Sensory Analysis: A Secret Weapon in the War Against Obesity

A trip to any large grocery store demonstrates the food industry’s efforts to offer health-conscious consumers a variety of products to help meet their dietary goals. Packages labeled fat-free, sugar-free, and low-calorie line the shelves and freezers. Many of these products may provide an excellent alternative to a preferred yet less-healthy product. However, whether or not the buyer continues to purchase the product often comes down to taste. Even the most health-conscious consumers desire products that meet their expectations for taste, texture, aroma and other characteristics, but a product that disappoints them the first time won’t get a second chance. This leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Sensory evaluation can assist companies in creating better-tasting, healthy foods by providing valuable data to develop products that meet a customer’s dietary needs and still offer the flavors and textures they enjoy. A product that offers these elements at a reasonable price will likely be a best-seller.

Why the rush to introduce so many of these healthy products in recent years? For one, obesity in the United States is epidemic and is said to be the fastest-growing cause of disease and death in this country. It’s also labeled the nation’s number one health hazard.

Recently, a news reporter asked U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, “What is the most pressing issue facing the United States today?” Expecting to hear the answer “weapons of mass destruction,” the reporter was stunned when Carmona, a former SWAT member with expertise in emergency preparedness, replied,“Obesity!”

“Two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese — a 50% increase over the last decade, and obesity-linked health costs totaled $117 billion in 2000,” says Carmona. Obesity can cause a variety of ills including diabetes, strokes and heart attacks. The diabetic population is increasing at an alarming rate with projections that it will grow 165% by the year 2050. Childhood obesity in the United States also has risen dramatically in the past several decades.

One issue that must be addressed concerning these trends is the eating habits of American families. Many Americans make convenience foods, such as snacks, colas and drive- through meals, a way of life. Working parents try to balance demanding schedules with the need to provide nutritional meals for their families. However, as educated consumers grow older and medical problems arise, the demand for nutritious products and those that meet dietary restrictions will increase — especially convenient, ready-to-eat or easy-to-prepare items. Companies that rise to the challenge and provide healthy options to customers without compromising flavor and overall enjoyment will be rewarded with brisk sales. By investing the necessary research dollars toward sensory evaluation and consumer testing in the product-development stage, a company increases the odds for a product’s success. In the long run, this research saves costs associated with an unsuccessful product launch. Sensory evaluation can help the food industry get it right the first time.

Developing healthful products involves different approaches. One is to substitute ingredients to achieve a similar tasting product that meets the dietary objectives. However, if the taste or texture is not acceptable, then the product will likely fail.

To prevent this, product designers use a “gold standard” for product matching. First, the gold standard is profiled, or “fingerprinted,” with descriptive sensory analysis. This generates a technical profile of a sample’s flavor, texture, appearance, and aroma. Developers can use this information to create a formula that closely resembles the profile.

Developing alternative low-fat, reduced-calorie and sugar-free foods is particularly challenging since consumers often desire a full-fat flavor or sweetness that successfully emulates sugar. In the 1980’s, manufacturers introduced an abundance of low-calorie products. Health-conscious consumers eagerly purchased these new offerings but the flavor and taste often disappointed them. However, the number of adults now purchasing low-calorie, reduced-fat foods and beverages is increasing substantially. This is partially a result of evolving improvements in these products due to the research and consumer testing done beforehand.

Sensory analysis can provide data that will assist formulators with a tool they can use to create an outstanding product. Partnering with a team of sensory experts helps a company create products that meet consumers’ diet restrictions yet also satisfy taste expectations. For example, consumers are often looking for reduced-calorie foods with less or no sugar. Product designers can formulate with an ingredient such as lactitol, which has a sugar-like taste, does not elevate blood sugar nor promote tooth decay. Unlike some other sweeteners, it does not have a bitter aftertaste and can be refined to a smooth texture. Several sugar-free products on the market contain this ingredient. One of the newest is the sugar-free line of chocolates from Hershey Foods, Hershey, PA, which was recently introduced in response to the fast-growing diabetic population in the United States. The company devoted much time and research to develop a high-quality chocolate that is similar to the regular Hershey’s products. The research included intensive consumer testing to validate that this high sensory goal had been reached.

In some instances, a project is designed to compare a current popular product with a newly designed, prototype low-fat product. For example, a producer of hot dogs may want to create a healthier version of their best-selling brand. “Low-fat hot dogs are a challenge when it comes to matching the flavor and texture of full-fat hot dogs,” says Kathleen Pillsbury Rutledge, president of 21st Sensory, Bartlesville, OK. “Non-fat hot dogs tend to be firmer and less juicy and the flavor delivery is adversely impacted with the loss of fat. Food technologists can spend a considerable amount of time tweaking formulations.” Sensory data provides developers with valuable information to determine if the low-fat product matches the gold standard or if it needs adjustments.

Not every company has a group of sensory professionals at its disposal, but smaller companies with fewer resources don’t have to be left out in the cold. They can contract a company to perform descriptive sensory analysis and consumer testing to help achieve their goals. “Each test is custom-designed to meet a client’s needs,” says Betty Sapp, 21st Sensory operations manager. “If the client is unsure of the sensory service that would best benefit their objectives, we can suggest possibilities and explain the methods involved in the process. If needed, a mobile panel can travel to the facility to do on-site testing. Large companies often use these services to augment their in-house panels or to seek additional information.”

Consumer testing can provide valuable information. Taste preference, acceptance, difference and similarity tests can be performed by prescreened consumers. Hedonic testing (like to dislike) can determine sample preference, while JAR (Just About Right) analysis gives direction to a rating. Difference and similarity testing helps determine consistency between products. Using statistics to combine consumer research with descriptive analysis provides a focused approach to product design.

A client generally knows the demographics of the typical purchaser they want to attract and recruited consumers must match the profile. A consumer-testing coordinator uses an extensive database of consumers to locate and screen the potential testers.

“A client may be in the process of adding vitamins to a beverage to provide nutritional benefits. It is important that the consumer finds the flavor acceptable after making these changes,” remarks Jolly Rohrs, 21st Sensory consumer testing coordinator. “Working closely with the client, we can develop a program identifying consumers who seek products with nutritious value and who purchase these types of beverages on a weekly basis.”

While these consumers can perceive differences in flavor and texture, they are not qualified to determine the intensities. Also, they can sometimes identify differences, but cannot specify which attribute lends to this difference. A trained descriptive sensory panel can be specific about the differences and provide this invaluable data to the formulator. The formulator can redesign the product to match the gold standard in a more effective manner.

Assembling a valid sensory panel is no easy task. For example, professionals at 21st Sensory spend thousands of hours training in flavor, texture, aroma and appearance analysis. Panelists are carefully selected and screened for superior tasting ability and verbal description skills. Training includes a variety of foods and products so that they can recognize and identify particular flavors and measure the intensities. Panelists are trained to create custom ballots and sensory lexicons.

Sensory lexicons are tools used in descriptive sensory analysis. These specialized vocabularies created by sensory panelists describe and illustrate the sensory experience. It begins with listing the attributes that characterize a product. From this list, a lexicon is created that describes the sensory properties of the product. “To be useful to a product developer, the sensory lexicon must include terms that are more specific than a consumer would use to describe a product,” explains Terri Summers, 21st Sensory panel manager. “For instance, a consumer might describe a blue-cheese salad dressing as tangy or zesty, but the sensory lexicon would include terms such as umami, eggy, astringent, vinegar and slipperiness.”

Sensory professionals belonging to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee E18, on Sensory Evaluation have published a basic text of terms and common references used in aroma and flavor analysis. This committee is compiling a lexicon of terms and references used to measure other sensory properties, including oral food textures, product appearance, fabric feel, skin feel, and aural (sound) analysis. Rutledge, who is task group chair of the ASTM Committee E18 says: “Most companies recognize the need to integrate sensory analysis as an important element of product development and life-cycle management. The more knowledge that sensory professionals can share, the greater all of our abilities will be to serve the customer and our clients. The lexicon will be a helpful tool for sensory professionals, food scientists and formulators, and students.”

Obesity is a problem that will continue to grow in our fast-food, drive- through, meal-on-the-run society. Food scientists and formulators will play an integral part in the process of developing foods that consumers will not only accept, but integrate into their everyday eating habits.

Many consumers want to purchase products that are better for them but they don’t want to give up the tastes they crave. They also need products that are quick, convenient, portable, and that provide easy clean up. Understanding this perspective and utilizing sensory data early in the product-development stage will allow companies to develop successful products that give consumers healthier options that can be incorporated into their active, busy schedules.

Denise Bohnsack is the marketing and business development director for 21st Sensory, Bartlesville, OK. Her specialized professional training includes descriptive analysis in flavor and texture, and she has served as a descriptive flavor panelist, panel leader and consumer research studies assistant. Bohnsack attended Oklahoma State University’s School of Journalism and has written articles covering the food industry. She can be reached at [email protected].

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