Sensory quality of traditional foods

It is generally admitted that the expression ‘traditional food’ refers to a product with specific raw materials, and/or with a recipe known for a long time, and/or with a specific process. Industrialization of food production, European laws on food safety and even the development of innovative products necessitate the characterization of the typical sensory characteristics of these traditional products. Numerous are the sensory studies made on wine, cheese or cereal products. Different strategies can be used for such studies, depending on the aim of the study: olfactometry to determine key-aroma compounds in local wines, texture profiling for pressed cheeses, tracing aroma compounds brought by the various raw materials or generated by the different unit operations of a process. More than that, the perception of the sensory characteristics of a product is related not only to its intrinsic characteristics. This short review evidences that the mastery of food products implies to integrate all the steps of their production and marketing, from the raw materials to the consumer.