It is my opinion that in spite of being very important
in food research, sensory evaluation has seldom a value
in itself. There will nearly almost be another problem
which is our main interest. We may use the assessors to
evaluate some quality aspects of products, to make
selections among producers of that product, to select a
special formula, to select the proper raw material, to
select a preferable technology, etc. The members of the
expert panel or the well trained laboratory panel are
supposed to give small variation in their analytical evaluations.
A discussion of the reasons for this variation,
which experience has shown do exist, may be of great
academic interest but has little value for the practical
user of the panel. In consumer research, however, a
discussion of the variation of the consumers hedonic
evaluations, leading to the identification of clearly defined
segments of the population, is of primary importance.