Smaksprofiler

Smaksprofiler is a term used in sensory science to describe a systematic method for characterizing and comparing the taste and flavor profiles of foods and beverages. It involves generating a quantitative description of sensory attributes—such as sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, umami, and relevant aroma or texture attributes—across products.

In a typical Smaksprofiler process, a trained panel develops a lexicon of attributes for the product category, calibrates intensity scales, and rates each sample on those attributes. The resulting data are analyzed with multivariate techniques, commonly principal component analysis or cluster analysis, to create flavor profiles and to visualize similarities and differences among products.

Applications include product development, quality control, shelf-life studies, and sensory benchmarking. Smaksprofiler helps track changes during processing or storage and supports formulation decisions aimed at matching target flavor profiles or differentiating a brand’s products in the market. It can be combined with consumer testing to relate objective profiles to consumer liking.

Strengths include structured, repeatable profiling and cross-lot comparability; limitations involve reliance on panel performance, the relevance of the attribute lexicon, and potential sensory fatigue or matrix effects that can influence ratings.

See also: sensory analysis, descriptive analysis, flavor profiling.