Application of Fuzzy Logic in Sensory Evaluation of Food Products: a Comprehensive Study

Sensory evaluation plays a vital role in the assessment of acceptance of novel food products and preferences for different cuisines. This process provides significant and valuable information to the food-processing industries and food scientists regarding the sensory quality of food products. Traditional techniques generally employed for the sensory evaluation assess only in a qualitative sense and cannot perform a precise quantitative assessment. However, recently, novel techniques such as fuzzy set theory have been effectively used in assessing the sensory characteristics of various traditional as well as novel food products developed through fortification and modified processing techniques. The aim of the fuzzy set theory is to treat ambiguous phenomena mathematically and express the degree of incomprehensibility in human thinking along with connecting it to a real number. Furthermore, fuzzy logic mimics human behavior for reasoning and decision-making. In fuzzy modeling, linguistic entities such as "not satisfactory, fair, medium, good and excellent" are employed for describing the sensory attributes of food products (including color, aroma, taste, texture, and mouthfeel) obtained through subjective evaluation, which are combined with the accurate and precise data attained through objective evaluation to draw conclusions regarding acceptance, rejection, and ranking, along with strong and weak characteristics of the food under study. This analysis also assists in finding the preference of quality attributes and sets criteria for acceptance or rejection of the newly developed foods. This review provides an overview of the application of fuzzy concepts to the sensory evaluation of traditional and novel food products (often enriched with nutraceuticals) in the food industry, along with the corresponding advantages.