[Background] Analytical sensory evaluation of food is a method to objectively evaluate the characteristics and quality differences of products, and is adopted as a means of quality control. Therefore, it is important to verify whether the evaluation panel is able to perform the evaluation in accordance with the evaluation system and without subjectivity.
[Method] A sensory evaluation of physical properties was conducted to understand the characteristics of commercially available hydration jellies and to control the quality of the product under development. The obtained data was subjected to multiple factor analysis (MFA) using JMP, and the differences in evaluations between panels were visualized using loading plots. In addition, issues affecting the evaluation accuracy were considered from the results.
[Results] Analysis of sensory evaluation data for marketed products revealed that there were no panelists with different evaluation tendencies in almost all evaluation items, and that all panelists were able to evaluate in accordance with the evaluation system. However, MFA of sensory evaluation data for multiple developed products revealed the existence of panelists with different evaluation tendencies in some evaluation items. Possible causes for this include the amount of training in evaluation, familiarity with the target foods, and similarities in physical properties between samples, and revealed issues in implementing high-precision quality control through sensory evaluation.
