Descriptive analysis (DA) with trained assessors provided a quantitative measure of the intensity of 13 sensory characteristics of the yogurts and enabled the identification of significant differences among samples in each of the evaluated characteristics (Table 3). DA showed that sucrose and stabilizer concentrations were responsible for the
main differences in the sensory characteristics of the samples, whereas the type of prebiotic ingredient did not have a large impact on the sensory characteristics of the samples (Fig. 1). In the present work DA providedmore accurate and detailed information than rapidmethodologies, having a higher discriminating ability to detect significant differences among samples. Similar results have been reported by other authors
Although DA provided accurate and detailed information, it should be taken into account that almost two months were needed to train the panel to get reliable information about the sensory characteristics of the yogurts. In the presentwork three rapidmethodologies for sensory characterization were carried out by naïve consumers, which markedly reduced the time needed for their implementation. Each of these methodologieswere implemented in two sessions of 6 h,which consists of a considerable reduction of time. The three methodologies provided similar information, sorting samples according to their sucrose concentration into two markedly different groups. However, they differed in their ability to detect differences among samples due to other formulation variables.