Sensorail analysis is a scientific discipline that evaluates the characteristics of a product of any nature through the use of the senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing.
The personal sensory experience of the individual expert, still commonly used by manufacturing companies today, is replaced with objective, reliable methods that can be used on a wide range of products, encoded in international and national ISO and UNI technical standards.
These methods are conducted with groups of several people (panel of trained judges), considered as analytical tools. All conditions, which can influence the sensory evaluation of the judges, are kept under control to avoid errors due to physiological and / or psychological factors.
The products are prepared in such a way as not to be recognizable and not to lead the judge to misjudgments.
The CSI laboratory for sensory analysis is the place for judges' evaluation activity, because it is free from external disturbing elements such as noise, odors and abnormal lighting to allow the judges to concentrate.
The sensory profile is the descriptive analysis of product samples by a group of judges. It is based on the idea that the sensory effect of the samples consists of a certain number of identifiable sensory attributes (descriptors): the list of all relevant sensory descriptors, each with its intensity, constitutes the sensory profile. CSI uses methods and tools to objectify some parameters such as the analysis of the L * a * b ΔE image, Texture analyzer, Oxitest.
Sensory analysis is used for the development of a new product or for the improvement of a product already on the market or to verify the consequences of a change in production or for control.
Using a population of internal and external evaluators the laboratory carries out consumer tests.