About Us
The mission of FEM Sensory Laboratory, which belongs to the Sensory Quality Research Group, is the development and the application of cutting-edge and multidisciplinary methods to investigate the quality of food in order to understand and predict consumers’ choices.
The FEM Sensory Laboratory works in close collaboration with the Volatile Compound Technological Platform of the Fondazione Edmund Mach.
AIMS
- The objective evaluation of the perceivable characteristics of products and of consumers' responses.
- The investigation of the processes involved in the multisensory experience of food consumption.
- The integration of sensory, consumer, and instrumental data.
EXPERTISE
Product characterization and effects of processing
- Sensory profiling (QDA) with trained panel
- Instrumental texture profiling
- Instrumental volatile profiling and metabolite quantification
- Instrumental colour evaluation
- Basic chemical analysis
Shelf-life studies
- On fresh fruits and raw materials
- On processed foods
Consumer studies
- Investigation of consumers’ preference
- Investigation of consumers’ responses
- Investigation of perceptive and cognitive processes underlying the multisensory consumer-product interaction
Data analysis
- Standard and advanced statistics
- Advanced multivariate modelling techniques
- Correlation of sensory and consumer data with instrumental food characterisation
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES
Sensory methods
- Panel tests
- Consumer tests
- Behavioural studies
Instrumental methods
- Compounds related to odour and flavour (GC/MS and PTR-MS)
- Physical-mechanical properties related to texture (texture analyser, colorimeter, electronic eye)
Data mining and analysis
- Standard and advanced tailored methods
C O N T A c t u s
The Sensory Lab is on the ground floor of the Palazzo della Ricerca e della Conoscenza (PRC) of the Research and Innovation Centre (CRI) at the Edmund Mach Foundation.
Tel. +39 0461 615320 / +39 0461 6153188 laboratorio.sensoriale@fmach.it
