Sensory profiling Profile Method

In addition to this, a common feature of rapid sensory profiling methods is the absence of (or very limited) training. This has further heightened interest in the use of these methods in consumer studies. As a result, as Varela and Ares (2012) have underlined, the line is now blurred between sensory and consumer science, and rapid sensory profiling methods are now increasingly used to capture consumers perceptions. 

The increasing use of rapid sensory profiling methods in research is an integral part of how that evolution has taken place (Delarue et al, 2004). This has indeed been conducive to creating a more holistic picture of response to stimuli. As described by Moskowitz (2003), this type of thinking represents a psychophysical mindset (functional relations between variables) applied to new types of data (locations of products using a multidimensional coordinate space). 

Professionals who work with the product every day develop a sensory expertise that could be the core of their activity (e.g. perfumers), or that may be less conscious and yet extremely useful in their work (e.g. plant operators, hairdressers). In many cases, it would potentially be very interesting to include the input from those professional experts in sensory smdies. Recently, researchers have started to apply rapid sensory profiling methods as a way to get sensory input from professionals. Such attempts are as yet very infrequent, but this trend is very promising, with many options remaining to be investigated. 

The development of rapid sensory profiling methods may have potential consequences on sensory activities themselves, since it broadens the spectrum of available methods and opens way for measurements that were previously not possible. Besides offering new opportunities in the use of sensory data in R D and research projects, this development may also have an organizational impact on sensory services and their relationships with stakeholders. As a result of this evolution, the practice of sensory descriptive analysis certainly becomes richer but also more complex and challenging. 

According to this principle, product developers normally use many ordinary measnre instruments (weighing scales, pH-meters, refractometers, viscometers, etc.) in their daily work. This is, however, not the case for sensory measurements. The fact that available sensory profiling methods have long remained very restrictive (either time-consuming or expensive) has certainly prevented truly integrating such sensory data. In addition to this, traditional sensory measures are sometimes not completely pertinent in regard to developers needs and may not really answer their qnestions. 

To conclude this introductory chapter, we attempt a SWOT analysis of rapid sensory profiling methods and of their use in the context of R D and research. 

The development in the use of rapid sensory profiling methods opens np particularly interesting prospects for more integrated sensory measurements. Mastering of this new methodological portfolio may change the way researchers and prodnct developers use sensory data in their daily work, potentially with considerable gains in terms of reactivity and interactivity. Eventually, better interaction with stakeholders may be expected. 

Another threat lies in the way results from rapid sensory profiling methods are communicated to stakeholders, or to anyone else, who are not familiar with these methods. First, it must be noted that multivariate data analysis and sensory maps are not understood by everyone, which may be serionsly hazardous if results are... 

Reinbach, H.C., Giacalone, D., Machado Ribeiro, L., Bredie, W.L.B. and Erast, M.B. (2014), Comparison of three sensory profiling methods based on consumer perception CATA, CATA with intensity and Napping , Food Qual Prefer, 3fl, 160-166. 

Gas chromatography-olfactometery (GC-O) provides a sensory profile of odor active compounds present in an aroma extract by sniffing the GC effluent. Several techniques have been developed to collect and process GC-O data and to estimate the sensory contribution of individual odor active compounds, including dilution analysis (29, 30), time intensity (31), and detection frequency (32) methods. GC-O has successfully been used to evaluate the odor active compounds of olive oil (33), soybean oil (34), and fish oil enriched mayonnaise (35). 

Sensory profiling techniques are designed to produce stable and reproducible data, but difficulties arise when trying to compare data obtained from different laboratories. Often the methods of sensory assessment differ and there is no universally accepted odour language or list of odour standards to clarify this problem. 

By reversing the regression procedure, using the method of multiple objective programming, one can ascertain the specific concentrations of mixture components which come as close as possible to reproducing a desired sensory profile. Of course, in order to get meaningful data, the investigator must make sure that ... 

Table VII shows some hypothetical "desired" sensory profiles for these experiments, as well as the expected sensory profile one could empirically obtain, along with the combination of odorants which come as close as possible to generating that desired profile (as obtained from the multiple objective programming method). To generate these specific profiles, one often must use intermediate levels of each odorant not...

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