Smart Sensory: Taking sensory evaluation in-house

Unlock the power of sensory evaluation to improve product development and decision-making. This interactive, hands-on workshop, presented by FORWARD, supports food and beverage companies to develop best practices for in-house sensory evaluation — helping you apply the right tools at the right time to maximise the success of new or existing products.

Who is this for: Small and medium-sized food & beverage businesses and staff, or people interested in developing a product or business

In-house sensory is a powerful and cost-effective tool when:

• You’re in early-stage, iterative, or pilot development

• Sample volumes are too small for consumer trials

• Budgets don’t stretch to large-scale research

• You need to guide product direction before formal trials

• You want to engage internal stakeholders in product decisions

• You’re benchmarking product or competitor quality over time

What You’ll Learn

1. Understanding the Senses
Taste, aroma, texture, mouthfeel, and aftertaste — how they interact, how perception works, and how to reduce bias.

2. Setting Up Sensory Protocols
Key considerations for sample prep and presentation: randomisation, blinding, consistency, and appropriate use of instrumentation.

3. Asking the Right Questions
How to design questions for informal panels. Learn how question type and order shape responses — and what tools can help.

4. Making Sense of the Data
What to look for, how to interpret informal panel results, and when to scale up to formal research. Understand the value and limits of small-panel data.

Key Takeaways

• A practical grounding (or refresher) in sensory science

• Confidence to run in-house sensory evaluations with structure and purpose

• Techniques to minimise bias and get more reliable data

• Clarity on how and when to escalate to more formal testing

• Templates, tips, and tools you can take back to your team