Food innovation sustainability: Role of sensory measurement

Dr Miflora Gatchalian

THE food industry is one of the biggest industries in the world today. It is also very highly competitive both in the local and global arena. However, in comparison with other industries (e.g. electronics, bio-technology) there is a very low level of proper research and development undertaken in the food industry, such that out of the total number of new products, about 75% or more were considered to be failures in terms of market sustainability¹. One of the major reasons for this poor performance had been attributed to the fact that most food product innovation activities follow the “me too” syndrome or the so-called “incremental” change. Yet if a company intends to remain successful in the highly competitive food market, the “radical” or “create new” products approach is urgently needed².

“Radical” innovation involves deliberate collection of as much information and knowledge about consumer needs and expectations so that their imagination would lead to the generation of new product ideas with market demands. This involves a strong team effort with members who have open minds so they can contribute considerably to the development of a new product. In the food industry, one of the most important tools for ideas generated to become a reality is the proper application of sensory measurements³.

Food innovation sustainability New product development is one of the keys to sustain market competitiveness in the food industry. To date, however, food companies continue to re-develop existing products rather than create new ones. This practice is known as“incremental” change or the “me too” approach to innovation which simply copies and/or improves on existing popular items to ride on their popularity in the market. In the short term, there is loss of sustainable demand leading to failure in market competitiveness and ultimate product death. To overcome this eventuality, it had been recommended to employ instead the “radical” or “create new” product approach to innovation. This involves deliberate collection of current information on consumer needs and expectations to enhance imagination and cause the generation of new product ideas expectedly from a team of idea generators.

The four major players in most food manufacturing companies are: Sales and Marketing; Research and Development; Quality Assurance; and Production. These are represented by key people who are actually idea generators from whose combined efforts new products, meeting consumer needs and expectations, are developed and whose market sustainability is almost assured. All key players have their own cycle of activities which contributes to food product innovation, the market performance of which is measurable through sensory evaluation tools and techniques. Through sensory quality measurement, product characteristics are identified and their differences and consumer acceptability are measured quantitatively.

Sensory quality measurement Although there are very many approaches to sensory quality measurement, only some of the most useful ones are mentioned here. These measuring tools and techniques include the following: (a) quantitative descriptive analysis; (b) directional comparison with reference standard; and (c) consumer acceptance test.

Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) Customer needs and expectations are very important information that must first be obtained before the start of the food innovation process. The information that needs to be gathered to initiate innovation include sensory characteristics desired by consumers such as: (a) appearance (colour, size, shape);