Prediction of sensory attributes of cheese by near-infrared spectroscopy

The objective of this work is to evaluate by near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy different attributes, visual (presence of holes), taste (salty, buttery flavour), texture (hardness, chewiness, creamy), rancid flavour and other sensations (pungency, retronasal sensation), in cheeses elaborated with milk of variable composition (cow, ewe, goat), collected in winter and summer and subject to ripening times of 4 and 6 months, taking as reference data the evaluation of the sensorial properties obtained by a panel of eight trained experts. The sensorial properties are quantified by NIR spectra with a remote reflectance fibre optic probe applying the probe directly to the cheese samples and the calibration equations are developed by using modified partial least-squares (MPLS) regression for 50 samples of cheese. The robustness of the analytic method is confirmed by applying it to 14 samples of unknown cheeses. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.