The food and beverage industry strives to understand and manage consumers’ reactions. At the same time, businesses aim to gain competitive advantage by developing new flavors or changing the taste of existing products. Taste research dates back to ancient times to determine the taste of foods. Especially during the Roman and Ottoman Empires, tasters or taster’s were employed to take precautions against poisoning attempts. Today, food and beverage manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies are conducting research to find flavors that suit consumers’ palates. Flavor perception is interpreted and formed in the frontal region of the brain’s nervous system, particularly in the area called the frontal operculum. Taste preferences are shaped in the brain’s nervous system because of the influence of an individual’s past experiences with delicious and unpalatable tastes. Human taste discrimination tests are usually conducted with professional taste panelists or consumers. Professional taste panelists usually participate in taste testing in in-house laboratories or outdoors. Consumers, on the other hand, can participate in taste testing outdoors, usually at stands set up in grocery stores or in restaurants, evaluating the taste of newly added dishes.
When taste testing, humans or bionic devices are used. There are various types of taste tests. These are tests conducted by professional taste panelists or trained individuals. Products are evaluated and scored according to certain criteria. These tests are used to assess product quality and in the product development process. Tests conducted with the participation of consumers trained in a specific subject. For example, tests conducted with individuals trained in coffee taste can be used to evaluate coffee products. Again, participants are asked to choose between two different products. These tests can be used to evaluate new formulations or product changes.
On the other hand, taste tests are conducted with neuromarketing methods. Taste tests can be combined with neuromarketing techniques when used to understand consumers’ perception of taste. For example, during a taste test, participants’ brain activity can be monitored using neurological imaging techniques such as fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) or EEG (electroencephalography). In this way, a deeper understanding of how participants perceive, like or dislike products can be gained. Again, using facial recognition analysis, participants’ facial expressions can be analyzed to gain insight into how they perceive the products. Analyzing emotional reactions such as happiness, surprise, disappointment, etc. can play an important role in evaluating the effectiveness of products. In conclusion, the sense of taste, which is a very important criterion for the food industry today, can be measured with different methods. By analyzing biological reactions with neuromarketing methods, objective results can be reached.
Reference: Psychologist Merve Altındağ
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Ustaahmetoğlu, E. (2015). Tat Algısı için Dilden Daha Fazlası mı Gerekli? Tat Testi Üzerine Bir Uygulama. Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 15(3), 127-134.
