Selection and training of a panel of evaluators for sensory analysis of tactile comfort in Brazil

Abstract

Increasingly, sensory analysis has been explored by non-food sectors to evaluate different products as a strategy to improve their commercialization. The selection of evaluators is an important step for the sensorial evaluation of products. This paper presents the process of forming a Brazilian tactile sensory panel to evaluate the surface of textile products. Fourteen pre-selected evaluators through triangular tests were trained and monitored for a period of four months. Two monitoring methods selected the evaluators: overall perfor-mance was assessed at a significance level of 0.05 using ANOVA; And then line graphs were used to reveal the performance and eventual problems of agreement of the evaluators in the use of the evaluation scale. The results obtained with the use of these methodologies concomitantly for the monitoring were relevant and helped the selection of the evaluators with a smaller margin of error. After the training stage, eleven evaluators were selected to compose the sensory panel based on their power of discrimination, repeatability and agreement with the group in the use of the scale. The aim of this panel is to classify the attributes of the cap textile surface of the Apucarana-Brazil region.