Sensory Evaluation Based on Verbal Judgments

Studies of the repeatability and the homogeneity of expert panel scores in sensory profiling show that lasting and reliable evaluations of food products are difficult to obtain: strong inter‐ and intra‐individual differences are commonly observed. Our hypothesis is that this variability is due to quantification methods that consist of asking panelists to furnish quantitative values (by attributing a numerical point to perceived intensity) and that using natural language in the form of verbal judgements in a hierarchical tree would allow improving the reliability of sensory evaluations. This hypothesis was tested by comparing a numerical value scale and a specific hierarchical semantic scale that subjects devised themselves prior to the experiment. The products (chocolate dessert creams) were evaluated using each of the two methods. The results show that the capacity to discriminate between products is better when verbal judgements are used. We discuss the advantages of hierarchical semantic scales for sensory profiling.