Flavor Innovation
At Puratos, our dedication to sensory innovation goes beyond mere expertise; it's a true sensory journey led by our Global Sensory Panel. Composed of trained employees from across our global network (including Belgium, Spain, China, Brazil, and Vietnam) this team performs sensory evaluations to objectively measure specific sensory attributes (such as crumb resilience) that determine a product's quality and, ultimately, its success in a competitive market.
While some industries use panels for visual checks, Puratos focuses heavily on taste and texture.
What is a Sensory Panel and how does it work?
Sensory characteristics are properties perceived while eating a food product (e.g. how the product melts in your mouth, how sweet it is, its texture and more). To bridge the gap between consumers' subjective likes and dislikes and the objective measurement of taste and texture, sensory analysis emerges as a crucial science.
Trained panel vs consumer testing: what’s the difference?
In sensory science, we use two complementary perspectives to get the full picture of human perception:
The risk of the expert bias
While it may seem easier to solely rely on internal product experts, doing so is a common pitfall.
Being an expert doesn’t necessarily mean you know what the broader market prefers. In fact, it can often lead to biased results. Internal experts may be influenced by their own technical knowledge or how things have always been done. In contrast, a trained sensory panel is specifically taught to set aside those biases and remain objective.
How companies use Sensory Panels
Sensory analysis is a roadmap for Research & Development (R&D) teams. Here is how these insights translate into business value:
Guided reformulation
When a recipe is changed (for example by reducing sugar or fat), the panel identifies exactly how the texture changes, helping manufacturers maintain the “original” flavor and texture. This allows manufacturers to launch the preferred product, without a high risk of it being rejected by consumers.
Benchmarking and positioning
Sensory panels objectively define your product’s profile against competitors to understand how it fits into local market expectations. This helps brands understand how their innovation fits into local market expectations, such as the preference for extreme moistness in certain regions.
R&D efficiency
While machines like texture analyzers screen large numbers of samples for hardness or resilience, the human sensory panel performs the final, complex evaluation to select the best versions for launch.
At Puratos, sensory analysis seamlessly bridges the gap between internal technical expertise and an in-depth understanding of consumer desires. This connection allows Puratos, and our partners, to make the correct decisions, refine recipes with precision, and launch products with total confidence.
