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INGREDIENTS
A Technical Guide to Sugar Reduction Food Ingredients
Optimize your formulation with the latest sugar reduction food ingredients. Explore North American sensory and chemistry services for clean-label...
Food Sensory
Mérieux NutriSciences’ food sensory services empower you to assess the excellence of your products, uncover fresh consumer perspectives, conduct thorough product comparisons against competitors, and foster innovative product concepts, all in a centralized hub. View our sensory infographic to learn more!
Exploring Market Potential Through Sensory Insights
We have developed a straightforward process that harnesses the strength of our extensive portfolio of sensory and consumer tools and methodologies. This enables us to assist you in uncovering lucrative opportunities in unexplored markets, optimizing the profitability of your products and actions, and fostering a lasting connection between your consumers and your brand. Our advanced research dives deep into consumer understanding, empowering you to shape your marketing strategy by precisely measuring and highlighting your product's sensory elements. We offer the following services:
Descriptive Analysis
We employ a team of skilled experts and advanced techniques to thoroughly examine product attributes and sensory profiles. Our services empower you to fine-tune your products for optimal sensory appeal and consumer satisfaction using descriptive analysis.
Refine your product's sensory profile with precision data from our expert panel. →
Physical Testing and Specification Creation
We specialize in enhancing the sensory elements of your products. Our team of experts utilizes cutting-edge techniques to carefully analyze and determine the sensory attributes, enabling you to create exceptional products that exceed expectations regarding taste, texture, and overall sensory experience.
Define the technical benchmarks of quality to ensure a consistent, superior sensory experience. →
Consumer Testing
Consumer testing encompasses a large portion of sensory objectives to understand your product through your consumers’ perceptions. In addition to collecting data on liking and preferences, we are able to identify the key product characteristics that drive consumers’ overall liking for your product type. Bring your target audience into a centralized, controlled location to receive your consumers’ quantitative and qualitative feedback to ensure the continued success of your product.
Capture actionable feedback to identify the specific attributes that drive consumer preference. →
In-Home Use Testing (IHUT)
In-home use Testing is vital to understanding how consumers feel about a food or non-food product in the context of their real lives. Mérieux NutriSciences sends consumers home with a testing kit and comprehensive product evaluation instructions. The home users put their feedback directly into our Sensory software system for fast and agile data analysis.
Discover how your product performs in the natural environment of your consumer's home. →
Focus Groups
To parse out the nuances of complex consumer relationships, we utilize focus groups and one-on-one interviews. This deeper dive helps better understand the thoughts and behaviors consumers have towards food or non-food products or product concepts, with comprehensive reporting to summarize findings.
Uncover the deep-seated "why" behind consumer behavior through expert-led qualitative dialogue. →
Difference Testing
When you need to know that your product will not change due to production adjustments, ingredient substitutions, or new supplier onboarding, difference testing is a cost-effective and direct way to determine whether panelists can detect those changes in the final product.
Maintain brand integrity and ensure consistency through every ingredient or production change. →
Training
Mérieux NutriSciences has personable and highly trained Sensory Scientists available to train your diverse teams to meet any needs. We work with you to create a training program suitable for your stakeholders, from Operations & Quality, to Marketing and Sales.
Empower your internal teams with the sensory skills needed to drive quality and innovation. →
Sensory Program Management
Sensory evaluation is an important component of a robust quality monitoring program. Mérieux NutriSciences is a partner to host supplier sensory cuttings within one of our testing facilities or at your site. Sensory program management can be set up as a stand-alone service or in conjunction with a Mérieux NutriSciences-managed quality monitoring program.
Sensory Shelf Life Testing
See how consumer liking and product profiles change over time within our specialized Shelf Life Study capabilities.
Customized Training
Our expert Sensory Scientists offer customizable training tailored to your company's objectives. After an initial consultation, we design a program that aligns with the needs of all stakeholders, including Operations, Quality, Marketing, and Sales. Topics covered include:
Sensory Basics Series
Standardizing sensory language across stakeholders
Understanding product profiles and potential off-notes
Understanding how to taste or score products on a sensory scale
Enhance Your Product and Consumer Insight with Our Analytical Testing Network
Correlation of Sensory with Analytical Testing
Mérieux NutriSciences' Sensory team is able to coordinate your study with our global network of analytical testing services to supplement your sensory data. Quantitative texture, ph, moisture, color, and/or fat oxidation tests are just a few examples of popular tests to correlate with sensory.Testing With Special Populations and Products
Testing with special populations can be tricky. Mérieux NutriSciences has experience testing with groups like children or specific career professionals; we design these tests to be easily accessible to the target populations. We also test with sensitive products like alcohol, energy drinks, or smoking cessation gum in a manner that is safe for the consumers yet still provides actionable data.
Collaborate with External Partners for Additional Regional Demographics
Through our expansive network, we have access to partner labs to accommodate your project’s regional demographic needs. We work collaboratively with our partners to ensure consistency across all testing locations.
Testing Locations
We guarantee the safety and quality of food across the United States with our laboratories, coupled with our team of seasoned professionals, provide sensory testing and innovative research services, among others.
Addison, IL
Fifteen sensory booths with full service commercial and consumer kitchen equipment. Quick disconnect kitchen equipment allows for temporary installation of custom equipment to support your project.
Bentonville, AR
Sixteen sensory booths with large commercial and consumer kitchens. Specialized commercial kitchen equipment to accommodate particular cooking and holding requests.
Gainesville, FL
Ten sensory booths with commercial and consumer style equipment including commercial fryers - great for testing food service and retail products.
Arkansas • Bentonville
Address
3100 SE C St.
Bentonville, AR 72712
Phone
1-877-777-6375
Services
Sensory
Florida • Gainesville
Address
2183 SE Hawthorne Rd.
Gainesville, FL 32641
Phone
1-877-777-6375
Services
Microbiology
Chemistry
Research and Sensory Services
Illinois • Addison
Address
800 S. Rohlwing Rd
Addison, IL 60101
Phone
(630) 617-2000
Services
Clinical Research
Sensory and Consumer Insights
Food Sensory Resources
SENSORY
A Leader’s Guide to Sensory Evaluation in R&D and Quality Control
Discover how sensory evaluation supports food innovation, quality assurance, and consumer preference through data-driven sensory evaluation methods.
INGREDIENTS
Understanding Shelf Life and Stability in Food Products
Explore shelf life and stability in food science. Learn how formulation, packaging, and storage impact safety, quality, and regulatory compliance.
Sensory Methodology Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do consulting firms assist with food product sensory optimization?
A strategic sensory partner doesn't just provide raw data; they provide a roadmap for formulation success. Through sensory optimization, we help you identify the specific drivers of preference within your category. By mapping your product against competitors, we can determine the exact sensory "sweet spot" to increase market share and consumer loyalty.
How do professional food sensory panels work in product development?
Professional sensory panels serve as an objective analytical instrument to quantify a product's attributes. Unlike consumer panels that focus on "liking," these trained experts use standardized methodologies to evaluate flavor intensity, mouthfeel, and aroma. By integrating these panels into the R&D process, companies can pinpoint exactly how formulation changes affect the sensory profile, ensuring the final product aligns with the initial gold standard.
What distinguishes the leading food sensory testing labs in the United States?
Top-tier laboratories, such as Mérieux NutriSciences, are distinguished by their technical rigor, geographic footprint, and "Pracademic" approach. Leading labs offer controlled, state-of-the-art facilities (CLT), robust recruitment databases for authentic home-use testing (IHUT), and a team of tenured Sensory Scientists who ensure every study is statistically significant and legally defensible.
Where can I find professional food texture analysis services?
Mérieux NutriSciences provides comprehensive texture analysis that combines physical testing—using specialized instrumentation like texture analyzers—with trained sensory panels. This dual approach allows us to measure objective data points like "shear force" and "viscosity" and translate them into the human experience of crispness, creaminess, or chewiness.