Performance assessment of a beef sensory panel

Appearance, tenderness, juiciness and overall acceptability are the main organoleptic characteristics by which consumers judge meat quality. These characteristics are affected by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors and, for this reason, it is important to control every aspect of the production chain in order to obtain meat with good sensory properties. When the animals are reared under the same conditions, the breed is one of the most important factor affecting meat sensory characteristics. These properties are perceived by the human senses and sensory analysis is the one which provides a direct quantification of the human perception of meat characteristics. Analytical sensory tests, used to detect differences or to describe the meat characteristics, are usually conducted by trained panels. Although the training of the judges allows to standardize the evaluation methodology, no training can eliminate all variations among panelists. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the performance of a trained panel in the sensory evaluation of beef from different breeds.