Overview
Trained panels objectively rate cheese attributes—color, odor (creamy, acidic, buttery, fruity), taste (salty, sweet, sour, bitter, aftertaste), and texture (hardness, chewiness, rubbery, dryness, grainy).
26 protocols · One standard
Sensory Quality System™
Cheese
Fresh, soft-ripened, semi-hard and blue cheeses — texture, ripeness, balance and finish.
Cheese Sensory Quality System™
What sensory evaluation techniques are necessary to identify and measure cheese excellence?
To identify cheese excellence through sensory analysis, a systematic evaluation of appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and defects is conducted using trained panels and standardized protocols.
Some of the sensory attributes evaluated
Appearance
Evaluated for color uniformity, rind characteristics, eye formation, and visual defects.
Aroma
Judged for intensity, freshness, complexity, and the presence of defects (e.g., ammonia, mold, excessive fermentation).
Taste
Analyzed for balance of salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, plus characteristic and atypical notes according to cheese type.
Texture
Assessed for parameters like hardness, rubberiness, dryness, chewiness, smoothness, and graininess, measuring both desirable and faulty textures.
Global quality
Tasters give a global quality score, often combining descriptive and affective results for a comprehensive evaluation.
Implementation
Panels typically consist of at least 4–6 trained tasters.
These methods and criteria allow for a comprehensive sensory identification and grading of cheese excellence, supporting effective product evaluation and differentiation.
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