Consumer texture descriptions of a set of processed cheese

• Gathering product sensory characteristics directly from consumers leads to a predominant use of objective terms.
• A glossary of consumer terms were extracted for processed cheese by applying frequency-based analysis.
• 9 terms were identified as main common characteristics among products at the aggregated level.
• 27 terms were identified as products specificities at individual level.

The aim of this study was to characterize the texture of a set of processed cheeses by consumers taking diversity in perception, handling the product and vocabulary into account. Hence, a free-text comment methodology using a personal approach was investigated to answer the following questions: Which are the terms frequently generated by consumers? Which are the main characteristics of products based on consumer descriptions? Are we able to identify the texture specificities of a product or a group of products?A set of 20 products representing the texture diversity in the processed cheese market were studied. The term frequencies were studied for the entire product set. In total, 550 different terms were generated, among which, 9 terms Sticky, Shiny, Yellow, Smooth, Compact, Hard, Spreadable, Creamy and Easy to spread were the most frequently elicited by the consumers. In addition, the product profiles were obtained on the basis of the products’ main characteristics. Specific terms and differences in frequencies were then studied for each product.This approach made it possible to describe the products by means of the terms given by consumers. In particular, common characteristics among some products raise the question of the relationship between product description and formulation factors.