Panel performance, discrimination power of descriptors, and sensory characterization of table olive samples

The COI/OT/MO No. 1/Rev. 2-November 2011 method establishes the necessary criteria and procedure for the sensory analysis of table olives by a group of 8-10 expert/selected tasters and a panel leader. The performance of each individual taster and the whole panel was monitored on a regular basis, involving the analysis of replicated samples and retraining of tasters with references. Univariate and multivariate (two-way analysis of variance, Line plot, Eggshell plot, PCA, Tucker-1 plot) statistical techniques by the open-source software PanelCheck V 1.4.2-2015 were applied. From the analysis of the data, hardness is quite highlighted for all assessors indicating that the panel agrees well for this characteristic, while for remaining attributes (salty, bitter, acid, fibrousness, and crunchiness) the situation is more complex and was analyzed case by case. Practical Applications In this study, assessors having good discrimination ability and repeatability were identified, and in the same time we acquired information regarding the difficulty to recognize/evaluate some attributes. These results were also used to investigate on the discrimination power of the descriptors.