Current status and perspectives of the official sensory control methods in protected designation of origin food products and wines

Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is part of the regulated quality schemes in the European Union (EU). Producers of PDO food products and wines have to present EU authorities a technical specification of their product, which includes its sensory description. European regulation 1151/12 establishes that sensory characteristics included in PDO certification must be guaranteed. Nevertheless, there is no standardized approach for the development of sensory control methods for PDO food products, so each entity in charge of controlling the characteristics of the PDO products decides the best way to follow this legal requirement. This paper presents the current situation in Spain, Italy and France in relation to the official sensory control of PDO food products and wines and the accreditation of the laboratories for this control (these three countries represent 68.9% of the total PDO products registered in the EU). This manuscript also shows the main methodologies applied in the official sensory control of PDO food products and wines. The wide diversity of methods used for the sensory control and associated panel management among PDOs manifests the need to harmonize technical criteria and references at European level. This is also urgent, because broad differences in the approaches and requirements for sensory control could bring about unfair competition among PDOs. In this sense, European Sensory Science Society (E3S) has become an EA recognized stakeholder collaborating in a framework in order to prepare a document for the harmonization of methodological approaches and technical criteria for the sensory control of PDO food products and wines.