TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumer testing away from a sensory facility
T2 - Application of home-use test and no-contact home-use test
AU - Park, Seyeong
AU - Heo, Jeong Ae
AU - Oh, Jungmin
AU - Chung, Seo Jin
AU - Sub Kwak, Han
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions for approximately three years have heavily influenced sensory evaluations. People have become accustomed to working remotely and communicating online. This has led to opportunities in sensory testing paired with logistics systems and information technologies, resulting in a wide application of the home-use test (HUT), wherein panelists evaluate samples from their homes or other off-site locations. This study aimed to compare three sensory evaluation conditions: a central location test (CLT, n = 104), a HUT (n = 120), and a no-contact HUT (N-HUT, n = 111). We recruited participants via the local community website, delivered samples using a delivery service, and conducted sensory testing using a smartphone for the N-HUT. Participants were requested to report the acceptance ratings, sensory profiles, and emotion responses to four coffee samples. Some differences in the acceptance ratings might be due to the different attitudes participating in the evaluation. In the sensory profiling of the samples, multi-factor analysis (MFA) revealed highly similar sensory characteristics across the three types of tests. All RV coefficients (RVs) among the test conditions were above 0.93. The emotion responses to coffee samples were similar among test conditions based on the MFA with RV values greater than 0.84. In conclusion, we found that N-HUT produced similar results regarding the descriptions of sensory profiles and emotions, indicating that N-HUT is a suitable test method for collecting sensory data and overcoming CLT and HUT's regional limitations. Modern logistics systems and information technologies make it possible to conduct nationwide sensory evaluations without in-person contact or participant attendance at sensory testing facilities.
AB - COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions for approximately three years have heavily influenced sensory evaluations. People have become accustomed to working remotely and communicating online. This has led to opportunities in sensory testing paired with logistics systems and information technologies, resulting in a wide application of the home-use test (HUT), wherein panelists evaluate samples from their homes or other off-site locations. This study aimed to compare three sensory evaluation conditions: a central location test (CLT, n = 104), a HUT (n = 120), and a no-contact HUT (N-HUT, n = 111). We recruited participants via the local community website, delivered samples using a delivery service, and conducted sensory testing using a smartphone for the N-HUT. Participants were requested to report the acceptance ratings, sensory profiles, and emotion responses to four coffee samples. Some differences in the acceptance ratings might be due to the different attitudes participating in the evaluation. In the sensory profiling of the samples, multi-factor analysis (MFA) revealed highly similar sensory characteristics across the three types of tests. All RV coefficients (RVs) among the test conditions were above 0.93. The emotion responses to coffee samples were similar among test conditions based on the MFA with RV values greater than 0.84. In conclusion, we found that N-HUT produced similar results regarding the descriptions of sensory profiles and emotions, indicating that N-HUT is a suitable test method for collecting sensory data and overcoming CLT and HUT's regional limitations. Modern logistics systems and information technologies make it possible to conduct nationwide sensory evaluations without in-person contact or participant attendance at sensory testing facilities.
KW - Central location test
KW - Home-use test
KW - Information technology
KW - Logistic system
KW - No-contact
KW - Remote test
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163297641&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.foodqual.2023.104905
DO - 10.1016/j.foodqual.2023.104905
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85163297641
SN - 0950-3293
VL - 109
JO - Food Quality and Preference
JF - Food Quality and Preference
M1 - 104905
ER -