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Investigation of human flavor perception and discrimination of the fat content in food using DR A-Not A and 3-AFC methods

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Abstract

This study examined human flavor perception and discrimination of powdered milk samples with various fat contents using two different sensory discrimination methods, DR A-Not A and 3-AFC. DR A-Not A was expected to be more effective. Using skim milk and whole milk powder, five different samples with various fat contents were prepared. An independent samples design was used to compare DR A-Not A and 3-AFC. Each subject performed 24 repeated tests consisting of comparisons of four different test samples from the reference sample. Signal detection d′ results showed that sample discrimination was possible using DR A-Not A, but not 3-AFC. Moreover, the just noticeable difference (JND) was calculated using the results of DR A-Not A. The calculated JND was 0.47% (w/v), and the Weber fraction was 0.82. These results confirm that the DR A-Not A method is more effective for studying the human sensitivity to the fat content in food.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education (No. 2018R1D1A1A02086215).

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  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, ELTEC College of Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 03760, South Korea

    Sun-Min Kim, Jae-Eun Kim & Hye-Seong Lee

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  1. Sun-Min Kim
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  2. Jae-Eun Kim
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  3. Hye-Seong Lee
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Correspondence to Hye-Seong Lee.

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Kim, SM., Kim, JE. & Lee, HS. Investigation of human flavor perception and discrimination of the fat content in food using DR A-Not A and 3-AFC methods. Food Sci Biotechnol 30, 815–822 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-021-00922-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-021-00922-y

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