CDR is host to the only standing trained descriptive sensory panel on the UW-Madison campus, and works to evaluate dairy products with a specialization in cheese.
Descriptive sensory analysis offers a statistically robust method of identifying key attributes of a product or monitoring their changes over time. This is done using panelists who have been extensively trained to detect and quantify appearance, flavor, and texture attributes in an objective and repeatable manner.
CDR’s descriptive panel utilizes a hybrid of QDA and Spectrum methodology. CDR employs dedicated external descriptive panelists to ensure repeatable and quality results. CDR’s descriptive panel are currently trained on products like mozzarella cheese and pizzas, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, cheese shreds and slices, cheese curds, butter, yogurt, cream cheese, and shelf stable snack cheeses.
Potential Applications
- Develop flavor/texture profiles of products for use as references / standards
- Compare and relate technical evaluation of products to consumer perceptions
- Monitor and understand flavor and textural differences over time of cheese ripening or shelf life
- Aid in flavor or function matching of competitive products
Types of Questions / Methods
- QDA
- Spectrum
- Flavor Attributes
- Basic Tastes
- Aromatics
- Chemical Feeling Factors
- Texture Attributes
- Functional Attributes
- Color/Browning
- Cheese melt/stretch/flow
- Pizza blistering and skin formation
- Shredding / slicing suitability
Benefits of this type of testing
- Can evaluate a single product without need for references or controls
- Can holistically compare several products across all attributes of the sensory experience
- Statistically meaningful data, with quantifiable and repeatable scaling
- Methods allow for some comparison to previous and future tests using the same methods
- Purely objective measurement of characteristics with precisely controlled conditions
