Ingredion adds sensory panel at innovation center

GLOBAL ingredient solutions provider Ingredion has expanded its Idea Labs™ innovation center in Singapore to include a trained sensory panel consisting of professional tasters.

The selected super-tasters (individuals with acute sense of taste) underwent screening to confirm their ability to describe food consistently in an objective and useful way, according to Ingredion.  They were trained to clearly and accurately describe the textural attributes of product samples and are familiar with the references used by Ingredion to rate and categorize various aspects of the samples. This is done using Ingredion’s TEXICON™ texture language which translates the consumer experience of texture into precise, measurable, scientific terms.

The panel will enable food and beverage manufacturers meet their target food texture to reduce time to market. They will carry out their work in temperature-, humidity- and pressure-controlled booths with colored lights to disguise any color variations in any samples being tested which could influence flavor perceptions.

Supplementing consumer insights gathered by Ingredion in the testing and benchmarking of products, early on in the product development process, the panel’s more detailed analysis will uncover the reasons behind consumers’ descriptions of products and help Ingredion to select the right ingredients and create the best formulations to create the desired textures.

“Our trained panel in China has helped food and beverage manufacturers achieve the target textures and we are pleased to be able to offer this service to customers across Asia-Pacific,”  said Chloe Gao, Sensory Manager, Asia-Pacific. “Much of our work in developing products is driven by data and our panelists are like ‘human machines’, helping us to really understand how different products perform on the tongue and in the mouth. Using their expert analysis, we are able to better identify which aspects of the formulation contribute to the final result and make any adjustments required in a scientific and precise manner. This really helps to speed up the development process, while making it incredibly effective.”

Nazlin Imram, marketing director Asia-Pacific, added: “Using a number of textural and sensory capabilities and tools, such as rheology and texture analyzers, we already quantify consumer terms that could be perceived as subjective or vague – allowing us to identify and develop the technical aspects required to reformulate or improve a product. Now, we have the additional ability to use our trained panellists to get further insight into why consumers may prefer certain products, enhancing our ability to get the texture exactly right. So our customers can be confident that their next new products are sure to succeed.”