New scientific taste test targets local preferences
evaluate key taste qualities in order to better meet the
preferences of local consumers.
The company has targeted the Japanese market, where discerning consumers have specific criteria governing taste, texture and fragrance. Genetic ID argues that food firms wishing to exporting foods to Japan need first of all to ensure that their product will pass the taste test.
According to Akira Hanawa, president of Genetic ID Japan, Japanese food buyers often request that exporters adjust the taste quality of a product to fit the Japanese market. "The question is 'how can you identify Japanese taste?'" he said.
In addition, Japan's major retail companies increasingly select food products on standardised specifications and evaluate products based on scientific data. However, taste is difficult to measure because it is a subjective, sensory experience.
As a result, taste evaluations are performed by retailers' employees or consumer groups. However, there is a growing belief within the food production and packaging sector that using such focus groups is not an effective means of testing products.
This argument was outlined at the recent Steel Packaging Congress in Dusseldorf.
"We need to move away from focus groups," said John Maule, director of the centre for decision research at the UK's University of Leeds. "There are two main modes of thinking Type 1, which is almost automatic, and Type 2, which is more analytical. Consumers use Type 2 in focus groups, but they don't use that mode of thinking when they are buying products."
This applies to the food industry as well, where, in effect, consumers cannot be trusted to behave in the same manner in controlled and uncontrolled conditions. Hanawa therefore saw that an objective measurement of taste would help exporters gain greater acceptance in the Japanese market.
"If you can determine the taste quality profile of your product, based on scientific data, you can better meet the requirements of demanding Japanese buyers," he said.
As a result, Genetic ID Japan developed the taste evaluation test based on comprehensive analyses of appearance, taste, texture, and fragrance using mass spectrometry technology.
"It is a scientific analysis focused on various components which contribute positively or negatively to taste," said Hanawa. "While the test cannot describe "taste," with 100 per cent accuracy, it provides a very important profile of the elements that contribute to taste."
Genetic ID Japan began with a taste evaluation for rice in 2003 and has since collected more than 1,000 data points on rice, including chemical profile, texture, optical analysis, and fragrance data.
The test has now been expanded to evaluate tastes for wheat flour, soy, fruit juice, fresh produce, and traditional Japanese foods, such as tofu, rice crackers, boiled fish products, and meats such as, pork, beef and fried chicken.Major retail supermarkets, convenience stores, consumer and farmer cooperatives, food manufacturers, and importers in Japan now use the taste evaluation test.
As a result of its success in Japan, Genetic ID now offers the taste evaluation test to food exporters worldwide that want to enter the Japanese market. For example, a Chinese rice exporter evaluated the taste of its rice and found that it compared positively to the taste of Japanese rice.
The exporter used data from the Genetic ID Taste Test as a marketing tool and increased sales significantly in Japan.
Bill Thompson, CEO, Genetic ID North America, said that a US-based multi-national food company is using the taste evaluation test to help launch a new food product in Japan. "This company is using the taste test as a vehicle to differentiate themselves from their competition, demonstrate their commitment to quality, and increase sales," he said.
