Monitoring Taste Panel Efficiency During Evaluation of the Sensory Quality of Roncal Cheese

A statistical study was performed on the scores awarded by a taste panel over a full Roncal cheese manufacturing season. The panel evaluations were part of a quality control program carried out on that cheese under the auspices of the Appellation of Origin for Roncal cheese by panelists previously trained and qualified as proficient. Analysis of variance and factor analysis were performed to examine variability for the different attributes and the influence of such factors as cheesemaking plant and the manufacturing season and also to monitor panel reliability. The results indicated that the attributes associated with the descriptor “characteristic” had the highest variability; these attributes were characteristic odor, characteristic aroma, characteristic texture, characteristic flavor, and characteristic aftertaste. Cheesemaking plant was the factor that had the greatest effect on variability. Factor analysis and exploratory box plot data analysis were used to detect discrepancies between individual assessors and the rest of the panelists.