3. Results
3.1. Measurement of the SQI and relationship between the SQI and
preference (%)
A scatter plot matrix showed strong positive correlations between
the SQI, preference (%), and difference of acceptability scores
(Fig. 1). The correlation coefficients among the four variables of
Fig. 1 were provided in Table 2. The four variables were (overall
acceptability score), (preference percentage) at the end of 37 products
shelf life, (SQI) and (difference of acceptability scores) from
the beginning to the end of 37 products shelf life. The linear relationship
between the SQI and the preference (%) at the end of shelf
life was focused to suggest a limit of SQI which is a hurdle for distribution
sensory quality across broad ranges of commercial products.
There was a significant linear relationship between the SQI
and preference (%) of the product at the end of the shelf life
(Fig. 2). The correlation coefficient (r) was 0.965 (p < 0.001), and
the r-sq. of the regression equation of Eq. (2) was 0.931
(p < 0.001). A regression equation between the SQI and the preference
(%) is presented in Eq. (2). Although a broad range of products