Critical decision-making in product development cannot be based on intuition; that is why expert panels act as a highly calibrated “measuring instrument,” capable of detecting nuances that conventional laboratory instruments cannot through sensory analysis.

At Mérieux NutriSciences, our mission is to transform sensory perception into actionable data that ensures not only food quality, safety, and sustainability, but also long-term commercial success.

A trained panel of tasters does not evaluate personal preferences or opinions, but rather defines attributes in a precise and reproducible manner.

Having a panel of trained expert tasters dedicated to a specific product offers numerous strategic, operational, and commercial advantages.

The main advantages include:

• In-depth insight and objective description: Gain a clear and detailed understanding of the product’s sensory characteristics through a sensory profile.
• Comparison with the competition: Facilitates an objective comparison of your product’s sensory profile against other products already on the market or against internal prototypes.
• Consistency that strengthens your brand equity: A sensory panel helps identify and control product variability when it is manufactured in different batches, on different production lines, or at different plants, ensuring consistency during large-scale production.
• Formulation improvements and validation of changes: This is essential for validating modifications to the formulation, such as the use of new ingredients, changes in suppliers, adjustments to the production process, or alterations to the packaging.

All of this information leads to better decisions for the R&D, Quality, and Marketing departments, optimizing product performance and ensuring the success of new product launches.

How are expert panels selected and trained?

The selection and training process for panels of expert tasters is carried out using rigorous procedures based on international standards, with reference to the UNE-EN ISO 8586 standard, which establishes general guidelines for the selection, training, and monitoring of tasters and expert tasters.

After successfully passing the selection tests, the future panel tasters receive comprehensive training covering several key areas:

• Identification and quantification of attributes.
• Defect detection (anomalies or atypical odors/flavors).
• Application of methodologies and scales.

With 30 years of experience in sensory analysis and a network operating in more than 32 countries, Mérieux NutriSciences has a wide range of established expert panels; alternatively, we can create a panel specifically tailored to your product.

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