SENSORY QUALITY CRITERIA FOR FIVE FISH SPECIES

Sensory profiling has been used to develop one sensory vocabulary forfivefish species: cod (Gadus morhua), saithe (Pollachius virens), rainbow trout (Salmo gardineri), herring (Clupea harengus) and flounder (Platichthys flessus). A nine-member trained panel assessed 18 samples with variation in species and storage time (1-9 days) in ice at OC. An initial list containing 46 descriptive words derived from panel, panel leaders and literature was reduced in two steps to 1.5 words. The vocabula?y development was split up in five “qualitative” and seven “quantitative” sessions with relevant references for odor and taste during the qualitative part. The descriptive words should fulfil these criteria: be relevant to the product, discriminate clearly between samples, be nonredundant and have cognitive clarity to the assessors. Criteria fulfilment was reached by evaluating samples spanning a representative variation and by presenting references, panel discussions and interpreting plots from multivariate data analysis. The developed profile can be used as a sensory wheel for these species, and with minor changes it may be adapted to similar species.