Back to the Future - Looking at the Future of Sensory and Consumer Science
Abstracts and Presentations from the
IFST Professional Food Sensory Group (PFSG) Annual Conference
The conference on 6 June 2011 included aspects such as chef inspired cooking, how new advances in packaging may change sensory testing, changes in consumer science, formal sensory procedures in quality control and if there is a future for rapid profiling techniques. It also included information on the launch of the brand new European Sensory Science Society.
Launch of the New European Sensory Science Society (E3S)
Joanne Hort, PFSG Chair
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In 2009, at the International Pangborn Symposium in Florence, a few interested sensory scientists began an exciting discussion about the formation of an International Society that could unite, promote and benefit Sensory Scientists across Europe. The European Sensory Science Society (E3S) will have been in existence for 3 weeks at the time of this PFSG conference and this presentation will summarise the background to its historic formation in May 2011 and outline its membership structure. More importantly, it will present E3S’s mission to bring together national sensory science organizations from across Europe under a single organization, to promote co-operation, integration of activities, and knowledge and information exchange, whilst enhancing the professional status of sensory scientists. The types of activities and the benefits it will bestow on its members will be reviewed.
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The Future of Sensory and Consumer Science: A Personal Perspective
Dominic Buck, Product Perceptions Ltd, UK
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This paper takes a look at how the worlds of sensory and consumer science are changing, admittedly from the very specific viewpoint of a practitioner working in a commercial agency.
The only constant feature of the modern world is the presence of change! Depending on personality, most commonly we fear, ignore or embrace the changes around us. More than ever before, agencies who fear or ignore the tide of change do so at their peril. This is an exciting time for science, for business generally and for the scientific disciplines we employ and develop.
Obviously, technology is changing very rapidly. We are probably all aware of procedures, formerly restricted to medical applications that now are routinely used to investigate brain activity linked with exposure to marketing, packaging and product stimuli. But of course measurement is only the first stage: understanding the response still has a long way to go.
Technological advances don’t just affect the science; they’ve impacted on fundamental elements of society. They’ve revolutionized the way we obtain information; the way we communicate. In the wake of these changes, manufacturers and agencies are rethinking the ways we undertake research among consumers and the ways we report it.
Alongside (and sometimes because of) technological change, the requirements and expectations of clients have radically altered. For agencies (and equally for manufacturers’ internal research departments) there is for example, ever more pressure on speed of reporting. Presentations must focus much more clearly on ‘insights’ and recommendations that are directly actionable to business. Due to the geographic spread of project stakeholders, reporting is conducted more and more frequently by tele- or video-conferencing rather than face-to-face presentation.
So this paper hopes to stimulate discussion of the challenges that exist in: the changing rationale for research; the changing methods that are adopted; and the changing communication of deliverables.
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Setting up and Gaining Acceptance of Formal Sensory Procedures in Quality Control? Seizing New Opportunities
Margaret Everitt and Carol Raithatha, Consultants, UK
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Sensory research has become an integral part of the development process for many food producers and is also being increasingly applied in non-food sectors. Optimising sensory quality to satisfy specified market needs at launch is now often considered an essential step. The commercial implications are that manufacturers are under increasing pressure to ensure that the sensory quality margin achieved at a product’s launch is maintained throughout its production.
This presentation outlines the general process behind establishing formal sensory procedures in quality control, including ways to overcome the challenges during set up and maximise its acceptance within management and the workforce. The benefits of a focused and integrated system will be presented, and future opportunities and contexts discussed.
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Sensory Science at the Intersection between Consumer Expectations, Food Reality and Product Development/Improvement
A Bongartz, Swiss Society of Food Science & Technology
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Understanding food choices is of fundamental importance for product development/improvement. Sensory science can help to understand some of the factors influencing food choices. The study presented here focuses on the use of sensory science to gather information on organic food products and some of the reasons and expectations leading to their purchase/consumption.
Distributors and promoters of organic food claim superior flavour for their products compared to the conventional alternative. This argument however is still subject to a hard debate and thus deserves more scientific evidence. Since repurchases depend on the overall liking of a product and on the sensory experiences of consumers, knowledge about these dimensions is crucial for producers and marketers of organic food to offer products which meet consumer expectations.
Sensory properties as well as consumer acceptance of six different product groups (dairy-, meat-, bakery- and tomato-products, vegetable oil and apples) were thoroughly analysed within the EU funded project ECROPOLIS (www.ecropolis.eu) in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, The Netherlands).
On the one side results of the detailed analysis deliver relevant information concerning sensory product properties (sensory profiles) of plain yoghurts and, on the other side, the influence of these aspects on the product popularity among consumers (acceptance / drivers of liking) can be determined. Additionally results show how the regulatory framework and the requirements for plain yoghurts produced under organic regulation influence the sensory appearance of the products. On top of this results show the product improvement potential of organically produced plain yogurts. With the help of the data gathered from the evaluation of “natural (plain) full cream yoghurts” the scientific approach used to explore the product insights will be explained.
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Rapid Profiling Techniques - Is there a Future?
Sarah Gough, Sensory Dimensions, UK
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Traditional sensory profiling techniques provide detailed information about a particular product set, but often require long periods or training and can be very costly. In some cases, budget and time constraints can mean that these techniques are not viable and, at times the objective of the study may not require such detailed descriptions of products. Napping, Flash profiling and Free Choice Profiling are all rapid methods, which have gained considerable interest in recent years.
This study directly compared data from a traditional Descriptive study with that collected from Napping, Flash Profiling and Free Choice Profiling using a trained panel and a naïve panel. The results showed that both Flash and Free Choice Profiling, although not without their issues are viable alternatives to traditional descriptive profiling and that Napping is a suitable pre-screening tool. In this instance, it was possible to substitute the trained panel for a naïve panel.
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A Consumer View to Food Packaging: Is the Traditional Becoming the New Modern?
Cindy Beeren, Leatherhead Food Research
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It is unusual today for our food and drink products not to have some form of packaging. The packaging is deemed necessary for protection and preservation of food. Given the pace of change in the food and drink arena, packaging clearly has to develop accordingly … but is it progression or regression that we are observing? We questioned over 200 consumers to explore their thoughts on what makes food packaging stand out from the crowd. Consumers deliberate the forms of packaging – which ones are modern and which are traditional or even old fashioned? Is the material really more important to the consumer than the claim, the image or the functionality? With the help of primary research we aim to address these questions and reveal some interesting consumer insights on food packaging.