Consumer acceptability tests also called affective tests, assess the degree of liking of a product based on its sensory appeal to consumers. Potential consumers of the target product perform the test. Usually, greater than 50 participants are required to conduct the test and should be screened for product usage prior to the actual test. A common way to assess acceptability is through hedonic scales where the participants indicate how much they like or dislike the sample in terms of a specific sensory property, such as appearance, flavor, taste, and texture, and can also include overall liking/acceptance.

A descriptive sensory evaluation provides a detailed profile of a food product’s sensory attributes, as well as a qualitative measurement of each attribute’s intensity. Descriptive analysis is conducted by the panel who have been specifically trained to obtain a comprehensive analysis of the key qualitative sensory descriptors.

Sensory evaluations can assist food manufacturers at nearly every stage of the production process including:

• Research and development

• Quality control

• Define product attributes

• Product comparison

• Shelf-life studies

Whether the goal is to identify the product’s natural attributes, create a specific profile, or understand the perceptions and preferences of potential customers, conducting a sensory evaluation is crucial to success.

Sustainability refers to the use of resources within the capacity to supply in the environment. Since the current consumption trend exceeds the resources that the earth can supply, not only the quality of human life is rapidly deteriorating in the medium to long term, but it is also threatening human survival. Sustainable food refers to food that minimizes the resources input for food production, and if the food has the same nutritional composition, it refers to food in which fewer resources are inputted to produce it. Since the demand for sustainable food has very important implications from the environmental and ethical aspects of food, we intend to study how the preference for sustainable food can be stably formed in the market.

As food intake through processed foods increased, the use of salt was increased to enhance consumer preference which emphasizes the sharp taste of the product. As a result, the average daily sodium intake of Korean is about twice as much as the recommended daily sodium intake of WHO. Therefore, in order to contribute to the health of people by reducing sodium intake, which is the cause of high blood pressure, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, our laboratory is conducting research on sodium reduction in processed foods through various consumer tests. In particular, we are conducting research on sodium reduction by comparing the sensory characteristics of sodium-reducing products with sodium substitutes and flavor enhancers compared to the original product.

In the food and drink industry, reducing sugar content, swapping out the white stuff for sweeteners and natural alternatives has become the top priority for food innovators and manufacturers the world over and across countless applications in order to improve human health. Therefore, our lab investigates the sweetness potency(relative sweetness) of various innovative sweeteners by using specific methods and find out the best-blended sweeteners that can apply to specific food and beverage system without changing the original taste of food products.

Cross-cultural studies on food and nutrition issues are an important tool that could help understand factors that influence eating behavior and the environmental variables both from global and local perspectives. Cross-cultural studies show important differences in food-related aspects and these differences are expressed both in terms of food choice and consumption patterns, as well as in beliefs, attitudes, or lifestyles even in relatively homogenous countries. Especially, the familiarity of food has a strong influence on liking and perception as it is influenced by not only similarity in food culture, but also information, degree of exposure, and personal attitudes such as neophobia or variety seeking. Thus, we conduct cross-cultural studies in wider perspectives considering the aforementioned factors to gain a deeper insight into foreign consumers' liking and perception of novel ethnic food.