Design the perfect sensory experience

To gain a deeper understanding of consumer preferences, we use three main types of testing:

• Discrimination test: Are products significantly different or similar?
• Descriptive test: What are the characteristics of the products? How can the differences between ingredients or products be described?
• Acceptance test: How much does the target consumer like the product? Would he or she buy it if available?

Our trained sensory experts also perform descriptive analyses to translate the consumer experience into scientific terms. This allows us to help you quickly target and achieve the perfect texture and sweetness in your products.

Working with our analytical team, we can measure and determine the desired sensory sweetness using concentration response of sweeteners from sucrose to stevia extract. You will work with our experts to achieve the level of consumer-preferred sweetness in your product, while reducing sucrose.

In addition to the descriptive profiling of our ingredients and your products, our trained descriptive panels evaluate how sensory perception in foods and beverages changes during the eating experience.  For example, using Temporal Perception—time intensity (TI) and temporal dominance of sensation (TDS)—we can record and contrast over time, the perception of sweetness from sucrose and ENLITEN® stevia. We also can translate how individuals transform a snack in their mouths, over time. This essential work enables us to help you create complex sensory perceptions in your product over time, such as “lingering”, “refreshing” and “smooth finishing”.    

Consumers use words such as “thick” and “creamy” to describe the yogurt eating experience. Formulators, on the other hand, need measurable scientific terms such as “viscosity” and “mouthcoating” to achieve those qualities. Our trained sensory experts translate consumer language into measurable scientific terms to enable precise formulations. Ingredion pioneered two proprietary languages to make this possible:

• TEXICON™ texture language, part of our DIAL-IN^® Texture Technology process—translates consumer terms such as “creamy” and “luscious,” into terms our trained panelists can rate for intensity, such as mouthcoating, viscosity and stringiness.
  
• SWEETABULARY™ sweetness language—connects the consumer experience of sweetness with taste and functional attributes. We use SWEETABULARY™ sweetness language to help define and target sweetness attributes as part of our DIAL-IN^® Sweetness Technology process.

Talk to us about using DIAL-IN^® Technology and our global sensory capabilities to achieve perfect textures or sweetness in your next formulation - the first time.