Necessary considerations for sensory evaluation of meat products: Quality indicators of meat products

Sensory analysis is an indispensable tool for the food industry in general, and for the meat industry in particular. This is because meat and meat products have typical organoleptic characteristics that are highly desired by the consumers. However, in recent years, and being aware of the relationship between diet and health, following the consumer demand the meat industry changes in the formulation of their products to make them healthier. This has a direct and generally negative impact on the sensory quality of the reformulated products, since all the ingredients used in the traditional formulation play a vital role in developing the sensory quality of each product. Therefore, keeping this in mind, the correct sensory evaluation of the reformulated meat products becomes a fundamental step to ensure the viability of the product in the market and its acceptability by the consumer. In this sense, there are multiple sensory tests that can be applied for this purpose (both traditional and new techniques). In addition, another important point to take into account is the sensations and interactions that may exist between the assessor and the conditions in which the sensory analysis is carried out. Therefore, this book chapter comprehensively reviews the main techniques used for the sensory evaluation of meat and meat products (analytical and affective) as well as the main attributes to be evaluated during sensory analysis and how current trends in the meat industry could affect those attributes. Finally, not only the importance of the method (or methods) and the attributes chosen for the sensory evaluation are analyzed, but also the considerations related to the sample preparation and presentation, the environment, and the assessor are discussed.