Sensory Evaluation: Testing and Tasting
How food is judged with the senses: the senses used to evaluate food, the main sensory test types, how a taste panel is set up, and how a test is kept fair.
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Judging with the senses
Before a food goes on sale, it is tested by people who taste it. This is called sensory evaluation, and it uses the senses to judge how a food looks, smells, feels and tastes. Food companies use these tests to improve a recipe and to check it stays the same. This module looks at the senses, the tests and how to keep a test fair.
Tasting words
Learn these four terms before you study the tests.
Two reasons to test
Food companies test for two main reasons, and the reason decides the test.
Match the test, keep it fair
A top answer matches the test to the question and keeps the test fair. Decide what you want to find out first, then choose a test that answers exactly that. Give every sample the same treatment and hide which is which, so the taster judges the food and nothing else.
Match the sense
- sight
- taste
- touch
- sound
- judges the colour and appearance
- judges the flavour on the tongue
- judges whether it is crisp or soft
- judges the crunch as you bite
Match the test
- paired preference test
- triangle test
- ranking test
- rating test
- asks which of two samples you prefer
- asks you to find the odd one out of three
- puts samples in order of a quality
- scores each sample on a scale
Spot the difference test
Which test checks whether tasters can tell two samples apart?
- A triangle test.
- A paired preference test.
- A ranking test.
- A rating test.
Keep it fair
Select the TWO things that help keep a taste test fair.
- Give each sample a random code, not its name.
- Offer a sip of water between samples.
- Let tasters discuss their scores aloud.
- Tell tasters which sample is the new recipe.
Run a taste test
Put the steps of running a taste test in order, earliest first.
- Prepare the samples in the same way
- Give each sample a secret code
- Tasters taste and score each sample
- Collect the scores and work out the result
Complete the facts
When a food company checks a new recipe, it uses sensory _____ to judge it. A taster who smells the food is checking its _____. A crisp or soft feel in the mouth is the _____. A test that puts samples in order of a quality is a _____ test. To keep the test fair, each sample is given a secret _____.
Mean taste score
In a taste test five tasters give a biscuit these scores out of ten: 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Add the five scores and divide by 5 to find the mean score. What is the mean?
Find the senses
Tap the TWO senses a taster uses to judge a food.
- sight
- touch
- the price
- the brand name
Which test fits?
Read what each company wants to find out and choose the best test.
- A company wants to know which of two new juices people prefer
- A company wants to know if tasters can tell a new low-sugar cola from the old one
- A company wants tasters to put four crisps in order of saltiness
Explain a taste test
Explain how a food company carries out a sensory taste test. Describe how the samples are prepared and tasted, and explain how the test is kept fair.
- Describe how the samples are prepared and served
- Name one sensory test and say what it finds out
- Explain two ways the test is kept fair