—

Good Sensory
Practice

Dr Lisa Newman
School of Science
 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
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The contribution of Dr Peter Torley to an earlier version of this presentation is

gratefully acknowledged

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Principles of good practice

• Your asking humans questions and we inherently want to give ‘correct’

answers

• We want honest answers

• We must go out of our way to ensure the data we collect is accurate

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Principles of good practice

• A good sensory specialist will always follow standard practices to

ensure they obtain consistent, actionable data

• Experienced sensory scientist may change or disregard some

standard practices, but they must also be aware of the
consequences

• There are three primary considerations

– Sensory testing environment
– Sensory test method and set-up
– Humans as measurement instruments

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Good sensory practice

• When conducting scientific experiments basic controls

needed
– e.g. in chemistry, instruments are calibrated
– e.g. in microbiology, sterile glassware is used

• In sensory evaluation we are conducting an experiment

– Hence basic controls needed

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Sensory Testing
Environment

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Sensory Testing Environment

● Location of the sensory test area

○ Easy access

○ Away from distractions

■ noise from machinery
■ smells from processes
■ not in a laboratory
■ area not used as a thoroughfare

○ Enter and leave test area without going through the

preparation areas
■ Might pick up clues about the products being tested

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 Sensory Testing Environment
● Consider the needs of external panellists
○ Sensory labs near the entrance
○ Avoid them having to go through secure areas
○ Is parking available for them?

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Sensory Testing Environment

● Facilities you will need:

○ Food preparation area
○ Test booth area
○ Waiting room
○ Discussion room

● How many people will be on your sensory panel?

● How big will the space need to be?

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 Sensory Testing Environment

• A1 preparation area with a range

and four ovens
• A2 preparation areas; no cooking
facilities
• B1 24 booth sensory area
• B2 two separate 6 booth sensory
booths areas
• C sensory waiting area with chairs,
tables, and sofas
• D work spaces for employees and
students
• E is a focus room with a two-way
mirror

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Food preparation area

• The area should be a cross between a kitchen and laboratory

• You will need food preparation equipment, refrigeration, and

dishwasher

• Odour extraction (range hood)

• You will need ample storage space

• You need adequate bench space for

preparation of samples

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 Food preparation area

– This is your sensory laboratory

– NOT the lunch room!
– It is not a restaurant
• microwaving meals will create odours
• reheating pizza will create odours

– Odours will influence your panels

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Sensory evaluation booth
– Size – about 1 m by 1 m
• Sounds like a lot of room, but keep in mind all the things that need to go in there
• Computer monitor, keyboard, mouse
• Tray of samples
• Record sheet

– Partitions between booths

• panelists don’t distract each other

– Bench height
• Normally office desk height
• Can be kitchen bench height

– Access
• Enough room for people to get into their booth without disturbing other people
• Remember people with mobility problems

– Serving hatch
• Server passes the samples to the taster
• Big enough for the tray, samples, containers etc. to be passed through
• Slide up and down; or bread bin shape

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Sensory Evaluation Booth
– Way for the panelist to get the sensory server’s attention
• e.g. when you first arrive
• e.g. when you’re ready for your next sample
• Push button in the booth to switch on a light
• If not, often the panelist lift the serving hatch door (but they see into the
preparation area and get hints or clues about the sample)

– Sinks (for spitting out samples)

• Prefer not
• Give a disposable spittoon (if needed)

– Temperature
• Air conditioned to 20 – 22 °C

– Lights
• No shadows, even over test area
• May want to control light
– e.g. to mask differences in colour
– Dimmer switch
– Coloured lights (or filters) – normally red & green

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 Sensory Testing Environment

● Sensory Evaluation Booth (1)

(1) Water tap

(2) Small sink
(3) Signal switch
(4) Odour-free laminated
surface

Meilgaard M, Civille GV & Carr BT 1999. Sensory Evaluation Techniques. 3rd ed. Boca Raton, FL. CRC 15
Sensory Testing Environment

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 Sensory Testing Environment

● Sensory Evaluation Booth

○ Lights and temperature should be “comfortable”

○ Temperature
■ Air conditioned to 20 – 22 °C

○ Lights
■ No shadows, even over test area
■ May want to control light
– e.g. to mask differences in colour
– Dimmer switch
– Coloured lights (or filters) – normally red & green

○ Room with a slight positive pressure (air flows out) to control

odour

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 Sensory Testing Environment

The same booth – different light colours

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 Sensory Testing Environment

Any comments about

the lights in this room?

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Sensory Testing Environment

● Temporary sensory facilities

○ Can’t always use dedicated sensory facilities

■ May need to go to the people e.g. large scale consumer testing
■ Organisation may not have space and money for a dedicated
sensory lab
■ May only need a sensory lab infrequently

○ Use temporary sensory facilities

■ Try to reproduce the sensory facilities

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 Sensory Testing Environment

● Follow the same rules as a permanent facility

(as best you can)

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 Sensory Testing Environment
Temporary booths as suggested by Meilgaard, et al.

Meilgaard M, Civille GV & Carr BT 1999. Sensory Evaluation Techniques. 3rd ed. Boca Raton, FL. CRC 22
 Sensory Testing Environment
Temporary booths

Photo courtesy: BDC Market Intelligence, Melbourne 23

Sensory Panellists

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Sensory Panellists

Definition:

“A group of people that comprises a test population

chosen for specific characteristics such as product
usage, sensory acuity, or willingness to participate in
sensory tests”

Lawless & Heymann (1999)

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Sensory Panellists

Sensory Evaluation

Analytical Affective
(Trained Panel) (Consumer Panel)

You MUST use the appropriate type of panel

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Sensory panelists

• Two types of panel:

– Trained panelists with 10-12 members
– Consumer panelists with 60-80 (or more) members

• In practice, there are also technical panels which are intermediate between
the two types
– Experienced with products (semi-trained)

• You MUST use the appropriate type of panel

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Sensory Panellists

● Panel Motivation
○ Panellists are sometimes under-appreciated treasure
○ If you don’t have panellists you can’t do sensory
○ Time consuming (and potentially difficult and expensive) to
find and train more panellists
○ Keep your panellists happy
○ Create an atmosphere in which panellists feel comfortable
○ An interested panellist is always more efficient

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 Sensory panelists

● Panel Motivation – rewards may help motivation

○ Chocolates after every session (cleanse the palate)
○ Pay external panelists? (particularly for trained panels)
○ Rewards and other tokens of appreciation
○ Tricky paying internal panelists extra (they’re already getting
a wage for their time from the employer)
○ Big thing is – show your appreciation!!

https://www.cadbury.com.au/Products/Sharepacks.aspx; https://www.childishthings.com.au/product/gift-voucher/
Sensory panelists
● Panel Motivation – time considerations (1)
○ How much time are you asking for?
■In-house panelists – still have to do all their other work
■Particularly important if you’re doing lots of panels
■e.g. 20 minutes per session, 2 or 3 sessions per day, 3 or 4 days per week

● Panel Motivation – time considerations (2)

○ panelists must not be overused
○ A problem if there is only a small pool of people to draw from

● Timing of panels
○ Late morning and mid afternoon good times

● Let their line managers know about the contribution made*

Good Sensory Practice
Part 2

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Recruiting Panellists

● Find panellists
○ All the usual sorts of methods – email lists, personal
contacts, newspaper adverts, online adverts etc.

○ Advert might include:

■ Let them know what is expected
■ One off, or a regular activity
■ How much time will be involved for each session
■ Where it will be done
■ If (or what) they will be paid for participation
■ Types of product to be taste

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Recruiting Panellists

● Trained Sensory Panel

○ In-house or external?
○ Availability
○ Sensory acuity
■ Ability to see, smell and taste – discriminatory ability
○ Sensory screening tests
○ Sensory training
○ Sensory panel performance

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Recruiting and Training Panellists

● Screening Tests for Sensory Skills

Matching tests Intensity Rating

Basic tastes Basic tastes
Aromas Aromas

Detection tests Product Specific

Basic tastes Intensity scales
Aromas

Ranking / Rating Panel Performance

tests Reproducibility
Consistency
Basic tastes
Aromas

Not everyone will get on the sensory panel

Handle saying “you didn’t make the cut” gently (particularly in-
house prospective panelists – you still have to work with them)

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Recruiting Panellists

● Consumer Panel Screening

○ Demographics
■ Gender
■ Age range
■ Income range
■ Geographic location, eg. Melbourne, Sydney or regional
areas

○ Product usage
■ Product users vs. non-users

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Recruiting Panellists

● Consumer Panel Screening

○ Confirm availability at particular times
■ e.g. if they have another job, will they always be able to attend?
○ Location of testing
○ Health considerations
■ e.g. allergies
○ No training
○ Number of consumers (sample size)
■ Recruit at least 10% more than the required sample size

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Sensory Procedure

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 Test Protocol Considerations

●Sensory studies are more

complex than they first
appear
○ Samples may be lost,
contaminated, mishandled
○ panelists may drop out
○ Participants may not follow
test protocol

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 Test Protocol Considerations

● Mistakes may be made in

serving order
● Unwanted fluctuation in
temperature
● Most of these problems
can be eliminated with a
well designed test

amusingplanet.com
Test Protocol Considerations

● Experimental design
○ Complete Randomised Design
■ All samples are randomly assigned to all panelists
○ Randomised Complete Block Design
■ Each sample is randomly assigned to each panelist within each
block (usually session)
○ Incomplete Block Design
■ Used when there are too many samples for the panelists to judge in
a single session. Panelists evaluate subsets of samples in
individual sessions
Test Protocol Considerations

● Standardise all serving procedures and sample

preparation techniques except the variable
○ A triangle test, one sample was prepared the day prior to the test
and stored in the refrigerator, the second sample prepared fresh

● You must decide

○ How many samples to test, should panelists rinse, expectorate or
swallow, what type of serving container
 Test Protocol Considerations
● Be consistent in your techniques
○ e.g. duo-trio test, don’t change from which one is the same as the
reference, to which is different from the reference

● Servings should be standardised for all variables except the one

under consideration
○ i.e. all samples should be the same size, same shape, same temperature
etc.

● Sample serving temperature

○ Consider factors like:
■ Normal temperature the product is consumed at?
■ Or conditions that make characteristics easier to detect?

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 Test Protocol Considerations

●Randomisation
○ Samples should be blind
labelled with random three
digit codes to avoid bias
○ The sample order should be
randomised to avoid artefacts
due to order of presentation
○ The order should also be
counterbalanced so each
serving sequence occurs an
equal number of times

https://www.utu.fi/en/units/fff/services/sensesandfood/Pages/home.aspx
Sensory Procedure

● Palate cleansing
○ Clear your palate before the next sample
■ Plain water
■ Plain water cracker

● Expectoration or not?

○ Spitting out the sample reduces flavour carryover

○ Avoid problems with extra kilojoules consumed

○ Sometimes essential to expectorate

■ tasting wine
■ professional tea tasters use spittoons
 Robot

● Grab a partner

● You need to pretend you are programming a

robot to move. You need to write down specific
instructions for what you want it to do. E.g., take a
step forward

● You have 5 minutes to write down some

instructions.

http://sciencenordic.com/humanoid-robot-takes-over-teacher
Sensory Procedure

● Panelist instructions
○ Clear, simple
○ Verbally explained
○ Printed on the form
○ Consistent from session to session

● Using a new sensory methodology?

○ Assemble the panelists and explain the procedure
○ Maybe treat the first session (or two) as training and discard the results
Conducting a Sensory Study

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Conducting a Sensory Study
• Ethics approval
– Sensory panelists are human too 

– Ethics approval for sensory research at universities

• Detailed description of your project required
• No ethics approval, no research project

– Closely scrutinise ethics application in some situations

• Consumption of alcohol
• Working with children, or vulnerable groups
• Elderly living in aged care
• Deception

• Might need to think about animal sensory and animal trial ethics
– If you work for a company that does pet food

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 Use of Human Participants

• It is essential all subjects give

voluntary consent to participation
• The study should yield fruitful
results for the good of society
• The researchers should protect
the rights and welfare of all
participants
• The researchers must ensure the
risks to the participants do not
outweigh the potential benefits to
the participants or the expected
value of the knowledge sought

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books-medical.com
Use of Human Participants

• In legal terms, most sensory studies pose no risk above the

ordinary risks of daily life

• Sensory specialists must be sensitive to psychological risks,

such as embarrassment when mistakes are made

• In Australia, all studies must be approved by Human Subjects

Institutional Review Board

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Use of Human Subjects

• We must make sure that the people recruited know what is

expected of them
– Give them as much information as possible about time commitment
and products to be tested

• You may need to test for sensory acuity of the panelists

– Most panelists will improve markedly on training

• You should recruit 2 or 3 times as many people needed for the

study as possible, then rank them on performance

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Conducting a Sensory Study

• Work out project and test objective(s)

• Why are you doing the project and test?

• What are you doing to get to the objective(s)?

• How are you doing it?

• You might want two or three tests to get to your project objective

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Conducting a Sensory Study
• Screen the samples
– Look at composition
– Look at process / formulation variables
– Maybe a preliminary tasting by sensory scientist

• Reduce the number of samples

– Sensory takes a lot of time
– Do you really need to taste all those samples?
– Can your project afford to pay for all those sensory trials

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Conducting a Sensory Study
• Design the experiment
– Test selection, questionnaire, sample presentation, method of analysis etc.

• Plan data analysis before doing the lab work

• Know the information you need and make sure you collect it

• Conduct the test

• Analyse the data

• Interpret and write up results in a report

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Avoiding bias
• Avoiding Bias (Psychological factors)
– Bias is a systematic tendency to distort response to stimulus so that an
inaccurate measure of sensation or hedonic response is obtained

– Expectation Error
• Any additional information given with the sample may trigger preconceived ideas
– Ingredients list
– Age of the product (shelf life testing)
• Samples should be coded and the order of presentation should be randomised among
the panellists

– Stimulus Error
• Irrelevant criteria, such as the style or colour of the serving plate, quantity of sample,
can influence the panellists
• Ensure to maintain uniformity
• Avoid leaving irrelevant (as well as relevant) cues, such as packaging of product

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Avoiding Bias
• Logical Error
– Panellists tend to rate attributes logically on how the attributes are logically associated.
– For example, darker colour of chocolate cake may influence the panellists rate high on
chocolate flavour.
– Similarly, panellists may associate darker colour of potato chips to higher level of crispiness.

– How to avoid?
• Try to mask unwanted differences
• Keep the samples uniform by masking the colour of the samples. Evaluation under
coloured light is an option.

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Avoiding Bias
• “First Order” Effect
– The respondents generally rate the first product tasted, higher on overall liking than the
second or any subsequent samples, even if the subsequent samples are the same product
as the first.

– How to avoid?
• Randomisation is a must.
• Split the data for first served vs. second served.
• Serve a “dummy” or warm-up sample as the first sample and discard this result.

• Contrast Effect
– Presentation of a sample of good quality just before one of poor quality may cause the
second sample to receive a lower rating than if it had been rated as a single sample
– Similarly, a sample that follows particularly poor one will tend to be rated higher

– How to avoid?
• Randomisation of the presentation of samples

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Avoiding Bias
• Halo Effect
– When more than one attribute of a sample is evaluated, the ratings will tend to influence
each other.

– An example:
• Consumer testing of orange juice
• If the rating on overall liking is favourable, then:
– Liking on sweetness, acidity, fresh orange character and mouthfeel also tend to
be rated favourably as well
– If the product is not well liked, then it will be reflected on liking of other attributes
negatively

• How to avoid?
– When any particular variable is important, present separate sets of samples for
evaluation of that characteristic

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What you need to know

• Design of sensory facilities

• Appreciate the importance of panelist motivation

• Recruiting a panel

• Understand the basics of conducting a sensory test

• Types of bias

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Now complete the questions in
your workbook in Topic 2

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