THE JURY IS IN
PROBLEM:

You are a professional sensory taster. Minute Maid® orange juice has hired you to determine if the general public can tell the difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and their product.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Many companies, especially generic companies, want to be able to match their product to a more popular brand. They want to be able to answer this question: Can consumers tell the difference between these two products? One way to answer this is the duo-trio test used in this lab. This discriminative test is used in both professionally trained panels and consumer groups.

OBJECTIVE:

  • To determine if there is a perceived difference in taste between fresh squeezed orange juice and Minute Maid® orange juice.

    MATERIALS:

  • Fresh squeezed orange juice
  • Minute Maid® orange juice
  • Cups
  • Marking utensil

    SAFETY AND DISPOSAL:

    There are no real safety issues or concerns for this activity.

    TIME:

    One class period

    PROCEDURE:

    1. Teacher preparation
      1. Label three cups as Reference , A and B .
      2. There should be one set of cups for each tester. The Reference can be either fresh squeezed or Minute Maid®. Both the teacher and the tasters will know the identity of the reference.
      3. Place fresh squeezed orange in one labeled cup and Minute Maid® in the other. Only the teacher will know the identity of A and B .

      4. Offer samples simultaneously. Prepare equal numbers of the possible combinations and allocate the sets at random among the tasters.
    2. Student procedure
      1. Obtain a set of three juices (labeled Reference , A and B ) and a duo-trio test sheet.
      2. The identity of the Reference is known and compared to A and B .
      3. Mark on the duo-trio test sheet which ( A or B ) matched the Reference .
      4. Determine the number of tasters in the classroom. Identify the number of tasters that correctly identified the reference orange juice (e.g. 20 of 50 correctly identified the reference).
      5. Compare your results to the table in Appendix E to determine if there is a valid difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and Minute Maid® orange juice (e.g. 20 out of 50 is not valid).

    EXTENSIONS:

  • Have the students use other products such as cola, milk, etc.

    QUESTIONS:

    1. Overall was the difference significant or not significant? Why or why not?


    2. Was there a great deal of difference between fresh squeezed and Minute Maid® orange juice?


    3. What suggestions can you give to Minute Maid® to improve their product?


    FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

    Dr. Jean-Francois Meullenet

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