiciness
    • Saltiness
    • Vegetal taste
    • Bitterness (Undesirable)
    • After-taste/off-taste
  • Mouthfeel
    • Juiciness (Amount of moisture released by the product during mastication)
    • Moistness
    • Fattiness (Degree of how fatty the product feels in the mouth)
  • Thickness (for burger patties)
  • Overall acceptability

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Visual evaluation of plant-based meat products

Fibrousness

Thickness

Reference: https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-chicken-nuggets/; https://www.recipetineats.com/veggie-burgers/

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Examples of radar plots for plant-based chicken nuggets

Reference: https://www.solina.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/sensory-analysis-paper_nextera.pdf

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Sensory evaluation of plant-based egg products

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Sensory attributes of plant-based egg (omelette)

  • Appearance:
  • Colour (Desirable: Yellow to golden brown; Undesirable: Excessive browning)
  • Texture (Desirable: Firm springy texture on outside and softer in centre; Softness, smoothness; sponginess; fluffines; Undesirable: Hardness; unset centre)
  • Flavor (Desirable: Egginess; Undesirable: Beany, salty)
  • Aftertaste (Undesirable: Metallic taste)
  • Mouthfeel:
  • Chewiness (Desirable: Less chewy; Undesirable: Firm and chewy, rubberiness, requiring more mastication and disintegration into small crumbly pieces)
  • Moistness (Desirable: Moist on the inside; Undesirable: More brittle and not tender and moist)
  • Overall acceptability

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gfi.org | Page 20

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www.gfi-india.org

Padma Ishwarya, S., PhD | Science & Technology Specialist, GFI India

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padmai@gfi.org

Thank you!