The panels were conducted at the George Weston Ltd. Sensory and Food Research Centre, University of Manitoba, Department of Foods and Nutrition. Panellists, with no previous knowledge of the research, were selected for training from the university student population and consisted of nine students, seven females and two males, all between the ages of 21 and 25. Eight 30 min training sessions were held over a period of 1 month. The first training session was used to introduce panellists to the prepared ballot, spooning technique and the amount of ice cream to use for the assessment. The objectives for each of the next five sessions were to: (1) introduce a new attribute and definition; (2) discuss and practice the new attribute on the reference sample as well as two or three coded samples; and (3) practice and review the attributes learned during previous training sessions. During the final two sessions all five attributes were evaluated for four coded samples.