Quantitative descriptive analysis of cooked rice was performed to investigate the effect of milling ratios (≈8.0–14.0%, based on brown rice) on sensory characteristics of cooked rice, in relation to physicochemical characteristics of milled rice and cooked rice. The proximate composition of uncooked rice decreased with increased milling while whiteness increased. The initial pasting temperature of rice flour decreased with increased milling while peak, breakdown, and setback viscosities increased. The instrumental texture profile of cooked rice revealed that hardness and chewiness decreased with increased milling while adhesiveness increased. A trained panel found that color, intactness of grains, puffed corn flavor, raw rice flavor, wet cardboard flavor, hay‐like flavor, and bitter taste were lower while glossiness, plumpness, and sweet taste were higher with increased milling. Degree of agglomeration, adhesiveness, cohesiveness of mass, inner moisture, and toothpacking of cooked rice increased while hardness and chewiness decreased with increased milling. Sensory analysis of cooked rice was more discriminating than instrumental texture profile analysis in terms of hardness, adhesiveness, and cohesiveness. There were high negative correlations between descriptive attributes of sweet taste, degree of agglomeration, adhesiveness, cohesiveness of mass, and moisture (r = −0.94 to −0.87), protein (r = −0.96 to −0.83), and fat contents (r = −0.91 to −0.85). Instrumental hardness showed high correlation with sensory hardness (r = 0.80).

If a chi‐squared analysis were to be performed to determine whether preferences were significant in a paired preference test, the appropriate expected frequencies in the analysis would represent those that would occur should the consumers have no preference. One way of determining these ‘no preference’frequencies, for a particular test situation, would be to note the preference responses obtained when the stimuli were putatively identical. Over 2000 consumers were given paired preference tests in which the stimuli were putatively identical. Response conditions and consumer groups were varied and the proportions of preference and no preference responses were noted. In a preliminary experiment, further research was seen to be justified when for putatively identical stimuli, judges did not exclusively express lack of preference; many expressed a preference for one or other of the stimuli. Further experiments were conducted using a written response condition and putatively identical potato chips (potato crisps) as stimuli. Using a single ‘no preference’option, variation in the placement of this option at either first, second or third place on the response sheet had no significant effect on the response frequencies. The proportion of ‘no preference’responses was approximately 30% in all cases. A previously reported 40‐20‐40 distribution was not always confirmed. The experiment was repeated with Korean consumers; these had fewer ‘no preference’responses. Deriving preferences from hedonic scales, rather than having judges respond to preference options, increased the proportion of ‘no preference’responses, with American judges still having more than Korean judges. Yet there are logical objections to extracting preference data from hedonic scales. Increasing the number of ‘no preference’options to two or three, had the effect of increasing the number of ‘no preference’responses up to as much as approximately 60%. Extending the results to Koreans, using two ‘no preference’options, it was seen that only the judges in an anonymous response condition had significantly fewer ‘no preference’responses than Americans. The use of these response frequencies as expected frequencies in chi squared analyses was illustrated, after adjustments for counterbalancing.

Preference tests were performed for varieties of potato chips, orange juices and chocolate chip cookies using three response protocols: the traditional paired preference test with the “no preference” option, a 9‐point hedonic scale and a 6‐point hybrid hedonic/purchase intent scale. The different stimuli to be assessed were presented in pairs, but putatively identical stimuli were also presented as a “placebo” pair. Performance on the placebo pair with identical stimuli provided a measure of the hidden demand characteristics of the test protocol. The presentation of the different pairs provided a measure of preference accompanied by such hidden demand effects. Comparison between the two allowed a better measure of preference per se. The order of presentation of the identical and different pairs did show occasional slight evidence of contrast effects. For the placebo “identical” pairs, a majority of consumers reported false preferences. Liking questions with the hedonic and hybrid scales elicited fewer false preferences than preference questions with the paired preference protocol. Yet, the effects tended to be slight. The 6‐point hedonic/purchase intent scale exhibited the fewest false preferences in the placebo condition, and this was because of its fewer categories rather than any cognitive strategy change elicited by its different labels. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS A problem with paired preference testing is the tendency of consumers to give false preferences, which produces the seriously misleadingoverestimation of the proportion of consumers who have preferences for one or other of the products being assessed. The placebo condition is an important control for alleviating this problem. The statistical analysis can be improved by finding a protocol that maximizes the proportion of “no preference” responses in the placebo condition. The key finding here is that using hedonic or purchase intent questions rather than preference questions may possibly provide a way of achieving this aim.

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The objectives of this study were to understand the sensory attributes that drive consumer liking for tea products and to investigate the effects of consumer age and product information on the acceptance of tea products. Descriptive analysis and consumer taste testing were conducted with 10 canned tea products. In the descriptive analysis, the sensory characteristics of tea products were evaluated using 17 attributes. In the consumer taste testing, 500 tea drinkers were recruited from 5 age groups (that is, ages in the 10′s to 50′s). Each age group was divided into 2 subgroups and rated the acceptance of samples with or without accompanying information about each sample. The General Linear Model was constructed to evaluate the effect of information and age on the liking of the tea products. Preference mapping was performed to understand the important sensory characteristics that drive consumer liking. The non‐sensory factors significantly affected the acceptance for tea products. The younger consumers distinctly preferred black tea to green/oolong tea, but this tendency diminished in the older groups. The majority of consumers liked lemon‐flavored black tea when the product information was not provided. When the information was presented, the acceptance tended to shift to bitter/astringent‐tasting green/oolong teas, which are marketed for their health benefits.