After the release of National Health Guidelines, consumers gradually pay more attention to diet health, and the concept of reducing sugar, salt and oil is also gradually valued by consumers.       

           Sugar reductionAt present, the most important thing for consumers and the most easy to achieve is to reduce sugar. This is because sweetness is easier to substitute than salt in the diet. There are many ingredients that can substitute for sugar for sweetness, such as erythritol and stevia, but none that can substitute for salt for saltness. So among these three areas, the easiest one to find a breakthrough is sugar reduction.However, in the face of the choice of sweeteners, sweeteners not only provide sweetness, but also bring other flavor, the sensory characteristics of sweeteners and consumer acceptance often change the product."When sugar substitutes are used to change the sensory characteristics of the product, sensory evaluation is an important part of this process.                        ———— Karl

          Sensory evaluationSensory evaluation is a complicated subject, which plays a vital role in the development and production of modern food and beverage industry. For a long time, the sweet evaluation of stevia has been troubling the industry. Other sweeteners such as sucralose, erythritol, cyclamate, etc., simple quality specifications. Only the purity of the finished product can be controlled to ensure consistency.Stevia is a sweetener derived from natural plants. Common stevia components include STv, RA, RD and RM. Due to their different structures, each stevia monomer has a huge difference in taste. Therefore, the products of different manufacturers still have a considerable difference in taste.                 

Based on these facts, the sensory evaluation of stevia is of great significance to food and beverage development engineers. It is also important to ensure consistency between batches for large stevia manufacturers.

   Professional evaluation teamThe Green Stevia Institute's Sensory Evaluation team is based on the user's critical need for consistency. It is mainly aimed at the taste evaluation of sweeteners, so more targeted evaluation methods are adopted in the construction and practice. RM's taste assessment team consists of seven regular members of a 70-strong wesen staff.

The regular crew went through three rounds of qualification tests. The blind test of sweetness intensity difference, the blind test of sweetness memory matching, and the discrimination and description training of sweetness, sweetness onset speed, aftertaste, licorice flavor, bitter taste, bitter taste, etc. For the characteristics of sweetness onset speed and aftertaste, which are of special concern to the food and beverage industry, the team selected other sweetness substances as the standard, and compared with cysmate, sucrose, aspartame, somatose, licorice, etc., the score was marked according to the sweetness curve of 0 to 10.

     Sensory qualification testTest: three-point test method, directional selection method, sequential sorting method, sensory description methodThree-point test method: find out the sample which is different from the other two samples in sweetness; Directional selection method: in different concentrations of solution, find out the sweet but the lightest; Sequential ranking method: according to the strength of sweetness, to the sample ranking. Sensory description: Describe the state, color, viscosity, sweet taste, overall flavor, aftertaste and other aspects of the sample, and describe the taste difference between the samples. Test the tester's objective treatment of the characteristics of the test sample, relatively sensitive sensory analysis and description ability.   Test the tester's objective treatment of the characteristics of the test sample, relatively sensitive sensory analysis and description ability.  

Training: threshold test, memory test, characteristic substance discrimination test

Threshold test: through different concentrations of solution, training sensitivity; Memory test: according to the known sample, in the given sample, find the same; Characteristic substance discrimination and inspection: Different sweeteners were prepared into aqueous solutions, and sucrose solution was taken as a reference to allow the evaluators to carefully experience different flavors, and then describe the sensory characteristics of different sweeteners.To enable the assessment personnel to achieve the same understanding of product characteristics, evaluation criteria and sensory intensity.

Inspection: Regular assessment

Check the effectiveness of the assessor's work and the reliability of the evaluation conclusions.