A novel approach to assess temporal sensory perception of muscle foods: Application of a time-intensity technique to diverse Iberian meat products

- Temporal and static sensory characteristics of three meat products were studied.
- TI allowed assessing the impact of meat matrix on sensory temporal perception.
- Differences in the information provided by two sensory methods were discussed.
- TI curves for spicy flavor and juiciness showed clear differences between products.

Although dynamic sensory techniques such as time-intensity (TI) have been applied to certain meat products, existing knowledge regarding the temporal sensory perception of muscle foods is still limited. The objective of the present study was to apply TI to the flavour and texture perception of three different Iberian meat products: liver pâté, dry-cured sausages (“salchichon”) and dry-cured loin. Moreover, the advantages of using dynamic versus static sensory techniques were explored by subjecting the same products to a quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). TI was a suitable technique to assess the impact of composition and structure of the three meat products on flavour and texture perception from a dynamic perspective. TI parameters extracted from the TI-curves and related to temporal perception enabled the detection of clear differences in sensory temporal perception between the meat products and provided additional insight on sensory perception compared to the conventional static sensory technique (QDA).