Abstract

AVILA-DE HERNANDEZ, Rita M  and  GONZALEZ-TORRIVILLA, César C. Sensory evaluation of fruits soft drinks: A fuzzy logic approximat. uct [online]. 2011, vol.15, n.60, pp.171-182. ISSN 1316-4821.

Food quality is associated with a set of properties and characteristics that give them the ability to satisfy the consumer’s needs. The food industry has in the sensory evaluation a tool to evaluate the consumer’s perception of a product, either as a whole or of a specific aspect of it. This tool, however, is inherently subjective - although it can be improved with training - due to its dependence on the human senses; consequently, different evaluators may differ in their assessment of a given product. The uncertainty associated with sensory perception need not be a problem, because it can be exploited as part of the evaluation process if it is expressed using fuzzy logic. The following paper aims to assess the implementation of fuzzy logic in the sensory evaluation, and determine the acceptability of a drink, based on a series of tests that include affective responses and instrumental data. On this regards, the evaluation of a sample of a pineapple soft-drink will be used as a practical example. The results showed that it is possible to predict the acceptability of the beverage with the fuzzy logic system with an accuracy comparable to that exhibited by the evaluators.

Keywords : Sensory Analysis; Fuzzy Logic; Food Quality; Pineapple Soft-Drink.