Claire E.A. Seaman, Alan H. Hughes, Charles E. Hinks and Doreen A. Parry
Describes the sensory evaluation techniques which have beendeveloped and their historical perspective. Outlines the uses to whichthe different sensory tests can be put together…
Abstract
Describes the sensory evaluation techniques which have been developed and their historical perspective. Outlines the uses to which the different sensory tests can be put together with some of the limitations and practical advantages of each technique.
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Claire E.A. Seaman, Alan H. Hughes, Charles E. Hinks and Doreen A. Parry
Reports on evaluation of the reliability and consistency with whichconsumers assessed roast beef L. dorsi by presenting duplicatesamples under standardized conditions in a sensory…
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Reports on evaluation of the reliability and consistency with which consumers assessed roast beef L. dorsi by presenting duplicate samples under standardized conditions in a sensory evaluation laboratory. Seven‐point hedonic scales were used, which were designed to assess flavour, tenderness, juiciness and overall eating quality. Results indicate that the samples were evaluated with very high levels of reliability and consistency, despite major differences in the eating qualities of the beef L. dorsi. Variation greater than ± 1 point on the hedonic scale was rare. While Quantitative Descriptive Sensory Profiling (QSP) provides detailed information on the eating qualities of foods, using panellists trained to identify small differences in specific foods, consumers may be used as sensory panellists to provide information on the likely impact on the consuming public. Under certain circumstances, consumers may also be a much more convenient choice for sensory panellists.
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Claire E.A. Seaman, Alan H. Hughes, Charles E. Hinks, E.A. Hunter and Doreen A. Parry
The fat content of beef is of considerable importance, bothnutritionally and in terms of its perceived effects on eating qualities.Several methods of evaluating the fat content of…
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The fat content of beef is of considerable importance, both nutritionally and in terms of its perceived effects on eating qualities. Several methods of evaluating the fat content of beef carcasses and beef longissimus dorsi were compared, including chemical assay of the fat content of beef L.dorsi, carcass measurements made in the slaughterhouse and the dissection of a sample rib joint. The reliability of techniques used to measure fat content is very important and it is critical that different techniques which are thought to estimate the same parameter, i.e. total fat content, should in fact produce comparable results. The results from this study indicate, however, that the measurements of carcass fat made at slaughter and dissection agree well, although much lower levels of agreement were achieved between the carcass fat measurements and the chemical determination of the fat content in the L.dorsi. Discusses possible reasons for this.
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Many of the difficulties that have been experienced by Health Authorities in this country in the examination of imported butcher's “offal”—using the term “offal” in its trade…
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Many of the difficulties that have been experienced by Health Authorities in this country in the examination of imported butcher's “offal”—using the term “offal” in its trade sense—would seem to have been due to injudicious methods of packing on the other side. The organs that constitute “offal”—livers, plucks, kidneys, sweetbreads, and so forth—have hitherto been closely packed into a bag, box, or crate, and the whole mass then frozen hard. Hence on arrival at the port of inspection the separate examination of these organs for possible disease conditions was rendered a matter of extreme difficulty. The exporters have now, it appears, almost all arranged for the separate freezing of the larger organs before packing, and in the case of smaller organs, such as kidneys and sweetbreads, some packers now make use of shallow boxes.
A discussion “ On the Neglect of Science in Commerce and Industry ” seems to involve the assumption that this neglect is general if not total. As this would be an exaggeration, I…
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A discussion “ On the Neglect of Science in Commerce and Industry ” seems to involve the assumption that this neglect is general if not total. As this would be an exaggeration, I prefer to speak of the inadequate appreciation of science in the British commercial and industrial world. During the last thirty years immense efforts have been made to provide instruction in physical science for all classes in the community, and with some success. Every British university is provided with laboratories and gives degrees in science; the number of colleges and technical schools has increased enormously, and the quality of the teaching provided has greatly improved, while there are but few secondary schools which are not furnished with good laboratories in which physical science is taught up to a comparatively advanced stage. Out of these universities, colleges, and schools proceed annually many hundreds of young people with a tincture of scientific knowledge, some of them possessing even a certain amount of practical skill and experience. I do not refer to engineers whose training and professional qualifications require separate discussion.
In his letter which appeared in the April number of this Journal, Mr. Edward Hinks, B.Sc., F.I.C., criticises our remarks on the jam standards set up by the Food Manufacturers…
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In his letter which appeared in the April number of this Journal, Mr. Edward Hinks, B.Sc., F.I.C., criticises our remarks on the jam standards set up by the Food Manufacturers Federation in conjunction with the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists, and the tone of his letter seems to indicate that he has not appreciated the position we take with regard to standards, a position which is consistent with the policy we have always followed, namely, to deprecate the making of a standard which lowers or tends to lower the quality of any product, and especially to deprecate it when the label does not adequately disclose any additions which have been made to the article in question. Whatever Dr. Johnson may have thought about jam in 1755, his definition undoubtedly agrees with what the British public considers jam should be to‐day, and that is, that it should be made from the fruit from which the jam derives its name and sugar—and nothing else.— It is hardly necessary to add that beet sugar—sucrose derived from beet, could be used as well as cane sugar —sucrose derived from cane.—Any extraneous addition should be properly described on the label. With regard to the standards which have been put forward by the Jam Section of the Food Manufacturers Federation in consort with the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists, we certainly take exception to the proportion of fruit permitted, which in many cases is so low, that pectin, derived from apple or some other source, has to be added to make a jam of saleable consistency. This addition means a shorter boil and a lower fruit content, a distinct gain to the manufacturer in the cheapening of the production of his article. How it can be contended that the public will get a good article if the manufacturers make jam according to these standards we cannot understand. In our opinion the public will get a poor jam, and may and probably will, in fact purchase a product containing added fruit juices, citric and tartaric acids and foreign colouring matter, and further they will have no opportunity of learning that these additions have been made, because no declaration need be made on the label. On the contrary such jam may be labelled “Full Fruit Standard.” Why no disclosure is to be made of such additions to First Quality Jam while the disclosure of the presence of added fruit juice is insisted on in Second Quality Jam—which doubtless no manufacturer will be too anxious to make —is difficult to understand. It appears to us that the Federation has had its own way too much in the fixing of these standards and that in its anxiety to reach agreement the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists, or its representative committee has allowed itself to be led much too easily. Again the country of origin of the fruit may perhaps not be regarded as relevant but what an excellent thing it would have been to have insisted that first quality jam should be made from home‐grown fruit. It is true that analysis cannot prove the country of origin of the fruit any more than, with our present knowledge, it can show that any jam contains for instance 42 per cent. of a particular fruit, but on the other hand there are methods of ascertaining whether imported fruit is used in a jam factory. As to the spirit in which we approach this matter we have felt it our duty to criticise, somewhat severely, standards which as it seems to us, give to a certain class of manufacturer permission to do the very thing he wants to do in the way of making extraneous additions to jams without imposing the necessity of declaration on the label. Such standards accordingly afford practically no protection to the unfortunate public, but tend ultimately to lower the general quality of the jam made in this country.
This Society, originally known as “The National Pure Food Association,” has been reconstituted under the above title. The objects of the Society are to assist as far as possible…
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This Society, originally known as “The National Pure Food Association,” has been reconstituted under the above title. The objects of the Society are to assist as far as possible in checking the widespread evils of food adulteration, for this purpose to bring about a public realisation of the admittedly serious character of food frauds, and, under expert advice, to co‐operate with constituted authority in effecting their repression. The policy of the Society is directed by a representative Council, and, the Society being thus established on an authoritative basis, cannot fail to become a powerful and valuable organisation if adequately and generously supported by the public. The governing body of the Society is constituted as follows:—
Perhaps it should be said that optimal nutrition is an ultimate goal which science is not yet prepared to define descriptively in detail. Speaking operationally, we may say that…
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Perhaps it should be said that optimal nutrition is an ultimate goal which science is not yet prepared to define descriptively in detail. Speaking operationally, we may say that recent research has established, fully and objectively, the principle of the nutritional improvability of the normal. The experimental evidence can, of course, be but sketchily presented in a review of this sort which attempts to summarise in so little space a scientific advance of undoubtedly far‐reaching significance. Under the necessity of extreme brevity, the writer trusts he will be pardoned for drawing illustrations chiefly from the work with which he is best acquainted. In experiments to determine what proportion of protective food suffices to balance a minimum proportion of wheat in the diet, it was found that a mixture of five‐sixths ground whole wheat and one‐sixth dried whole milk with table salt and distilled water (Diet A) was adequate in that it supported normal growth and health with successful reproduction and rearing of young, generation after generation. Yet when the proportion of milk was increased (Diet B) the average results were better. In the experiments just mentioned, an already‐adequate dietary and an already‐normal condition of nutritional wellbeing and health were improved by a more scientific adjustment of the relative quantities in which the staple articles of food were consumed. And in the comparison of the effects of these two diets the principle of the nutritional improvability of the normal was manifested measurably at every stage of the life cycle. Growth and development, adult vitality, and length of life all were normal on Diet A and all were better on Diet B. This research having been planned in terms of natural articles of food, the sole experimental variable was the quantitative proportion or ratio between the foods constituting the dietary. If, on the other hand, we turn to the consideration of individual chemical factors, we find that the single change in proportions of staple foods had the effect of enriching the dietary at four points: protein, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin A. Subsequent experimentation was planned both in terms of these four chemical factors separately and in terms of diversification of the dietary by addition of natural foods of other types. Here it was found that enrichment of the original diet with protein alone or its diversification with other natural foods tended to a moderate increase in growth and adult size, but no distinct improvement in the life history. Clearly this indicates that the increased intake of protein played but little if any part in the nutritional improvement induced by Diet B over Diet A; and also strengthens the probability that the observed improvement is essentially explainable in terms of the factors we recognise, for if anything unknown had played an important rôle in this improvement, the diversification of the diet would probably have revealed some indication of it. Calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin A each is found to play a signicant part in the nutritional improvement of the already adequate diet and already normal health. With each of these three factors the level of intake giving best results in long‐term experiments is two or more times higher than the level of minimal adequacy. Some aspects of the respective rôles of these three factors are still subjects of further experimental investigation. It is not to be assumed that the wide margins of beneficial intake over actual need, found as just mentioned with calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin A, will apply to the other nutritionally essential mineral elements and vitamins. Each should be investigated independently in this respect; and with no presuppositions derived from the findings with calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin A, for these were not random samples, but were taken for rigorous experimental study because of the definite suggestions of earlier work. Meanwhile the above‐mentioned findings with the factors already comprehensively investigated afford a basis both for clarification of a fundamental chemical principle in nutrition, and for its practical application. One useful first‐approximation of nineteenth‐century science was that an organism may be expected to grow only as fast or as far as is consistent with the specific chemical composition of its kind; and another was that it is the fixité of the organism's internal environment which enables it to cope with new or changing external environments. It is surprising that these views continued to be held so rigidly for so long when at the same time there were developing physico‐chemical principles which call for a more flexible concept. In this light it seems clear that the so‐called steady states of the body are only relatively so: that one cannot introduce into the system different amounts and proportions of such active factors as we know some food constituents to be, without some resulting changes of concentration levels or of dynamic‐equilibrium points, or both. And now we have the objective evidence of well‐controlled, long‐term experimentation showing nutritional improvement of an already normal bodily condition in such manner as seems best expressed by saying that the chemical aspect of the body's internal environment has been modified for the better. Thus in accordance with physico‐chemical principles we now conceive the “normal level” of each nutritional factor to be not a single fixed level but a zone. Undoubtedly this zone is wider for some factors than for others, and probably also the most advantageous level is with some substances near the upper margins, and with other substances near the middle or the lower margins, of the respective normal zones. Thus while our bodies enjoy by virtue of their biological inheritance certain self‐regulatory processes of striking effectiveness, our minds are now finding, through chemical research, how these can be made still more effective by the scientific guidance of our nutritional intakes; by helpfully influencing our internal environments through good habits in our daily choice of food. Contemporary research in the chemistry of nutrition is here developing a fundamental and far‐reaching scientific concept which hitherto has hardly been apprehended because species have been regarded as more rigidly specific in their chemical composition, and the “steady states” of their internal environment have been regarded as more rigidly fixed, than they really are. The accepted generalisation that each life history is determined (1) by heredity and (2) by environment assigns all except hereditary factors to environment by definition. But as the result of nearly a century of scientific as well as popular habit of thought, the word “environment” actually connotes surroundings. Science exaggerated the extent and rigidity with which our internal chemistry is automatically regulated by our biological inheritance, to such an extent that there seemed nothing for us to do about it except to admire its wonders and stand ready to repair its occasional breakdowns. But now that we are finding ways to add conscious chemical control and improvement to the marvellous mechanism with which nature endows us, we can be not merely repair‐men to a biologically inherited bodily machine, but also architects of a higher health. It may help to make this newly‐opened opportunity clearer if, instead of the above‐mentioned two, we think and speak of three major determinants of our life‐histories: (1) heredity; (2) environment, in the familiar external sense of surroundings; and (3) the body's internal environment, which immediately environs and conditions the life process, and which in the course of the life cycle is much more significantly influenced than hitherto supposed by even the normal differences in what we take into our bodies as food. This responsiveness of our internal chemistry, and resulting degree or level of positive health, to our nutritional intake, usually becomes manifestly measurable only in cases of visible injury from nutritional deficiency, which, once apprehended, we seek to avoid; or in experimentation with laboratory animals whose natural life‐cycles are such as to permit of accurately controlled conditions and observations extending throughout entire lifetimes and successive generations. In the long‐controlled, laboratory‐bred colony of experimental animals used in large numbers for full‐life and successive‐generation feeding tests conducted with all the quantitatively meticulous care and precautions to which research workers in the exact sciences are trained, we now have an instrument and technique of investigation such as has not existed before. Much remains to be done in the new field of research thus opened; but work already completed shows clearly the possibility of nutritional improvements of already‐normal health, vitality and efficiency throughout our lives. Whatever we are individually born with, we can each do more for ourselves to influence our life histories in the direction of our aspirations than science has hitherto thought.
In a previous article we had occasion to refer to and to condemn the standards for jams, jellies and marmalade which had been arrived at as the result of a conference which had…
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In a previous article we had occasion to refer to and to condemn the standards for jams, jellies and marmalade which had been arrived at as the result of a conference which had taken place during the year 1930 between the Jam Panel of the Food Manufacturers' Federation and certain members of the Society of Public Analysts and other Analytical Chemists. There is another point in connection with these standards which we think might have received the attention of this Conference. At the present time everyone is being exhorted to buy British goods on the grounds, it may be supposed, that such purchases are patriotic in character and good for trade. But to speak quite frankly, if these jams are to be taken as a fair example of British skill and enterprise, the legend “Buy British” leaves us cold. What, then, is a British jam? Is there such a thing? If by the term we mean a jam made of sound British grown fruit which gives the name to the jam mixed with an equal weight of sugar, it would seem to be a rarity. Some fruits we cannot grow. Hence Scotch marmalade is a fair enough term to use, assuming of course that the orange is of the right sort and in the right quantity. The same thing applies of course to apricot jam. The greater number of our best known jams are made from fruit that, whatever may be its origin, can be grown here and grown better here than elsewhere— strawberry, raspberry, plum, gooseberry. We say unhesitatingly that there is no need under any circumstances to buy the pulp of these fruits or the fruits themselves abroad when it is of immediate interest to the health and pocket of the consumer, the prosperity of the home fruit grower and ultimately to the trade itself to buy them at home. In a report issued in 1927 on Fruit Marketing in England and Wales issued by the Board of Agriculture it is stated that the manufacture of jam is the “backbone” of the fruit‐growing industry. It is further stated that 90 per cent. of the home grown raspberry crop, 60 per cent. of the strawberry and 40 per cent. of the plum are or were at that time purchased by the manufacturers of jam. We say “at that time” because the figures in all probability relate to the conditions in force up to 1926, and that year it seems began to mark an increase in the amount of fruit pulp imported from foreign countries. The fact that pulp was being imported in large amount previous to that year is noted in the report whose title is given above, 90 per cent. of the home grown raspberry crop available for the manufacture of jam is used, but what is to be thought of the figure given for plums? In connection with this we need only quote the remarks of Lieut.‐Col. Ruggles Brise which he made during the debate in the House of Commons on the terms of the Resolution.
During the year the appointments of 32 Public Analysts were approved. The number of samples of food analysed by Public Analysts during the year 1933 was 138, 171, a slight…
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During the year the appointments of 32 Public Analysts were approved. The number of samples of food analysed by Public Analysts during the year 1933 was 138, 171, a slight increase over the number reported in the previous year. 7,601 samples were reported as adulterated or not up to standard. The percentage adulterated or below standard was 5·5. In the two previous years the percentages were 5·1 and 4·6 respectively, the latter being the lowest recorded. There were 380 infringements of the Public Health (Preservatives, &c., in Food) Regulations, a considerable reduction as compared with the number reported in any previous year. In 138 instances the food contained preservatives prohibited by the regulations, e.g., boron preservative in cream, sausages, meat pies, rennet and other articles; sulphur dioxide in sweets, minced, potted and other meat, desiccated soup, pepper, vinegar and table jelly; formaldehyde in milk; salicylic acid in lime juice and non‐alcoholic wine; and benzoic acid in caviare. Preservative in excess of the permissible amount was reported in 81 instances, including samples of sausages, jam, dried fruit, orange and lemon squashes, lemon juice, and non‐alcoholic wine and beer, while a preservative powder labelled as containing 12 per cent. of sulphur dioxide contained more than that amount. In 160 samples the preservative would have been permissible if its presence had been declared on the label. The number of samples of milk analysed was 74,545, of which 5,760 (or 7·7 per cent.) were reported to be adulterated or not up to standard. Soma local authorities also arrange for the informal testing of samples by their officers, but particulars of these are not available. 1,068 “appeal to cow” samples, i.e., samples taken at the time of milking, were analysed and 380, or 35·6 per cent., were reported to be below the presumptive standard of the Sale of Milk Regulations, 1901. Excluding “appeal to cow” samples, the number analysed and the percentage adulterated or below standard were, respectively, 73,477 and 7·3. The vendor of a sample which was reported to be 23 per cent. deficient in milk fat and to be coloured with annatto was prosecuted and fined 3 guineas and 1 guinea costs. There were 8 other cases in which added colouring matter was reported, and in several instances the vendors were convicted and fined. The presence of visible dirt was reported in 8 samples and of formaldehyde in 6 samples. Another sample was found to contain 1·79 grains per gallon of sulphur dioxide. 24 samples of graded milk were stated to be deficient in milk fat, the amount of the deficiency in one case being as much as 48 per cent., and 20 samples of skimmed milk were reported as deficient in non‐fatty solids, one being stated to contain 79 per cent. of added water. 1,171 samples of condensed milk were analysed, of which 24 were reported against. 16 contained the equivalent of less milk than indicated on the label, 5 were deficient in milk solids, 2 were unsound and unfit for consumption, and 1 contained 125 parts per million of tin. The number of samples of dried milk analysed was 207, and 8 were reported against. Two were deficient in milk fat, 3 which were sold as full cream milk should have been sold as skimmed milk, 1 was unlabelled, 1 contained the equivalent of less milk than indicated on the label and the remaining sample was not dried milk within the meaning of the Public Health (Dried Milk) Regulations. The number of samples of cream reported upon was 2,171, and in 59 cases adverse reports were given. Eighteen contained boron preservative, 11 sold as cream were reconstituted or artificial cream, 9 were deficient in milk solids, and 3 were reported against because of the presence of fat not derived from milk. Fifteen samples, some of tinned cream, were deficient in milk fat. One sample of tinned cream labelled as “a highly concentrated and rich cream” contained only 24 per cent. of fat, and 2 samples of tinned sterilised cream labelled “Pure Rich English Clotted Cream” contained only 25 per cent. of fat. The Analyst stated that a “cream containing only this amount of fat can hardly be described as ‘rich,’ since ordinary fresh cream contains on an average about 50 per cent. of fat. Clotted cream is manufactured by a special process and usually contains about 60 per cent. of fat.” Out of 8,903 samples of butter reported upon, 83 were stated to be adulterated or below standard. 67 contained water in excess of the legal maximum of 16 per cent., the vendor of a sample containing 36·5 per cent. of water being prosecuted and fined £2. Three samples contained excess free fatty acid, 12 consisted wholly or partly of margarine, and the remaining sample contained boron preservative. 3,180 samples of margarine were analysed, and the number reported against was 16; 2 contained milk fat in excess of the legal maximum of 10 per cent., 1 sold in error consisted wholly of butter, 10 were found to contain water in excess of the legal maximum of 16 per cent., and 3 were unsatisfactory both on the latter ground and because of not being properly labelled. The number of samples of lard reported upon was 2,688, only 3 adversely. Two consisted wholly of substitute fat and the third contained cotton seed oil. 414 samples of suet were analysed; 38 samples, of which 33 were “shredded” suet, contained an excess of rice flour or other starch. Out of 578 samples of dripping, 7 were reported upon adversely, 2 as consisting entirely of hog fat, 4 as containing excess water or excess free fatty acid, and one as being rancid and unfit for human consumption. The number of samples examined was 1,392, 5 sold as “Cheshire Cheese” were deficient in fat, the deficiency in one case being 53 per cent., 6 samples wrapped in tinfoil contained excess tin amounting in one case to 7·2 grains per lb., and 3 sold as cream cheese were made from whole or separated milk. 273 samples of bread were analysed; 4 were affected with “ropiness,” and one sample, submitted for analysis by a private purchaser, was reported to contain powdered glass. Investigation failed, however, to discover the source of the adulterant. The number of samples of flour analysed was 1,370, of which only 2 were reported against. One contained about 2 per cent. of soap flakes, presumably due to accident, and one sample of self‐raising flour contained an excess of bicarbonate of soda. 1,773 samples were analysed and 124 or 7 per cent. were found to be adulterated or below standard, a considerable increase on the proportion reported against in any previous year. The majority of these were deficient in the fruit specified on the label or contained other fruit, 25 contained preservative in excess of the amount permitted, while 5 were deficient in fruit and also contained more than the permitted amount of preservative. One sample contained a considerable amount of fungus. Proceedings were successfully taken in several cases and penalties were imposed. The samples reported upon numbered 1,746, of which 135 were stated to be adulterated or below standard. 9S were deficient in acetic acid, and 34, described as malt or table vinegar, consisted wholly or partly of artificial vinegar. Three samples contained prohibited preservative. In a number of cases proceedings were successfully taken and penalties imposed. The vendor of a sample sold as malt vinegar, which was wholly artificial vinegar, was fined three guineas and one guinea costs, and a similar penalty was imposed on a vendor of artificial vinegar found to be 72 per cent. deficient in acetic acid. The number of samples of spirits analysed was 1,947, of which 132 were reported against because the spirit had been reduced more than 35 degrees under proof. Of the samples reported against 85 were whisky, 26 rum, 14 gin and 7 brandy. Out of 420 samples of beer, 3 were adversely reported upon, one as containing phenolic disinfectant, one as being a non‐alcoholic imitation, and the third as containing more than the permitted amount of preservative.