Industrial Sensory Evaluation for Developing Ready-to-eat Cup-soup Product Based on Food Kansei Model

The possibilities and limitations in the food kansei model (Ikeda et al., 2004) have been revealed through a case of product development for a ready-to-eat cup-soup that had achieved two-billion-yen sales in 1993. Based on the pre-specified product concept, twelve samples were selected to extract twenty descriptors for the sensory evaluation of the product image, and ten descriptors for that of the quality characteristics. All the sensory scores were summarized by principal component analyses (PCA). The quality characteristic evaluation corresponded to the route of perception in the model, and the image evaluation, the route of cognition as well as the interrelation between the two routes. The model can ensure the marketing success of the specified processed foods only if consumer needs can be precisely incorporated into the initial product concept.