Using correspondence analysis to evaluate consumer terminology and understand the effects of smoking method and type of wood on the sensory perception of smoked meat

Abstract

It has been established that consumers are capable of hedonic judgments, but their role beyond hedonics continues to be debated. Many novel methodologies, such as sorting, word association, napping, flash profiling, and so forth, have been extensively developed and used in the past few decades to describe, differentiate, and classify products while gathering consumer terminology, using untrained or semi‐trained assessors to meet cost and time commitments. This study was designed to provide another way to document consumer perceptions using their own terminology and explore analysis options by assessing “open‐ended” responses. A total of 149 consumers from the Kansas City area evaluated smoked pork prepared using electric and offset smokers and four wood types (apple, oak, hickory, and mesquite). The prompted terms provided information about the attributes that drive consumers' likes and dislikes using their own language. Correspondence analysis was used to obtain a plot of the samples based on consumers' descriptions. Open‐ended questions highlighted textural attributes as a chief modality, driving consumers' “tasty” perception, backed by 9‐point liking data. Offset smoked pork was liked more by consumers than pork smoked using an electric smoker.