Sensory Analysis

The course aims to provide students with the most suitable cultural knowledge and tools to use, alongside chemical-physical and microbiological analyzes, the various sensory methods to achieve reliable and reproducible results. Additionally, the course seeks to provide students with the foundational knowledge needed to address and resolve various challenges within a food company setting, such as the development of new products, benchmarking against similar products already on the market, and ensuring product compliance with specifications.

The theoretical lessons will enable students to acquire knowledge and skills related to the sensory evaluation of food products, delving into the parameters that define product quality and their correlations with chemical-physical indicators. Topics will include the senses and their associated mechanisms of sensory perception. Strategies to minimize physiological and psychological errors that naturally occur during tasting will be discussed. Students will also learn official sensory analysis methods, explore the role of judges, and examine the criteria for their selection and training. Special emphasis will be placed on discriminative and descriptive methods, experimental design, statistical data analysis, and the primary practical applications and challenges of sensory evaluations in a food company context.

Laboratory activities will provide hands-on opportunities in order to implement what has been dealt with in the theoretical part, while practical exercises will reinforce calculation skills applied to experimental design and the analysis of final results.

By the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge and skills in the field of sensory evaluations. They will be able to design and manage a sensory laboratory and conduct tasting sessions using official analysis methods.
Furthermore, they will be proficient in applying statistical methodologies for data processing and capable of critically applying the acquired knowledge to effectively communicate with all levels of food company executives, particularly those involved in product marketing and sales.