Contactless, digital and online

Sensory evaluation

PrintPrint page Read duration ca. 0 minutes

Seize the crisis as an opportunity! In particular situations such as the coronavirus pandemic, food and beverage producers are confronted with the need to scale-down their financial and human resources to system-relevant activities. For the sensory analysis departments within companies, this means that everything above and beyond product quality assurance measures, such as incoming raw material, process and end product controls, is initially put on hold. The usual sensory panel work with consumers (hedonics) and experts (descriptive and discrimination analyses) therefore largely comes to a halt.

Laboratory data and in-home results: Line plot comparison of an exemplary product. Source: DLG Expert Knowledge 4/2020, p. 7.

Digital tools

The DLG-Expert report ‘ Sensory evaluation: Contact-free, digital and online – Recommendations and opportunities for sensory assessment with limited routine operation ’ is aimed at providing food sensory analysis experts and managers with assistance in resuming their projects in the area of analytical (and possibly also hedonic) sensory analysis. The DLG Sensory Analysis Committee has therefore compiled a collection of practical starting points for the intelligent use of digitalisation. Using digital tools, reduced-contact test concepts and well thought-out sample logistics to counter the limitations of routine operation has also proved worthwhile in practice and offers valuable levers for company-specific implementation. Organising information and communication online, maintaining contact in virtual form and exchanging and sharing content are also regarded as suitable methods for sensory assessor management and sensory panel or sensory assessor training.