Sensing

With the profile testing method (descriptive analysis), the intensity of quality-determining characteristic properties can be recorded on a scale (DIN 10967-1). The result is a so-called product profile, which enables the comparison of characteristic values of different products. Since these characteristics are perceived with the human senses, the condition for this is a trained group of persons (panel). To ensure statistical significance, a panel should consist of 10-12 test persons. The so-called Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) is aimed at, since here not only characteristic core properties are described as it is done in other descriptive procedures, but rather the complete description of all sensory characteristics of the examined products. In the first year of the trial, the sensory characterization of the carrot samples was carried out using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA).

Due to restricted possibilities of panel work imposed by the Coronavirus measures, the decision was made to conduct Ranking Descriptive Analysis (RDA) in conjunction with the Rate-all-that-apply method (RATA) instead of QDA in 2021. In RDA, subjects rate the intensity of individual product attributes and then rank them. Sensory characteristics such as appearance/color, odor, taste, texture and mouthfeel can be analyzed to find out in which product attributes the tested varieties differ from one another. The RATA method is one of the so-called rapid methods in sensory analysis, which is also suitable for comparing different varieties with each other. In this method, the test subjects tick the relevant product attributes from a list they have worked out together beforehand and evaluate them on the basis of the intensity of expression.

The two different processing intensities in juice production are also compared using the triangle test, which belongs to the category of difference testing methods. For this test, the judge receives three carrot juice samples, two of which are identical. The task is to identify the deviating sample. The respective triangle sets consist of the same carrot variety, but different process technology in juice production.