Monitoring panel performance within and between sensory experiments by multi-way analysis

Abstract

In sensory analysis a panel of trained assessors evaluates a set of samples according to specific sensory descriptors. The training improves objectivity and reliability of assessments. However, there can be individual differences between assessors left after the training that should be taken into account in the analysis. Monitoring panel performance is then crucial for optimal sensory evaluations. The present work proposes to analyze the panel performance within single sensory evaluations and between consecutive evaluations. The basic idea is to use multi-way models to handle the three-way nature of the sensory data. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.