ABSTRACT
Let us not forget that the millions of dollars invested in our businesses depend on that small feeling that our products evoke in our customers’ mouth
(Platt)
We don’t sell products, we sell sensory properties
(Alejandra Muñoz)
Based on these thoughts, we have to agree with Meilgaard et al. (1999) that the primary function of sensory testing is to provide reliable data on which sound decisions may be made. It is an integrated, multidimensional measure with three important advantages: it identi’es the presence of notable differences, identi’es and quanti-’es important sensory characteristics in a fast way, and identi’es speci’c problems that cannot be detected by other analytical procedures, as consumer preference, for instance (Nakayama and Wessman, 1979). Comprising a set of techniques for accurate measurement of human responses to foods under minimum potentially biasing effects on consumer perception, sensory analysis attempts to isolate the sensory properties of foods themselves and provides important and useful information to product developers, food scientists, and managers about the sensory characteristics and acceptability of their products (Lawless and Heymann, 1999).
