SENSORY FIRMNESS SCALE BASED ON GELATIN GELS

A series of gelatin gels was produced and scaled to resemble the firmness of typical meat samples used in texture evaluation. The maximum force required to cut through the gel sample was determined with a Warner-Bratzler instrument and a TA. TX2 Model Texture Analyzer. Samples were scaled depending on the shear force required to force a blade through the material. An untrained sensory panel of 30 people, and a trained panel of 12, confirmed the sensory scale using a triangle test and unstructured scales. Untrained panelists were able to distinguish a difference between gels in three tenderness categories (P ≤ 0.001) in three consecutive tests. Trained panelists detected significant differences between scaled standards. Results suggest that scaled firmness standards based on gelatin gels provide a good model for meat tenderness sensory training.