Sensory Analysis at Loughry made good sense to Henderson Group

CAFRE’s world class sensory suite, located in the Food Innovation Centre at Loughry Campus, is fully equipped to meet all sensory requirements and provide businesses with robust evidence of organoleptic assessment.

Leah McQueen (Quality Supervisor, Henderson Group) & Hayley O’Neill (Food Technologist, Loughry Campus CAFRE).

CAFRE can provide a customised approach. Each series of sensory evaluations is unique. CAFRE Food Technologists will help plan the assessment in terms of test selection, questionnaire design, sample presentation, and results format. All sensory panels are conducted using a wide panellist demographic. Customised panels can be arranged.

In recent years the area of sensory science has become much more topical as it is now widely recognised within the industry as an essential business asset, and no longer associated solely with external product experts.

Increased competition, the global market, availability of ingredients, health and changing consumer trends continue to extend the Food Industry’s demand for new products, quality improvement, shelf-life extension and sustainable production. Sensory science is critical to this process. Sensory analysis can be used in a number of different applications, including shelf life determination, new product development, quality assurance, product reformulation, process improvement, problem analysis (e.g. taint identification), competitor analysis (benchmarking).

Henderson Group, a leading food service and retail company, recently utilised the taste panel facilities at Loughry Campus.  Their aim was to benchmark some of its pizzas against leading competitors.

Leah McQueen, Quality Supervisor at Hendersons says: “CAFRE is known for its expertise in sensory evaluation and our collaboration on this project ensured that we compiled unbiased analysis of our range of pizzas against competitors. We are delighted with the outcome of the testing and the results provide sound evidence for our stakeholders and customers that our products stand strong against other options on the market. We look forward to working together with Hayley and the team at Loughry Campus again in the future.”

For more information on how sensory analysis can help your business, please contact CAFRE’s Food Technology Team.

CAFRE’s Food Technology Team can be contacted at: Loughry.foodtechnology@daera-ni.gov.uk or www.cafre.ac.uk or follow us at discoverCAFRE on Facebook, Instagram and X.

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2. All media queries should be directed to the DAERA Press Office: pressoffice.group@daera-ni.gov.uk or telephone: 028 9052 4619.

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