17:00 - 18:00
Tue-P
Room: Foyer Conde De Cantanhede
Comparison of two sensory methods to obtain reliable dose-intensity curves for sweet taste compounds
Poster presentation
Noëlle Béno, Gaïa Maillard, Thierry Thomas-Danguin
Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRAE, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000 Dijon, France.
This study aimed to compare two methods for delivering sweet solutions that were evaluated for sweetness intensity by a panel of 26 trained subjects: a Classical Sensory Analysis (CSA) and a Gustometer-assisted Sensory Analysis (GSA) method. CSA was based on 10 mL samples delivered monadically, in plastic cups, to the subjects placed in separate booths. The GSA was based on a Burghart Multistimulator delivering pulses of 400 µl liquid samples in the mouth of one at time participant. Three kinds of sweeteners were used: a bulk sweetener (Sucrose), an intensive natural sweetener (Rebaudioside A), and an intensive artificial sweetener (Cyclamate de Sodium). The three compounds were diluted in Evian® water at various concentrations. A total of 6 concentrations levels were evaluated by each subject for each sweetener. The subjects were extensively trained for each method to evaluate sweet taste intensity on an anchored linear scale having 6 intensity reference levels corresponding to 6 sucrose-in-water concentrations. Dose-response curves were modeled for each sweetener and each subject, and also at the panel level. Both methods were compared based on individual and panel half-maximal effective concentrations (EC50) values and dispersion. In the end, the whole data collection took almost the same time for the two methods. Whereas CSA was more comfortable for subjects and allowed to test up to 16 subjects in a single session, GSA allowed to test more samples and to include replicates, which increased results precision. Moreover, GSA required less sample preparation since the gustometer used only a stock solution to perform dilutions automatically, and produced less amount of waste (plastic cups). In conclusion, GSA is a precise method, easy to use for the experimenter, ecologically relevant, and correctly reflects CSA's more usual tasting conditions.