5. The tests
A rule common to all tests concerns the drafting of the questionnaire and accompanying instructions. The questionnaire is, in a way, the interface between the moderator and the subjects; it must therefore "stand on its own". Reading the questionnaire aloud by the moderator is only intended to ensure that all subjects have read it; it is not intended to provide additional information. Great care must be taken to ensure clarity in the formulation of the question(s) asked and the way in which they are answered. The questionnaire should also indicate, especially for subjects with little training, how to handle the samples, the order in which the answers are to be given (when several questions are asked), the order in which the samples are taken, whether or not it is possible to go back over a sample, and what the subject should do if he/she thinks he/she doesn't know how to answer. A "Remarks"...
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Interpretation of results
Bibliography
References
Standardization. Accreditation
Association Française de Normalisation AFNOR
The latest edition of all existing standards for the sensory evaluation of food products:
Sensory Analysis (651 p.) dates from January 2002.
The most important documents include :
- Analyse sensorielle. Méthodologie. Directives générales pour la réalisation d'épreuves hédoniques en laboratoire...
Organizations
Research organizations
In addition to the ACTIA centers, which develop applied research activities in the field of sensory metrology alongside their activities as service providers, most agri-food schools, notably Enitia (Nantes), Ensbana (Dijon) and Ensia (Massy), have a sensory evaluation research group.
At INRA, the most active laboratories in the sensory field are certainly those at...
Software
Leading sensory data capture software includes :
Compusense Inc. (Canada) http://www.compusense.com
Fizz (Biosystèmes) (France) http://www.biosystemes.com
Tastel, ABT Informatique (France) http://www.abt-sensory-analysis.com
Manufacturers
Grosseron sensory evaluation booths (Nantes).
Sentosphère (Paris) scent boxes.
Éditions Jean Lenoir (Carnoux-en-Provence)
Les Maisons du goût, Pôle Alimentec (Bourg-en-Bresse)
Burghart (Germany) http://www.bughart.net
This company offers a set of "Sniffin'sticks" to identify anosmics and hyposmics...
Service providers
Numerous organizations offer custom assessments in the discriminative, descriptive and hedonic fields.
A number of these centers, which come under the auspices of technical centers or CRITTs, are members of ACTIA (Paris). ACTIA has drawn up a Guide to Good Practice (see above) for clients of ACTIA centers who "sell" sensory evaluation and who undertake to comply...
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