Temporal ranking for characterization and improved discrimination of protein beverages
We propose a new temporal sensory method called temporal ranking (TR) in which assessors indicate and rank the three most noticeable sensations at every time point. The TR method was compared to temporal-check-all-that-apply (TCATA) in two trained-panel studies, one study involving six ready-to-mix (RTM) protein beverages and one study involving seven ready-to-drink (RTD) protein beverages. In each study, the same attributes were used in both methods; six attributes were evaluated for RTMs and 10 attributes for RTDs.
A trained sensory panel (n = 10) completed TCATA and temporal ranking (TR) training exercises, then evaluated each beverage in triplicate using each method in a replicated balanced randomized design. To evaluate each temporal method (TR and TCATA), each test beverage was compared with the sucrose- or sucralose-sweetened control beverage within each study (RTM and RTD). Although results from TR and TCATA often coincided, TR better differentiated the protein beverage formulations on more sensory attributes and detected differences between the test and control beverages (p < .05) when TCATA did not. Overall, TR was found to be more sensitive in detecting sensory differences than TCATA, and thus could improve the guidance for the development and formulation of foods.
Keefer, H.M., Harwood, W.S., Castura, J.C., Drake, M. (2022). Temporal ranking for characterization and improved discrimination of protein beverages. Journal of Sensory Studies, 37, e12751. https://doi.org/10.1111/joss.12751