In the field of food and beverages, product development necessarily involves organoleptic assessments such as taste. These assessments may be reasonably objective when defined in terms such as “acidity” and “sweetness”, but their hedonic aspects are much more subjective and may be influenced by psychological factors such as experience.

The challenge in sensory evaluation is therefore to identify systematic sensory responses to product stimuli and to ignore “false” associations due to individual assessors. With this in mind, recent research has led to the development of electronic sensory devices like the electronic nose¹. Coupled with multivariate data analysis, these sensory data can be connected back to process steps, ingredients and even to the animal or batch of grain that produced that ingredient.

¹ Olsson J, Börjesson T, Lundstedt T, Schnurer J, Volatiles for mycological quality grading of barley grains: determinations using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electronic nose, International Journal of Food Microbiology, Sep 10;59(3):167-78 (2000).