In tesring foods an "open appraisal" method may be used, such as this informal panel of taste testers. 



^^ ^^ino<U <U me fi^uddm^. , . 



By IRVING S. FAGERSON, Department of Food Technology 



44rpHE proof of the pudding is in 

 X the eating." Food technolo- 

 gists have reverted in their studies 

 to this old saying, despite their 

 recognition of the tremendous 

 strides in the field of analytical 

 chemical techniques. 



Until recently, food researchers 

 have applied physical, chemical, 

 and mechanical methods in obtain- 

 ing purely objective evaluations of 

 the food being tested. The per- 

 sonal reactions of the food analysts 

 were entirely discounted imtil the 

 researchers recognized that, in the 

 final analysis, it is whether or not 

 a person "likes" a food that makes 

 him decide to buy it again. 



Man's Senses Are Keen 



Even with the finest modern 

 analytical techniques, man has a 

 keen sense of smell and taste. He 

 can taste a substance in a dilution 

 of one part in two million, and can 



detect one molecule of a sub- 

 stance in fifty thousand molecules 

 of air. 



Difficulties arise, however, when 

 we realize that the senses of taste, 

 odor, sight, and touch are called 

 upon in judging flavors. Man holds 

 second place when compared to 

 chemical and physical analyses in 

 his ability to obtain consistent re- 

 sults. 



Sense Varies 



Moreover, people are not equally 

 sensitive to all flavor differences. 

 Different days — in fact different 

 Uines of day — may find a person 

 more or less sensitive to a particu- 

 lar flavor. These inconsistencies, 

 due to physiological and psycho- 

 logical differences in individuals, 

 make man inferior to certain 

 chemicals for taste-testing. 



Men, inilike chemical tests, have 

 the psychological barrier of bias, 



8 



