Journal of Sensory Studies最新文献

The sense of smell is essential in daily life. Children with olfactory dysfunction face a series of problems, so assessing olfactory function during early-life period is very important. The Universal Sniff (U-Sniff) test is a widely used measurement of odor identification ability in children and adolescents, although there is a lack of normative data in China. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish normative data for the U-Sniff test in a large sample of healthy Chinese children and adolescents. A total of 922 healthy children and adolescents (441 boys, 481 girls) aged 6–17 years from China were involved in this study. Odor identification performance was assessed using the U-Sniff test. The U-Sniff test mean score across all participants was 10.50 ± 1.73 points (range 1–12). U-Sniff test scores increased with age, and no effects of sex or an interaction between age group and sex were recorded in this population.

Practical Applications

There is currently no published data reporting normative data of the U-Sniff test among Chinese children and adolescents. From the present research, normative data for olfactory identification using the U-Sniff test have been established for Chinese population aged 6–17 years. This study provides routine measurements to support future examinations at hospitals, school check-ups and so on, which can help patients with reduced olfactory function receive appropriate therapy as early as possible.

Odorants in food or beverages might enhance the taste. This phenomenon is called Odor-Induced Taste Enhancement (OITE). OITE has been shown using taste-intensity visual analog scales (VAS). VAS is often criticized because it is prone to halo-dumping effects. We compared VAS and ranking methods to evaluate OITE in people living with normal-weight or obesity. Sweet apple juice and salty green-pea soup were spiked with either vanillin or bacon odorants to produce OITE. In the VAS experiment, saltiness, sweetness, sourness, bitterness and the global aroma intensities were evaluated for each base with and without the odorants. The ranking task consisted in ranking from the lowest to the highest sweetness/saltiness intensities, three references with increasing tastant concentration and a target solution with the lowest tastant concentration and the odorant. VAS highlighted OITE neither in the apple juice nor in the green-pea soup, in no group. The ranking method revealed an OITE in the green-pea soup in both groups, and only the group with obesity experienced OITE in the apple juice.

Practical Applications

The ranking task appears as an optimal method to highlight OITE and is sufficiently sensitive to demonstrate subtle differences related to participants' weight status. The ranking task is easy to perform, does not require training and does not imply a high number of participants to be statistically powered. Odor-Induced Taste Enhancement is a strategy that might be employed to significantly reduce salt, and sugar, while maintaining an acceptable taste intensity, at home as well as in food formulation by the industry.

The coffee market is dynamic and offers several products (e.g., powder, capsule, instant, and grain) distributed in different quality categories, such as traditional, extra strong, special, gourmet, and premium. However, despite the diversity of products, there is little information about how consumers with different sociodemographic characteristics perceive and idealize high-quality coffees. This study used a modified Word Association task (n = 142) to determine the attributes of high-quality coffee and the Maximum Difference Scale (n = 330) to organize the attributes concerning their importance between groups of consumers from different sociodemographic levels. Consumers considered flavor, aroma, and intensity as the most important attributes of high-quality coffees, regardless of gender or socioeconomic class. In addition, price and sweetness were important attributes for class C consumers, while temperature and roasting were more important for class A.

Practical Application

Knowing the specificities of coffee consumers allows the manufacturer to direct their products to different niches that perceive the product differently.

Measuring emotional response gives insights into consumer product experiences beyond liking. However, existing research rarely considers that emotional and hedonic responses can change during consumption of a whole portion. This research considered how well a combined multiple-sip temporal check-all-that-apply approach captured temporal drivers of product acceptance and rejection. Consumers (n = 104) profiled temporal sensory, liking and emotional responses to three milkshakes. Associations in temporal sensory, liking and emotional response citation pattern across multiple sips were investigated using generalized linear models, analysis of deviance and Pearson's chi-square test. Differences in the temporal dynamics of sensory, liking and emotional responses and associations between temporal sensory and affective responses were identified highlighting liking and emotional experience were related to the evolution of sensory attributes over time. Notably, sensory associations with emotional responses, including “bored,” “relaxed,” and “satisfied,” were better at identifying temporal drivers of acceptance/rejection more than associations to level of liking.

Practical Applications

The research demonstrated that a combined multiple-sip temporal check-all-that-apply (TCATA) approach, representing whole product consumption, is an effective approach to gain deeper insights into the sensory drivers of consumer affective response. However, the applicability of analyzing within-sip variations in perception, and potential to use check all that apply by sip as opposed to TCATA needs to be considered on a product category basis.

Microbial bio-aroma synthesized from biowaste, and its marketing is an emerging aspect of future research due to their benefits. However, the sensory lexicon of bio-aroma has not yet been developed so far. This study aims to identify the smell characteristics of bio-aroma produced by fermentative yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus by solid-state fermentation, where the sample was extracted from fermented sugarcane bagasse (FSB), sweet lemon peel (FSLP), and pomegranate peel (FPP). A group of 49 respondents participated in this sensory analysis; the generated data reveal that a total of 29, 35, and 26 aroma essences gets from FSB, FSLP, and FPP, respectively. Multiple factor analysis was performed using XLSTAT 2022.1 version, and hierarchical clustering was used to classify the different cluster levels of aroma attributes. An aroma wheel is designed according to the attributes of classified aroma (smell). This bio-aroma has prospects for application in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products.

Practical Applications

This fermented bio-waste aroma lexicon will be helpful to academicians, researchers, flavorist and consumers to understand the precise description and basic terms. It also make them aware about a natural alternative source of flavor and aroma ingredients. It can be used as a sustainable additive for food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries in the future.

Rapid methods of text analysis are increasingly important tools for efficiently extracting and understanding communication within the food and beverage space. This study aimed to use frequency-based text mining and biterm topic modeling (BTM) as tools for analyzing how cider products are communicated and marketed on cider-producer websites for products made in Virginia, Vermont, and New York. BTM has been previously used to explore topics in small corpora of text data, and frequency-based text mining is efficient for exploring patterns of text across different documents or filters. The present dataset comprised 1115 cider products and their website descriptions extracted from 124 total cider-producer websites during 2020 and 2021. Results of the text mining analyses suggest that cider website descriptions emphasize food-pairing, production, and sensory quality information. Altogether, this research presents the text mining approaches for exploring food and beverage communication.

Practical applications

This research will be valuable to stakeholders in the United States' cider industry by providing relevant insight as to how cider marketing and sensory communication varies based on extrinsic product factors, such as geography and packaging. This research also demonstrates the efficiency and potential of text mining tools for exploring language and communication related to foods, beverages, and sensory quality. Further, this research provides a framework for extracting sensory-specific language from a large corpus of data, which may be adopted by other researchers wishing to apply rapid descriptive methods in the sensory, quality, and consumer research fields.

Cheongju is traditional fermented liquor consisting of the filtered moieties of rice wine. In this study, the sensory quality of cheongjus judged by beverage experts (e.g., sommeliers) were compared with its acceptability. Total 166 consumers evaluated the acceptability of the cheongju samples, and 10 sommeliers appraised the sensory quality. Descriptive analysis was conducted by 11 trained panelists, and the volatile compounds were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Partial least square regression was performed to establish the association of the quality scores given by sommeliers (Y1) and the acceptability scores given by consumers (Y2) relative to the cheongju's sensory attributes or volatile compounds (Xs). The consumer acceptability was highly correlated with sweet notes and related volatile compounds, such as isoamyl alcohol. Conversely, sensory quality by sommeliers was highly correlated with sensory notes caused by alcoholic compounds. These results demonstrate how consumers' acceptance for cheongju may differ from a sommelier's quality appraisal.

Practical Applications

This study reported differentiations between sommeliers' appraisals and consumers' preferences for evaluating cheongju in terms of volatile compounds and descriptive sensory attributes. Key sensory attributes and volatile compounds were provided for each sommelier's appraisal and for consumers' preferences for cheongju. Overall, this study provides objective information on the discrepancies between sensory quality and hedonic notions of traditional liquor. Future studies should elaborate on the sommelier effect through tasking informed condition, as sommeliers' recommendations may affect customers' choices and satisfaction.

Sensory methodologies are continuously being optimized based on industry needs. Sorting is a widely used sensory method; however, it provides limited information about the uniqueness of individual products. The present work was performed on nine single-hop beers using a combination of sorting with profiling and intensity rating (SPIR) rating to highlight the intra-group variability and individual characteristics. Results have shown that SPIR can effectively highlight the intra-group differences. It has also shown that a higher frequency of citation did not always correspond to a higher attribute intensity. For the considered application, the results highlighted the role of hop varieties on the sensory profile of beers. Overall sensory similarities were found between Mosaic (MO), Citra (CI), and Celeia (CE) hops. However, the use of SPIR highlighted differences between CE and the other hops. Amarillo (AM) hops showed the most distinctive profile in all cases.

Practical applications

The use of sorting in combination with profiling and intensity rating (SPIR) rating can be a valuable tool in new product development. It is not only important to understand the overall sensory similarities and differences between groups of samples, but also unique aspects compared to similar products. The present work has shown that adding intensity to sorting and profiling can highlight the inner characteristics of individual products in a group of samples with an overall similar sensory profile.