Sensory descriptive languages are very important tools in the food and beverage industry. Several sensory languages have been created by flavour houses for the purpose of describing the sensations in their products. These descriptive sensory languages often provide relevant insights for designing new creations. Nevertheless, in many of instances a flavour “dimension” is missed when relying on individual attribute scores to describe the full consumer experience.

Some years ago, a set of “flavour complexity” descriptors was identified by an international sensory research team led by Edgar Chambers IV of Kansas State University (1). Derived from this research, Givaudan has adapted a set of specialized attributes in creating a quantitative sensory method called holistic profiling (2). The objective of this study has been to evaluate this holistic language in profiling products from different food and beverage categories in five countries from Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru). The six attributes of the holistic language - Impact, Balance, Integrated, Complexity, Longevity and Overall Holistic Rating - were scored on a one hundred point scale by trained panelists. The same products were also evaluated by consumers in each specific category using a hedonic nine-point scale. Here we found positive correlations between the ratings for specific attributes of the holistic language and increases in overall liking in all markets and for all categories.
(1)E. Chambers IV from Kansas State University. “Flavor Complexity: Beyond Individual Attributes”,
10th International Pangborn Symposium, 2013. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

(2) M. Yates, B. Clavier, A. Warnock, K. Schroeder, S. Schroff, S. Porro, J. Gay and R. Mansencal
Givaudan Flavours Corporation; 1199 Edison Drive; Cincinnati, OH 45216.
"A sensory method for quantitatively assessing consumer holistic perceptions of foods and beverages:
global business case studies", 12th International Pangborn Symposium poster session, 2017. Providence, RI USA