Comparison of two sensory profiling techniques based on consumer perception Gastón Ares a, * , Rosires Deliza b,c , Cecilia Barreiro a , Ana Giménez a , Adriana Gámbaro a a Sección Evaluación Sensorial, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Gral, Flores 2124, C.P. 11800, Montevideo, Uruguay b Embrapa Labex Europe, Avenue Agropolis, F-34394 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France c INRA, UMR Flavic, 17 rue de Sully F-21065, Dijon, France article info Article history: Received 13 May 2009 Received in revised form 9 September 2009 Accepted 29 October 2009 Available online 4 November 2009 Keywords: Sensory profiling Consumer research Projective mapping Check-all-that-apply Milk desserts Multiple factor analysis Hierarchical multiple factor analysis abstract Eight chocolate milk desserts with different formulation were evaluated by two groups of consumers. Fifty consumers evaluated the samples and indicated their overall liking and answered a CATA question. Meanwhile, 40 consumers elicited up to four words to describe the desserts and completed a projective mapping task. Projective mapping and the check-all-that-apply question provided very similar sensory profiles for the evaluated milk desserts. Differences in the sensory characteristics of the samples were explained by differences in their formulations, which suggest the validity of the sensory profiles given by consumers. Projective mapping and the CATA question consisted on valuable tools to understand their perception of the sensory and hedonic characteristics of the desserts. These methodologies could consist on useful and interesting complimentary techniques to trained assessors’ data, being CATA question easier to understand and less time consuming for consumers. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Sensory profiling is a powerful tool for the food industry as it provides important information for the development and market- ing of new products, the reformulation of existing products and the optimization of manufacturing processes (Meilgaard, Civille, & Carr, 1999; Stone & Siedel, 1985). Traditionally, this methodol- ogy has been performed with a group of trained assessors who objectively provide a quantitative description of the sensory char- acteristics of food products (Jelinek, 1985; Stone & Siedel, 1985). Although quantitative descriptive analysis provides detailed, reli- able and consistent results, it has some drawbacks. The application of quantitative descriptive analysis remains a very time-consum- ing approach since the vocabulary and associated training must be adapted to each product. Moreover, trained assessors could de- scribe the product differently or take into account attributes that may be irrelevant for consumers (ten Kleij & Musters, 2003). Thus, there is industrial pressure to develop alternative methods that obviate the need to train a sensory panel, as well as to gather infor- mation from consumers (Faye et al., 2006). For decades, consumers have been considered only capable of hedonic judgement (Meilgaard et al., 1999; Stone & Siedel, 1985). However, in order to design food products that meet consumer sensory expectations, food companies need information about how consumers perceive the sensory characteristics of the product (Guinard, Uotani, & Schlich, 2001; ten Kleij & Musters, 2003). Therefore, although descriptive data is essential to product devel- opment, the best way to understand consumer preferences is con- sumer data (Risvik, McEwan, & Rodbotten, 1997). In this context, several methods have been used to gather information about con- sumer perception of the sensory characteristics of a food product such as intensity scales, just-about-right (JAR) scales and attribute liking questions (Popper, Rosenstock, Schraidt, & Kroll, 2004). However, there is concern that these types of questions could be a source of bias, for example by making certain product attributes especially salient in consumers mind (Popper et al., 2004). Another alternative is the use of check-all-that-apply questions (CATA). A CATA question consists of a list of words or phrases from which respondents should select all the words they consider appropriate to describe a product. This type of questions has been used in con- sumer studies to determine which sensory attributes consumers perceive in a food product (Adams, Williams, Lancaster, & Foley, 2007; Meullenet, Lee, & Dooley, 2008). Compared to just-about- right or intensity questions, CATA seem easier for consumers and might have a smaller effect on consumer perception of the product (Adams et al., 2007). Several alternative methodologies have also been developed to gather information about consumers’ perception of food products. 0950-3293/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2009.10.006 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: gares@fq.edu.uy (G. Ares). Food Quality and Preference 21 (2010) 417–426 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual