Sensory Evaluation Techniques

Gail Vance Civille is founder and CEO of Sensory Spectrum, Inc., a management consulting firm involved in the field of sensory evaluation of foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, paper, fabrics, personal care, and other consumer products. Sensory Spectrum provides guidance in the selection, implementation, and analysis of test methods for solving problems in quality control, research, development, production, and marketing. She has trained several flavor and texture descriptive profile panels in her work with industry, universities, and government. B. Thomas Carr is Managing Partner of Carr Consulting, LLC, a research consulting firm that provides project management, product evaluation, and statistical support services to the food, beverage, personal care, and home care industries. He has over 40 years of experience in applying statistical techniques to all phases of research on consumer products. Prior to founding Carr Consulting, Mr. Carr held a variety of business and technical positions in the food and food ingredient industries. As director of contract research for NSC Technologies/NutraSweet, he identified and coordinated outside research projects that leveraged the technical capabilities of all the groups within NutraSweet research and development, particularly in the areas of product development, analytical services, and sensory evaluation. Prior to that, as manager of statistical services at both NutraSweet and Best Foods, Inc., he worked closely with the sensory, analytical, and product development groups on the design and analysis of a full range of research studies in support of product development, quality assurance/quality control, and research guidance consumer tests. Katie E. Osdoba is Director of Client Services – Technical Development at Sensory Spectrum. In this leadership role she manages the technical development of the consulting staff, ensuring they have the tools, knowledge, and skills required to execute sound sensory and consumer research projects for Sensory Spectrum’s clients. With a strong background in research, Dr. Osdoba enjoys working directly with clients interested in innovation to understand how sensory evaluation techniques can be applied to unique research questions. She has experience applying descriptive and consumer techniques to a wide variety of food and non-food products including beverages, foods, home care, and personal care. Discrimination testing and statistical analysis are also areas of interest.

1. Introduction to Sensory Techniques. 2. Physiology: Sensory Attributes and the way We Perceive Them. 3. Psychophysics. 4. Facility Design & Test Controls. 5. Data Collection and Management. 6. Overall Discrimination Tests. 7. Attribute Discrimination Tests. 8. Selection and Training of Panel Members. 9. Descriptive Analysis Techniques. 10. Spectrum Descriptive Analysis Method. 11. Affective Testing: Product Research with Consumers. 12. Basic Statistical Methods. 13. Advanced Statistical Methods. 14. Guidelines for Choice of Technique. 15. Guidelines for Reporting Results. 16. Sensory Evaluation in Quality Assurance/Quality Control. 17. Advanced Consumer Research Techniques. 18. Statistical Tables. 19. Practical Sensory Problems.