Training is a critical step to obtain reliable product profiles in a real food industry context

In the recent past, many authors have evaluated the benefit of training in the case of descriptive profiling. Conflicting results were presented, sometimes even concluding that untrained panels performed as well as trained ones. In this study, a panel of ten assessors evaluated eight soluble coffees from a benchmarking with repetition before and after a training of 21 h using a pre-defined glossary of 17 attributes. The benefits of training are multiple in this typical example from the food industry, where complex products are described within a relatively narrow sensory range. Two other means are proposed to shorten the duration of the study without altering the relevance of the data. First, monitoring panel performance during training helps to keep the training duration as short as possible. Second, a single evaluation of products is enough to provide reliable data for products as homogeneous as soluble coffee. In other more heterogeneous products, such as meat, cheese, etc., replicates are essential in order to determine the variability within products with the same treatment or even with the same product. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.