Unlocking Pet Preferences: A Dive into Sensory Testing for Pet Foods

 Highlights

• The Challenges of Pet Food Sensory Testing
• Pet Food Testing with Humans
• Pet Food Testing with Pets

The sensory and consumer testing world constantly changes as we develop creative methods to answer questions about our favorite consumer goods. Typically, this is done by using consumers or trained taste testers to explain the sensory properties of foods, beverages, and other consumer goods. A new challenge arises when we try to do the same testing with our four-legged friends. Dogs and cats develop preferences for different foods but cannot tell us what they like and dislike. Product developers strive to develop nutritious and delicious foods, but how do they know if the food will be liked? Humans can be used to test pet food, but this may not translate to pet liking. This is where sensory comes in!

Pet Food Testing with Humans

You have likely seen pet food commercials with two pet owners reading off the list of ingredients in their dog’s food. One owner is happy about the quality of the ingredients, while the other becomes hesitant the further down the list they get. This is the kind of information that pet parents can provide during a pet food consumer test. As with human food, owners can be very particular about their pet’s diet ingredients. Consumer testing can be used to analyze these and other opinions about what they are feeding their dogs and cats. In addition to ingredients, pet food manufacturers may want to know what pet owners think about price, packaging, product weight, nutrition, and even the aroma of the food. Consumers may be less likely to purchase if they are met with an awful smell every time they open that food bag. Manufacturers may want to know how well the product works for functional foods or treats like a dog treat toothbrushes.

Since dogs and cats can’t tell us what their food tastes like, we use trained descriptive taste testers to do so. These taste testers typically evaluate human food but are trained to evaluate any consumer item imaginable. The appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture of pet foods and treats can be evaluated to determine their sensory profile and how they differ from other products. Trained panelists taste the food and assign intensity values that let us know how salty, hard, or liver flavor there is in the food. Don’t worry; they spit the food out after they taste it! Although this information does not tell us how much a pet will like the food, it gives us a better understanding of the final product.

Pet Food Testing with Pets

Now, let’s get to the cute part! A couple of common methods use dogs and cats to help scientists understand the palatability of pet food and treats. These methods tend to be repeated over several days with the same animals to understand a more significant trend and control for behaviors like side bias (some animals may always eat from the bowl on the left before the one on the right, for example). If conducted at home, pet owners can also take note of behaviors before, during, and after consumption.

1. The One-Bowl Method – This method measures the palatability of the food and simulates how pets eat food at home. In place of their normal meal, the test food is placed in a dish and served to the pet. The food is weighed, presented to the pet, and re-weighed after consumption. The amount of food consumed is analyzed to determine acceptance. Multiple foods can be tested with the amount of each compared to see if the pet eats more of one than the other or refuses to eat a food or treat. However, this method cannot determine how much the food is liked or disliked.
   
   
2. The Two-Bowl Method – This method measures preference between two foods or treats. The food is weighed and presented at the same time to the pets. Each bowl will contain half the amount of food the pet typically eats, so they are a normal-sized portion together. The amount of each food is weighed after consumption to determine if the pet ate more of one than the other. This will show us if one food is preferred over the other but won’t tell how much the pet likes either food or what food is liked or disliked. This test replaces the animal’s normal meal but may lead to overeating. Throughout the test, the bowls are presented on both the left and right sides in case the pet is side-biased.
   
   
3. Preference Ranking – This is a new method that can compare up to 5 foods or treats in one session and has only been used with dogs. The food is placed in a Kong toy and held to the dog’s nose, one at a time, to introduce them to the food. The Kongs are placed in a randomized order in a straight line away from the dog and the dog is allowed to remove and eat the treats. Since this task requires work to extract the treat, the food that the dog goes to first is considered their favorite, second their second favorite, and so on. Not all dogs can perform this task, and some may not express a preference for any of the foods or treats. This method is conducted over five replicates, and other dog behaviors, like tail wagging or aversion, can also be noted.

Sensory testing on pet foods benefits both pet food producers and our pets. It helps us provide our dogs and cats with tasty food they will enjoy eating. These creative methods sensory scientists employ are just the beginning of pet food sensory. This field grows and changes as we learn more about our four-legged friends and how to communicate with them. Aren’t you glad you don’t have to taste your pet’s food?

What Can Mérieux NutriSciences do for You?

Our Sensory experts can design and execute sensory and consumer insights testing for you. With three locations in the US and sensory labs in 8 countries globally, Mérieux NutriSciences can meet all of your sensory testing needs.