The tool has been increasingly used by the food and beverage sector to understand consumer perceptions, satisfy preferences and ensure product quality
A strategic ally for high-performance results in food and beverages, sensory analysis is gaining importance for successful product launches in the meat products segment. It is a powerful tool that helps to understand consumers’ desires more precisely and to develop products with better quality and appeal.
This is because, far beyond their nutritional role, food and beverages have the power to awaken pleasurable sensations and well-being in consumers. The act of eating directly involves the 5 senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.
The senses as a tool for analyzing meat products
When evaluating food products, approval initially involves visual contact. When viewed, it should delight the consumer with its appearance, color and texture, so that it is pleasant to look at. Smell is another important element, stimulated through odors that awaken olfactory memory. Hearing and touch are activated when handling food with cutlery, in the first bite and while chewing, when perceptions about the texture, temperature and consistency of the product come into play. Together, these perceptions awaken positive sensations and provide a pleasant experience.
In the meat products market, this sensory analysis process is no different. The first bite will promote sensations, and with each bite the consumer’s perceptions are enhanced by the characteristic flavor, be it the salty taste, the spicy or smoky sensation, the perception of hardness or softness, among the many other attributes of the food. But it is the flavor, above all, that will determine the approval and repurchase of the product.
Sensory analysis is an important tool for choosing meat (the cut) as a raw material for creating a final product and for defining the desired characteristics. This is what will help optimize the parameters according to what the consumer is looking for. From this, shape, color, appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, consistency and the interaction of the different ingredients are defined, achieving a balance that translates into a product of excellent quality that is pleasing to the consumer. In addition to contributing to the entire development process of a new product, sensory analysis is an extremely important tool for researching and determining the shelf life of a product.
Determining shelf life and ensuring the sensory characteristics of meat products
The additives and condiments used in meat products accentuate the sensorial characteristics. In addition to aroma, flavor, color and texture, they also contribute to shelf life. Monitoring the shelf life of products is necessary to ensure that the quality and properties of the product do not change over time.
Aiming to maintain the sensory characteristics for longer, antioxidants play a fundamental role in delaying the appearance of undesirable characteristics, known as off notes. They have the function of delaying or inhibiting oxidative reactions. These reflect negatively on the sensorial characteristics, increasing the rejection of the product by the consumer market, mainly due to changes in color, in addition to the perception of rancidity from unpleasant flavors and odors.
Sensory quality and assertive briefings are challenges for the meatpacking industry
Sensory quality is not a characteristic of the product, but the result of the interaction between the food and the person. The customer’s sensory expectation is one of the most significant aspects of the creation process. In this sense, from the initial idea, it is necessary to follow certain steps that are part of this construction, which depend on very clear and detailed information. Next will come prototyping and validation, before launching the product in the market.
However, for greater assertiveness in this process, the description of all details is essential. This moment is also one of the biggest challenges for the food industry. This is because it is necessary to know the aspects of what will be produced and define its characteristics. The more knowledge, the better the details of what you want.
These details will form the briefing, which acts as a roadmap. Its role is to guide development, bringing together consumer data, reference standards, sensory attributes and functionality requirements. Furthermore, it should include quantitative aspects, which express the intensity of the sensory attributes, such as weak/mild or strong/intense; qualitative aspects, which define and describe food attributes such as appearance, texture, aroma and flavor; temporal aspects, which indicate the order in which these attributes are perceived and also the integration of product perceptions with the impact of sensations, balance of attributes and global differences. It should also include descriptions such as active ingredients, market data, regulatory issues and expected price.
Methods for creating briefings and developing new products
But how can you create a briefing if there is no clear knowledge regarding the product description? This is another major challenge in the food industry: having well-trained people with knowledge of the specifications to create a detailed and assertive itinerary.
Thinking about this need and the importance of this process, Duas Rodas offers its customers the service of training teams in strategic areas who work with product development through the Sentir DR Program. This program aims to disseminate the concepts and methods of sensory analysis, training professionals to apply them in product development, quality and process control, marketing and sales. And it reviews concepts with the aim of standardizing the language used in sensory opinions to standardize and record the characteristics of the product to be developed.
Regardless of the nutritional value of the product, the consumer expects it to be tasty and meet their expectations. Thus, sensory analysis is an important tool for developing products that meet different sensory profiles with quality and assertiveness.
Does your company have a team trained to carry out sensory analysis for product development? Discover six basic tips to implement it in your company here.
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