title: Novel and successful free comments method for sensory characterization of chocolate ice cream: A comparative study between pivot profile and comment analysis.
abstract: Rapid sensory profiling methods have gained space in the sensory evaluation field. Techniques using direct analysis of the terms generated by consumers are considered easy to perform, without specific training requirements, thus improving knowledge about consumer perceptions on various products. This study aimed to determine the sensory profile of different commercial samples of chocolate ice cream, labeled as conventional and light or diet, using the "comment analysis" and "pivot profile" methods, based on consumers' perceptions. In the comment analysis task, consumers responded to 2 separate open questions describing the sensory attributes they liked or disliked in each sample. In the pivot profile method, samples were served in pairs (consisting of a coded sample and pivot), and consumers indicated the higher and lower intensity attributes in the target sample compared with the pivot. We observed that both methods were able to characterize the different chocolate ice cream samples using consumer perception, with high correlation results and configurational similarity (regression vector coefficient=0.917) between them. However, it is worth emphasizing that comment analysis is performed intuitively by consumers, whereas the pivot profile method showed high analytical and discriminative power even using consumers, proving to be a promising technique for routine application when classical descriptive methods cannot be used.
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA), Department of Food and Nutrition (DEPAN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil 13083-862.
authors.forename: Fernando G A
authors.initials: FGA
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA), Department of Food and Nutrition (DEPAN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil 13083-862. Electronic address: erick.almeida@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Erick A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Esmerino
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA), Department of Food and Nutrition (DEPAN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil 13083-862.
authors.forename: Elson R Tavares
authors.initials: ERT
authors.lastname: Filho
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA), Department of Food and Nutrition (DEPAN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil 13083-862.
authors.forename: Juliana P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ferraz
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Department of Food Science and Technology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 20260-100.
authors.forename: Adriano G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: da Cruz
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA), Department of Food and Nutrition (DEPAN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil 13083-862.
authors.forename: Helena M A
authors.initials: HMA
authors.lastname: Bolini
mesh_terms: D002099:Cacao; D000069956:Chocolate; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005515:Food Labeling; D006801:Humans; D007054:Ice Cream / Q000032:analysis*; D010465:Perception; D013649:Taste
keywords: comment analysis; consumer perception; ice cream; pivot profile; sensory characterization