O. Tomic1, A. Nilsen1, M. Rødbotten1,3, A. Segtnan1, C. Delahunty2, C. Forde2, et. al
1) Nofima Mat, Norway, 2) Food Science Australia/CSIRO, Australia
There is limited published research on available strategies for training descriptive sensory panels yet this is a critical factor to consider when maximising investment for optimal panel performance. Providing a trained sensory panel with formal feedback on performance at an individual and group level is believed to improve panel performance and has become easier with the development of PanelCheck software. The software enables panel performance to be evaluated in an efficient manner by visualising panel performance with simple plots helping the panel leader to quickly diagnose troublesome attributes and provide a quick indication of how well trained the panel is.
The current project studied two different approaches of providing feedback to trained descriptive panels to evaluate which approach leads to larger improvements in performance. A cross-over design enabled comparison of “general feedback” (individuals performance against the panel mean) versus “PanelCheck feedback” which utilised selected plots generated with the PanelCheck software. To examine whether feedback of this nature can consistently improve performance the feedback experiment was conducted with trained sensory panels in both Norway and Australia. Each panel was divided in two (Panel A and Panel B) and had to evaluate two products (chocolate milks, natural yogurts) under the two feedback conditions. Results for Panels A and B in both countries are presented and discussed in terms of recommendations on how best to apply feedback indices to improve your panel training. Results from each country are presented to demonstrate the overall trend that feedback led to improved performance on the descriptive tasks. This is demonstrated by improved agreement between assessors on attributes (improved attribute consonance) and improved discrimination across products. Guidance on how best to apply the latest developments in panel monitoring software to guide panel training and improve performance is provided.
