MULTIDIMENSIONAL REPRESENTATION OF THE STANDARD SCALES OF FOOD TEXTURE

ABSTRACT The use of standard terminology, standard reference foods and standard evaluation procedures in the standard scales for texture profile methods makes them effective objective tools for assessing panelists in descriptive analysis. However, their use is often limited because of a lack of availability of standard reference foods and the drift of scales over time. The objective of this study was to evaluate the standard texture scales for the classification of the textural characteristics of standard reference foods through the use of multidimensional scaling (MDS). The texture perceptions of foods by 11 panelists were evaluated using the standard texture scales. Each scale was anchored by a series of standard reference foods that were purported to illustrate the intensities of the texture attribute under study. MDS was highly instructive in quantitatively assessing the textural differences perceptions of naive panelists (r > 0.89). The selected foods were rated similarly using MDS and standard texture scales. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSMultidimensional scaling (MDS) is an efficient tool for the analysis of sensory perception data. Using MDS, it is possible to corroborate standard food texture scales published many years ago and assay food texture more accurately. Caution is necessary when assuming that standard scales developed in the past are as useful today as when they were developed. The item drift theory hypothesizes that questions become less reflective of a concept over time for natural reasons. The purpose of this study was to use MDS to reproduce the original dimensions and original order of standard stimuli used to analyze existing food textural scales for hardness, chewiness, gumminess, viscosity, adhesiveness and fracturability.