Improved seafood sensory quality for the consumer – sensory characterisation of different cod productsK. Sveinsdottir* (1), E. Martinsdottir (1), G. Hyldig (2)
(1) Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories, Iceland
(2) Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, Department of Seafood Research, Denmark
 kolbrun rf.is
Seafood is a valuable resource of human nutrition. Epidemiological studies indicate that seafood contributes to a healthy diet, and populations that eat seafood regularly have a lower risk of coronary heart diseases, hypertension and cancer. During the last years, seafood consumption seems to be declining in several European countries. The overall level of seafood consumption differs substantially. Consumers in different countries will have different experiences with seafood, related to availability and frequency of consumption that will determine individual preferences and are also likely to lead to differences in preferences.
The EU-funded SEAFOODplus project: “Improved Seafood Sensory Quality for the Consumer” has the objective to identify and understand eating quality preferences for different seafood species in different European consumer cultures. Eating quality will vary from one species of seafood to another and depends on choice of storage, handling, packaging, transportation etc. in the chain from seafood catch/slaughter to consumption. It is therefore important to characterise the different seafood products in order to understand the consumer preferences.
This study is a part of the SEAFOODplus project and the aim was to define sensory attribute vocabulary to be used for descriptive sensory evaluation of different cod products. A trained sensory panel used Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) techniques to evaluate different cod fillets; wild cod, wild cod packed in modified atmosphere (MA), farmed cod and wild frozen cod, evaluated after different storage time. The main results showed differences between origin (wild and farmed), storage method (air, MA, frozen storage) and storage time for descriptors of appearance, odour, flavour and texture.
At later stage in the project, the results will be used in a consumer study carried out in four European countries. The Preference Mapping technique will be used to correlate objective descriptive sensory measures with consumer preferences and other consumer factors.
Key words: cod, seafood, sensory evaluation, QDA
Submission number: PA50 | 
