RATING-SCALES IN SENSORY EVALUATION OF FOODS - RECENT TREND OF SENSORY EVALUATION IN FOOD RESEARCH IN JAPAN .3.

As rating-scale method is the most frequently used both in Nippon Syok uhin Kogyo Gakkaishi (this journal) and in Journal of Food Science (JF S), its terminology (Japanese) and format are reviewed. Although many terms (japanese) partly synonymous with ''rating-scale'' are described in literatures and textbooks, only two terms, ''(structured) category scale'' and ''(unstructured) line scale'', are sufficient. All of sca les in this journal are category scales, and about 20% of scales in JF S are line scales. The number of attributes in analytical-descriptive tests is larger in JFS than in this journal, in most cases. The most f requently used category scales consist of 5-point scales, and 7-point and 3-point scales are used in some cases in this journal. In JFS, 8-1 0-point scales are commonly used. Data are analysed as interval scale in most papers and ''consensus score'' is also reported in a few cases .