Selection and screening of a descriptive panel for ewes milk cheese sensory profiling

The aim of this work was to select a competent sensory panel considering it s ability to describe ewes milk cheese sensory properties. The panelists ev aluated the sensory characteristics of several ewes milk cheeses in terms o f odor, flavor and texture. The performance of judges was assessed taking i nto account the following aspects: (I) individual discriminatory ability an d reproducibility for each sensory attribute; (2) group discriminatory abil ity and reproducibility and agreement between judges for each attribute; (3 ) panel homogeneity; (4) panel consonance; and (5) overall panel discrimina tory ability. The panel performance was checked with a set of statistical p rocedures. The results obtained by the selected group were better than the initial panel from the point of view of discriminant power, reproducibility and agreement. The suggested method can be easily applied in routine contr ol of assessors performance and to discover deviant behavior or differences in individual perception of the samples.