Sensory design of protein enriched noodles
Consumer-driven product development is a powerful tool to enhance the chances of success for new product introductions. It is an expensive and lengthy process which is often viewed to be impractical. Consequently, many product introductions are based upon the best guess of the exporter. An alternative approach is to determine the sensory properties of leading category brands within the target market and use that information to evaluate the sensory properties of prototypes to determine the closest matches, which reduces the risk of failure.
The objective of this study was to compare the sensory profiles of two types of instant noodle product, Deep Fried and Steam Dried, against benchmark products that are popular in the target market, China, and to use the sensory differences to guide product improvement in the noodle prototypes being developed at Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI).
Descriptive sensory analysis of benchmarks determined the key sensory attributes. Fried noodles benchmarks were Doll and Master Kong brands. Steam Dried noodles benchmarks were Prosperity Chaffy Dish and Prosperity Bowl of Egg. CIGI produced four prototypes of each style of noodle in their pilot plant in Saskatoon, Canada. Two levels of addition were used, 5% and 15%, and two pea flours were used, low protein and high protein. The noodles were evaluated by an FCM-trained descriptive analysis panel (n=12) at Compusense, Guelph, Canada. A total of 29 attributes were scored in triplicate on a 0-100 unstructured line scale.
Findlay, C. J., & Castura, J. C. (2016). Sensory design of protein enriched noodles. In: SenseAsia 2016: 2nd Asian Sensory and Consumer Research Symposium. 15-17 May. Shanghai, China.