Smell, Taste & Sensory Analysis

Sensory Analysis And Instruments

Sensory analysis is a method used to describe the sensations that humans perceive with their 5 senses when in contact with a product. Among the 5 senses, we distinguish physical (hearing, touch, sight) and chemical (olfaction, taste) senses.
Alpha MOS has developed solutions linked to chemical senses.

The sense of smell, also called olfaction, is the perception of odorant molecules either by direct inhalation or during mastication (retro nasal way).
More about olfaction (pdf) >>

The sense of taste consists of the perception of savors that are the sensations perceived by the tongue during tasting. Commonly, savors are classified in 5 categories: salt, sour, bitter, sweet, umami
More about taste (pdf) >>

In sensory analysis, there exist 2 types of tests:

hedonic tests (I like it / I don't like it) which consist of consumer tests
analytical tests (descriptive or discriminative) that are conducted by a trained sensory panel.

More about sensory analysis (pdf) >>

Comparison of human smell & taste to
Electronic Nose & Tongue working principle

For analytical tests, Electronic nose and tongue analyzers can also be used. These instruments have the specificity to analyze odor / taste in the same way as human nose and tongue: instead of separating and identifying the various chemical compounds, they measure a global odor / taste.

Glossary

Organoleptic and sensory vocabulary >>

Application examples

compared analyses instrument / panel >>