EXPERIMENT 1 :

IDENTIFICATION OF BASIC TASTE, UMAMI TASTE AND SMELL/AROMA

OBJECTIVES:
1. Identify the four basic taste and umami
2. Identify the different taste receptors (and therefore different parts of the
tongue) are most sensitive to different tastes.
3. Describe the smell or aroma of food.
4. Understand the smell pathway in food evaluation.
INTRODUCTION
Smell and taste belong to our chemical sensing system (chemosensation). The
complicated processes of smelling and tasting begin when molecules released by the
substances around us stimulate special nerve cells in the nose, mouth, or throat. These
cells transmit messages to the brain, where specific smells or tastes are identified.
Olfactory (small nerve) cells are stimulated by the odors around us-the fragrance from a
rose, the smell of bread baking. These nerve cells are found in a tiny patch of tissue high
up in the nose, and they connect directly to the brain.
Gustatory (taste nerve) cells react to food or drink mixed with saliva and are clustered in
the taste buds of the mouth and throat. Many of the small bumps that can be seen on the
tongue contain taste buds. These surface cells send taste information to nearby nerve
fibers, which send messages to the brain.
The common chemical sense, another chemosensory mechanism, contributes to our
senses of smell and taste. In this system, thousands of free nerve endings-especially on

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

the moist surfaces of the eyes, nose, mouth, and throat-identify sensations like the sting
of ammonia, the coolness of menthol, and the "heat" of chili peppers.
We can commonly identify four basic taste sensations:

sweet

sour

bitter

salty

Certain combinations of these tastes-along with texture, temperature, odor, and the
sensations from the common chemical sense-produce a flavor. It is flavor that lets us
know whether we are eating peanuts or caviar.
Umami is a Japanese word that roughly translates into English as "robust" or "delicious."
Umami can also be described as heartiness, savoriness, or fullness of the mouth.
Umami can be perceived by taste alone. Although the presence of other basic tastes
(sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) does make umami more apparent, the entire sensation is
experienced on the tongue. This categorizes umami as a basic taste, not a flavor. Despite
this fact, umami has not always been considered a basic taste in America. In the 1950's,
the FDA categorized umami as a flavor enhancer because it requires the presence of other
tastes in order to be perceived. It wasn't until 1990 at an international symposium that
umami was widely accepted as the fifth basic taste.

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

A) DETERMINATION TEST FOR FOUR BASIC TASTE AND UMAMI.

Procedure:
1. Rinse your mouth by using the distilled water prepared before tasting each
sample.
2. Begin with the sample from left until right.
3. You are given 20ml sample solution. Put sample in your mouth and let it spread
across the surface of your tongue especially at the sensitive area for taste.
4. If the sample taste like plain water, mark (0) . If you are not sure what is the taste
mark (?).
5. Your task is to identify the four basic taste and umami, if possible.
6. You may retaste as often as you need to.

Evaluation form for Identifying basic taste

Name:
Date:
Sample Code

Taste quality

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

B) DETERMINATION TEST FOR SMELL

Name:
Date:

Procedure:

You are given sample in a covered cup. Open the cover slightly, and smell 3 times.
Close back the cover. Try to identify the smell and write your answer in right column
and the description of the smell. You may resmell as often as you need to.

Evaluation form for Identifying smell/aroma

Sample code

Smell identification /escription

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)
Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)
Farah Salina Hussin

6)

7)

8)

9)

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

EXPERIMENT 2 :

DIFFERENCE TESTS

OBJECTIVES:

1. Determine whether there exists a perceptible difference concerning a given

attribute to the food sample.
2. To detect taste thresholds such as determining the concentration of a flavor in a
food product.
3. Interprate the results of the sensory data

INTRODUCTION

There are three fundamental types of sensory tests: preference/acceptance tests,

discriminatory tests and descriptive tests. Preference/acceptance tests are affective tests
based on a measure of preference or a measure from which relative preference can be
determined. The personal feeling of a panelist toward the product directs his response.

Discriminatory tests are used to determine whether a difference exists between samples.
The panelist does not allow his personal likes and dislikes to influence his response.
Laboratory difference panels can be used to determine if there is a difference among
samples. Descriptive tests are used to determine the nature and intensity of the
differences. In this publication several commonly used experimental methods are
described with examples of the questionnaires, their application, and statistical analyses.
.
The tests to determine a difference between samples include the triangle test,the simple
paired comparisons test, the Scheff paired comparjsons test, the duo-trio test,the
multiple comparisons test, ranking/scoring, and ratio-scaling. Examples of these tests
and sample questionnaires follow.
Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)
Farah Salina Hussin

A) TRIANGLE TEST

Procedure:

7. Rinse your mouth by using the distilled water prepared before tasting each
sample.
8. Begin with the sample from left until right.
9. You may retaste as often as you need to.

Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:

You are given three samples. Two of the samples are identical and third is different.
Begin tasting with the sample on your left. Identify the odd sample.

______

_______

_______

Name:

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

B) SIMPLE PAIRED COMPARISON TEST

Procedure:

1. Rinse your mouth by using the distilled water prepared before tasting each
sample.
2. Begin with the sample from left until right.
3. You may retaste as often as you need to.

Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:

You are given two samples. Begin tasting with the sample on your left. Indicate
which sample is sweeter.

______

_______

B) DETERMINATION TEST FOR SMELL

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

C) DUO-TRIO TEST.

Procedure:

1. Rinse your mouth by using the distilled water prepared before tasting each
sample.
2. Begin with the sample from left until right.
3. You may retaste as often as you need to.

Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:

On your tray you have a marked control sample ( R) and two coded samples. One
sample is identical with (R) and the other is different. Which of the coded samples is
identical with R?

______

_______

B) DETERMINATION TEST FOR SMELL

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

EXPERIMENT 3 :
A) SCALING TEST- MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION
Magnitude estimation a technique standardly applied in psychophysics to measure
judgments of sensory stimuli (Stevens 1975). The magnitude estimation procedure
requires subjects to estimate the magnitude of physical stimuli by assigning numerical
values proportional to the stimulus magnitude they perceive. Highly reliable judgments
can be achieved for a whole range of sensory modalities, such as brightness, loudness, or
tactile stimulation.
Samples will be evaluated based on reference. Panelists have to evaluate samples based
on reference to determine the intensity of the attribute whether it is less or more than
reference.
In this experiment, the reference value is 10. If the colour is 5x more than reference ,
your answer should be (5x10)=50. If the colour is 2x less than reference, your answer
should be 10/2 = 5.
Procedure:
10. Begin with the sample from left until right.
11. Compare the colour of samples with reference. Then state the colour strength
based from reference. 0 or negative value are not accepted.

Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
R=10
Sample code
________

Estimate
_______

________

_______

________

_______

________

_______

________

_______

________

_______

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

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B) SCALING TEST-LINE MARKING SCALE

OBJECTIVES:
1. Evaluate the intensity of some specified characteristic and record the
judgement on a graduated scale.
2. To understand the descriptive terms used in the evaluation.
3. Familiar with the concepts of additional sensation as well as the threshold
tests.

INTRODUCTION:
Scoring is a form of rating using a numerical scale. The numbers used in scoring from an
interval or ratio scale (i.e., the different scores have a defined and mathematical
relationship to each other). Scoring is used for evaluating the intensity of one or more
attributes. The recommended number of assessors is 1 or more experts, 5 or more trained
assessors, 20 or more assessors. The assessor assigns to each sample a value according to
a predetermined scale e.g.,
descriptive, line etc.
The number of assessors will vary according to the grading method applied. The results
can be summarized as for classifications and maybe used to make a decision about a food
, eg its price or accept/reject and etc.
Procedure:
12. Rinse your mouth by using the distilled water prepared before tasting each
sample.
13. Begin with the sample from left until right.
14. You may retaste as often as you need to.

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

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Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:
Sample code:
You are given three samples. Begin with the sample on your left. Mark (x) at the
scale below that represents your evaluation.

Colour

light orange

dark orange

Orange smell

very weak

very strong

Glossiness

not glossy

very glossy

Turbidity

not turbid

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

very turbid

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Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:
Sample code:
You are given three samples. Begin with the sample on your left. Mark (x) at the
scale below that represents your evaluation.

Colour

light orange

dark orange

Orange smell

very weak

very strong

Glossiness

not glossy

very glossy

Turbidity

not turbid

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

very turbid

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Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:
Sample code:
You are given three samples. Begin with the sample on your left. Mark (x) at the
scale below that represents your evaluation.

Colour

light orange

dark orange

Orange smell

very weak

very strong

Glossiness

not glossy

very glossy

Turbidity

not turbid

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

very turbid

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EXPERIMENT 4 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

Descriptive analysis is a useful tool for determining the appearance, aroma, flavor and
texture profiles of a product. In combination with a consumer test, the results can be used
in product development or reformulation work to optimize desirable qualities.
Descriptive analysis will provide more information than whether or not a consumer likes
or dislikes a product. It provides descriptive words that can be useful for:

Shelf-life
Competitive product comparison
Quality control monitoring
Attribute mapping
Product Development testing
Re-formulation work

Procedure:
1. The panelists need to develop a list of terms (descriptors) (not less than 3) describing
the sensory attributes using the 5 presented commercial samples in terms of

appearance (colour, texture, etc), aroma and taste.

2. Discuss with your group members to select not more than 2 of the most suitable terms
that describe about the attributes for each sample.

3. Give definition for the selected terms of attributes.

For example,
Terminology
1 ) Hardness -

Definition
Force required to compress sample

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

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EXPERIMENT 5 :
ACCEPTANCE TEST (HEDONIC SCALE)

OBJECTIVES:
1. Creating questions that is clear and can be understood by consumers
2. Decide how much he/she likes or dislikes the product and to mark the scales
accordingly.
3. Determine market demand or to be used for market segmentation or related
demographic tabulations.

INTRODUCTION:
Food acceptability is often referred to as liking, preference, enjoyment, selection and
consumption of a food or drink or food quality. Food acceptability represents different
forms of behaviour to food products. It is therefore vital that the objective of any
consumer study is clearly defined in advance and the experimental design and
questionnaires are carefully designed. For example, "How much do you like" is not the
same as "how much do you eat" because consumption is influenced by price,
availability, whether the consumer is on a diet etc. The selection and choice of food by
an individual are determined by factors resulting from both the food product and the
individual. The figure below illustrates how these factors relate to each other in
influencing consumer acceptability.
Procedure:
1. Rinse your mouth by using the distilled water prepared before tasting each
sample.
2. Begin with the sample from left until right.
3. You may retaste as often as you need to.

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

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Evaluation form
Name:
Date:
Panel:
Sample code:

You are given 4 samples to taste. Based from the scale given, check how much you

like or dislike the samples for each attribute.

1
2
3
4
5

=
=
=
=
=

Dislike extremely
Dislike moderately
Neither like nor dislike
Like moderately
Like extremely

Sample
code

Chocolate
colour

Baked
smell

Crunchiness

Sweetness

Chocolate
taste

Overall
acceptance

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

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Farah Salina Hussin

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References:

1. Amerine, M.A., Pangborn, R.M., and Roessler, E.B.: Principals of Sensory

Evaluation of Food. New York Academic Press: 1965.
2. ASTM, 1968. Manual on Sensory Testing Methods, no. 434. American Society for
Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pa.
3. Lawless,H.T, and Heymann, H. (1998). Sensory Evaluation of Food:Principles and
Practices, Chapman & Hall, New York.
4. Stone, H. and Sidel, J.L. (1993). Sensory Evaluation Practices. 2nd ed. Academic
Press, Inc. New York.

Sensory evaluation of food (Laboratory)

Farah Salina Hussin

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