INDIVIDUALITY OF UNDERSTANDING AND ASSESSMENT OF SENSORY ATTRIBUTES OF FOODS, IN PARTICULAR, TENDERNESS OF MEAT

This study examines the extent to which variations in consumers' senso ry assessments of food arise from the inability to report accurately s ensory perceptions, from confusion regarding the criteria by which to assess samples, or from differences in their oral breakdown of the pro ducts. Twenty consumers assessed the tenderness of a range of 8 hot, f reshly roasted meat samples using Time Intensity (TI). Overall a signi ficant correlation was found between the maximum recorded intensity (I max) of their TI curves and single sensory scores given by a trained p anel. Correlation was significant for only 42% of the consumers indivi dually. Significant correlations were found between she amount of mast icatory muscle activity undertaken during chewing (measured using elec tromyography) and Imax for all but 2 of the consumers. thus subjects' perceptions were accurately described by their chewing work, suggestin g between subject differences in perception arose from differences in the way chewing work was applied to break down the samples. The sensor y input from the masticatory muscles may represent the major determina nt of perceived tenderness of meat. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd