Sensory profiling by children aged 6-7 and 10-11 years. Part 2: A modality approach

Development of a method for determining which sensory factors influence liking of children for a product is needed by the food industry. The present study uses a one-step procedure and confines the semantics to understanding the meanings of the six main sensory modalities appearance, smell, taste, texture/mouthfeel, aftertaste and afterfeel that may influence liking of a product. Here the products investigated were lamb chops, sausages and rump steak. Regression analysis was used to generate models for predicting liking, and cross-validation and diagnostic procedures checked the validity, reliability and independence of the variables that predicted liking. The results indicated that taste was the major influence on liking for all three meats for 10-11 year olds, whilst the textural factors mouthfeel and afterfeel were the most important for the younger children for two of the meats. Gender had no influence on liking. Finally, the results indicate that children can be trained to use modalities as a means for generating sensory profiles of foods and that satisfactory models can be developed for predicting the attributes that determine liking for a product.