The development of a numerical scoring system for the sensory assessment of the spoilage of wet white fish stored in ice

An attempt is made to classify the sensorily perceptible quality-factors of cod fish, stored in ice, throughout the spoilage chain from absolute freshness to putridity. The classification is given numerical form to ease the handling and interpretation of the resulting data. A panel has been trained to agree in assessing any one sample, and its internal consistency is descussed on the basis of some experimental data. The importance of the method would seem to be that those factors are classified which would give rise to opinions of preference in the ordinary consumer, were the food presented to him. In practice the accuracy obtained by the panel was such that samples could be clearly differentiated, in terms of periods of storage in ice under certain standard conditions, to within a day or two.