Question

What are the steps to be followed while conducting sensory of food?

Answer 1

Sensory evaluation is the process of using your senses to judge a food product. This can be done for fun or for marketing purposes to predict potential customers’ tastes. By examining the food’s appearance, tasting the food and creating an ideal environment for the evaluation, you can get information about a given food and how people perceive it.

Examining the Food’s Appearance

1

Look at the food to determine the color. Examine the food with your eyes. If it is in a test container, remove it so you can get a better look at the color. Write down what color you perceive the food to be. It can be helpful to note if the color is light or intense and whether the color seems pure or muddy.

Note if the color is consistent throughout or not.

[2]

Note if any liquids are transparent or not.

2

Feel the food with your fingers to note the texture. Remove the food from the test container. Touch it to see if it is mushy, grainy, crumbly or another texture. Write down any notes about the texture and free associate if you like. If the food is solid, touch to see if the surface is smooth or rough.[3]

For example, a coarse sugar might remind you of sand.

3

Work the food with your fingers to note any sound. Press a bit of the food between your fingers. Listen for any crackling or crunching. If the food is something like a cereal with many small bits, listen to hear if the pieces make noise as they brush past one another in the container. Make notes to catalog your thoughts.

4

Look at the packaging to see if it suits the food. Inspect the food’s packaging with your eyes and hands. Notice if the packaging holds the food well or makes it easier to eat. Fonts and instructions may also be worthy of comment. Write down any notes about the food’s packaging, whether about its usefulness or the way it looks.[5]

If the packaging has any important parts that enable you to eat the food, do they work? For example, if the food item is a juice box, does the diameter of the straw fit in the hole that is cut for it?