A Study to Recruit and Train the Product Oriented Sensory Panel

Abstract

Food industry greatly depends on product quality and price. Sensory evaluation is a scientific method that humans evaluate the eating quality parameters of food. The study was conducted to evaluate the performances of the existing sensory panel, to recruit and train new members to sensory panel and to evaluate the performance of the product oriented sensory panel in the Industrial Technology Institute. Recruitment and training of product-oriented sensory panel was done according to the International Standards 8586-1:1993. Initially 29 interested staff members, who were in good health, were selected through a questionnaire from the same institute. Then they were subjected to several screening tests, namely basic taste identification test, odour descriptive test, ranking test for the taste intensity, ranking test for the colour intensity, matching test and texture descriptive test. Seventeen people who were selected from all screening tests were trained in detection and recognition of tastes and odours, followed by discrimination tests (Paired comparison test, Duo-trio test and Triangle test) and three different scales (Category scale, Interval scale and Ratio scale). Results of the sensory evaluations and scales were statistically analyzed via Friedman Two Way ANOVA rank sum test with SAS 9.0 software. The samples tested were significantly different from each other (p<0.05) in each test and no significant difference occurred between the judgment of the panelists. It concluded that they performed as a homogenous trained panel. Finally, sensory evaluation of black tea was conducted which was shelf life evaluation to evaluate the performance of the panelists with a real test samples. Data were analyzed via Friedman test and results revealed that all the panelists performed uniquely at 0.05 significance level. Therefore the recruited sensory panel was considered as a trained sensory panel and the outcome proved that the effectiveness of training and capability of chosen the product-oriented sensory panel.