Sensory Methods for Measuring Differences in Food Quality: Review of Literature and Proceedings of Conference

Excerpts from the Bulletin: Food researchers must often rely on the senses of taste, smell, sight, or feel in food-quality evaluation. But so varied are laboratory methods of selecting food-judging panels, preparing food samples, setting up rating scales, and analyzing statistical findings, that the work of one group may not check that of another. The problem has become more acute with an increase in cooperative research in food quality. Because of the need for standardizing procedures in taste-testing work to make possible comparison of results from various research institutions, the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics sponsored a conference for the critical appraisal of sensory methods for measuring food quality by taste panels. The proceedings of the conference are reported in this bulletin. The discussion under each subject is followed by a committee report which cites techniques thought to be desirable, and makes recommendations as to needed research on methodology. In preparation for the conference, members of the Bureau staff made a careful review of the literature on methods of evaluating palatability. The review is included in this publication to give a more complete picture of the present status of palatability procedures.