Quality and consumer acceptability 347 wild salmon showed enhanced earthy flavour and odour notes, with 2- methylisoborneol and geosmin being the major compounds involved Se itoring of quality The quality of chilled products should be consistent during production and food companies are using various techniques to ensure food quality conformity These techniques have a common ground in that one or more parameters are measured against an agreed quality specification. For example, pH, salt or sugar levels might be measured to ensure no drift to the final composition of a product. These measurements, although important in their own right, will not allow the definition of flavour characteristic or texture quality. Sensory evaluation is therefore used to ensure integrity of a series of set quality parameters. The stages involved in setting up such routine sensory quality monitoring include the establishment of a product standard that represents the ustomer requirements. The product standard is translated into key sensory characteristics. The second stage involves the definition of acceptance ranges for each parameter, taking into account commercial risks against consumer loyalty. In the case of sensory quality assessment, a panel is selected and trained to recognise products that fall within and outside the acceptable range or each sensory parameter. It is essential that employees involved are committed to quality and that more than one assessor is used for each assessment to ensure precision and reliability. Standard procedures are set and may include go/no-go quality rating or grading such as the CCFRA frozen and canned products specification(Rodway et al. 1999), difference test or more precise but lengthy descriptive analysis A specification sheet that includes acceptance ranges (Table 12. 1)and a quality monitoring chart for a flavour parameter(Fig. 12. 2)are provided as an example for the assessment of the quality of a chilled apple pie. The members of a panel are asked individually to assess each sample for each attribute using a 10-point scale, from not present to very strong. A consensus score or mean score is then entered into the collation sheet showing the non-acceptable range for each attribute(shaded areas). One or more scores outside the non-shaded area indicate a product that does not meet quality criteria and further investigation is required to confirm the findings. Figure 12.2 displays the trend of the change of strength of flavour characteristic for a chilled apple pie product over a production time span of six months. For each production batch evaluated, a score outside the two specification limits is considered as unacceptable. The strength of flavour varies considerably over this production period and an investigation should be organised to understand reasons for this variability and how to correct it Storage effect/definition of shelf-life Shelf-life of chilled products can be defined as the period between manufacture and consumption during which the product is in an acceptable condition, both inwild salmon showed enhanced earthy flavour and odour notes, with 2- methylisoborneol and geosmin being the major compounds involved. Sensory monitoring of quality The quality of chilled products should be consistent during production and food companies are using various techniques to ensure food quality conformity. These techniques have a common ground in that one or more parameters are measured against an agreed quality specification. For example, pH, salt or sugar levels might be measured to ensure no drift to the final composition of a product. These measurements, although important in their own right, will not allow the definition of flavour characteristic or texture quality. Sensory evaluation is therefore used to ensure integrity of a series of set quality parameters. The stages involved in setting up such routine sensory quality monitoring include the establishment of a product standard that represents the customer requirements. The product standard is translated into key sensory characteristics. The second stage involves the definition of acceptance ranges for each parameter, taking into account commercial risks against consumer loyalty. In the case of sensory quality assessment, a panel is selected and trained to recognise products that fall within and outside the acceptable range for each sensory parameter. It is essential that employees involved are committed to quality and that more than one assessor is used for each assessment to ensure precision and reliability. Standard procedures are set up and may include go/no-go quality rating or grading such as the CCFRA frozen and canned products specification (Rodway et al. 1999), difference test or more precise but lengthy descriptive analysis. A specification sheet that includes acceptance ranges (Table 12.1) and a quality monitoring chart for a flavour parameter (Fig. 12.2) are provided as an example for the assessment of the quality of a chilled apple pie. The members of a panel are asked individually to assess each sample for each attribute using a 10-point scale, from not present to very strong. A consensus score or mean score is then entered into the collation sheet showing the non-acceptable range for each attribute (shaded areas). One or more scores outside the non-shaded area indicate a product that does not meet quality criteria and further investigation is required to confirm the findings. Figure 12.2 displays the trend of the change of strength of flavour characteristic for a chilled apple pie product over a production time span of six months. For each production batch evaluated, a score outside the two specification limits is considered as unacceptable. The strength of flavour varies considerably over this production period and an investigation should be organised to understand reasons for this variability and how to correct it. Storage effect/definition of shelf-life Shelf-life of chilled products can be defined as the period between manufacture and consumption during which the product is in an acceptable condition, both in Quality and consumer acceptability 347