COURSE GOALS: It is necessary for the food industry to measure the flavor, texture and other sensory characteristics of food and consumer products for quality assurance, product development and optimization, studies of alternative processing, packaging and storage, as well s relating sensory to physical properties One of the best instruments for such analytical measurements is the human sensory system. It is also important to measure consumer perception and acceptance of such products. These activities fall under the general heading of Food Sensory Science. The goal of this course is to introduce the techniques and theory of food sensory measurement to students who do not intend to specialize in this area, so that they are able to understand and interact constructively with those who have specialized

TEXT USED: A manual of selected course notes and readings.

ENTRY LEVEL: Prerequisite: ASE 120. Not open for credit to students who have taken FST 107B.

COURSE FORMAT: Two one-hour lectures and one three-hour laboratory per week. Grades based on lab reports (35%), two midterms (each 15%), one paper (15%) and a final exam (20%).

TOPICAL OUTLINE:

1. Sensory attributes of foods and beverages and their perceptions
2. appearance
3. flavor
4. taste
5. aroma
6. texture/mouthfeel
7. trigeminal sensations
8. Sensory evaluation methodology
9. threshold measurements
10. difference tests
11. scaling procedures
12. descriptive analytical methods
13. consumer tests
14. Instrumental measurements
15. color
16. texture
17. flavor
18. Correlation of sensory and instrumental measures
19. Applications of sensory tests for
20. quality assurance
21. product development
22. product optimization
23. marketing
    

DATE PREPARED: March 20, 1995
INSTRUCTOR: J-X Guinard