Jun 17, 2013

How long will a certain brand of chewing gum retain its flavor? Will a piece of steak retain its initial tenderness as it is being chewed? Questions such as these relate to how a product is perceived over time, an area covered in a proposed new ASTM International standard, ASTM WK41798, Guide for Temporal Methods. Temporal methods, such as those to be covered in ASTM WK41798, are used to measure dynamic product experiences.

The proposed standard, under the jurisdiction of ASTM International Committee E18 on Sensory Evaluation of Materials and Products, is being developed by Subcommittee E18.04 on Fundamentals of Sensory.

According to Christopher J. Findlay, Ph.D., chairman, Compusense Inc., and vice chairman, E18.04, the development of ASTM WK41798 began with a workshop held during the E18 meeting on April 17, 2013.

“Sixty E18 members participated in a very successful hands-on seminar using three temporal methods to evaluate snack bars,” says Findlay. “Progressive profiling, temporal order of sensations and temporal dominance of sensations were used to collect data and then group leaders presented their preliminary findings to the group. Each method used was able to determine temporal differences among the products.”

Based on the findings of the April workshop, ASTM WK41798 will address principles concerned with time-related sensory perceptions in the following ways:

• Encompassing the task of data collection under a wide range of conditions and temporal rates;
• Elaborating on single attribute measurements to address multiple attributes and multiple events or exposures; and
• Exploring the analysis of data obtained through these methods, with discussion of alternative methods of obtaining data.

In addition, there will be a guide to the rationale for selecting appropriate temporal testing methods for each case.

Methods for measuring time-related changes that have emerged in the past decade, such as ASTM E1909, Guide for Time-Intensity Evaluation of Sensory Attributes, have been limited to the measurement of a single product attribute, such as sweetness. The combination of tests that will be included in WK41798 cover multiple attributes and will be useful in evaluating more complex products, such as wine.

All interested parties are invited to join in the standard developing activities of Committee E18.

ASTM International welcomes participation in the development of its standards. For more information on becoming an ASTM member, visit www.astm.org/JOIN.

For more news in this sector, visit www.astm.org/sn-consumer or follow us on Twitter @ASTMProductsRec.

ASTM Committee E18 Next Meeting: Oct. 22-25, 2013, October Committee Week, Jacksonville, Fla.
Technical Contact: Christopher J. Findlay, Ph.D., Compusense Inc., Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Phone: 519-836-9993; cfindlay@compusense.com 
ASTM Staff Contact: Scott Orthey, Phone: 610-832-9730; sorthey@astm.org 
ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, Phone: 610-832-9603; bschindl@astm.org

Release #9400