Carry out Sensory Evaluation

Sensory evaluation is the process of using the five senses to analyse and evaluate a food product. In sensory evaluation, the following characteristics of a food product are assessed - appearance, smell, taste, texture and sound.


Steps
1. Observe the appearance What is the color of the food product? What is its size and shape? What is the surface texture?


2. Smell the food and describe its odour. There are many divergent smells such as pungency and aroma. Our ability to identify a smell depends on our ability to associate it with something we have smelt before.


3. Taste the first bite of the food. Make out its texture by listening to the sound produced when you bite into it.


4. Chew the food and record the taste, flavour and texture.


5. After swallowing the food, note the aftertaste. Is there a sticky mouth coating or are you experiencing a lingering taste?


Tips

• When carrying out sensory testing, it is important to provide the tester with a cup of water to rinse his mouth between different food samples. Otherwise, the taste of the first sample will still linger in the mouth and affect the taste of the other samples.