Evening star., 1937-11-08
I Usually meat judging takes place

loOALi iucdt JuuBlIiB lakes place
about o'clock in the afternoon.
The trained judges meet around
table. Ordinarily there are from
three to five of them. In front of
each Judge is glass of water, a plates
a fork and pairing knife, and tart
apple. AS each slice of unseasoned
meat is put before him he taste-tests
it and records his opinions on a
standard score card.
Lets look in on a session Of the
pork taste-testers. This time there
are four judges assembled. In comes
girl with the first samples - four
small pieces of pork from the first
roast. She sets plate In front of
each judge. The judge lifts the piece
so that he can smell the aroma while
the pork Is hot. He records his
opinion. And he judges both how
strong the flavor is and whether or
not he likes it.
Next he notes the texture-how
hne the grain is. Then he eats a bit
OF the fat. He tastes this for intensity
and desirability. He does the same for
the lean. He records his opinion of
the tenderness of the meat. He notes
how much juice there is and how rich
that juice tastes to him. Then he
marks the color of the lean and of the
fat.
Carefully he looks over the score
card and signs his name. All is done
for one sample. The judge takes a
sip of water and eats slice of tart
apple. The taste of the last sample
is gone and he's ready for sample
No. 2.
Meanwhile, out in the kitchen, the
roasts are emerging from the oven at
intervals Of about 10 minutes. This
allows time for the judges to taste each
one and for carving and doing the
statistical work that needs to be done
in the kitchen.
"S1NCE the opinions of all the judges
are recorded on standard score
sheets, it is possible to compare and
correlate the results. Then these re-
suits may be sent back to the pro-
ducer. Thus he finds what the con-
sumner will probably like. Since he
knows the whole history Of the pro-
duction Of the animal, he can duplicate
it for meats that should sell well on
the market.
In the bread-f1avor tests being car
ried on now the IA selected judges
never have more than three samples
to taste at once. At IL o'clock, several
mornings q week, each judge gets a
paper sack. In this sack are the three
samples. He smells them, tastes them
and records his preferences on a score
card. The samples are varied in many
significant ways. One day the breads
are mixed by three different methods.
The next variable may be the class of
wheat used in each. Each different
factor is judged at least twice. When
the final results Of this experiment are
correlated they will go to bread pro-
ducers who may profit by it.
THE bureau has conducted num-
Der of other taste tests. In one they
fried potato chips in different types of
fats to find the ones best adapted for
deep-fat frying. In another they tried
the different kinds of fats in biscuits
to test the effect on flavor. From year
to year tests are made of soy bean va
rieties. potato varieties and of the
various production factors that influ-
ence the table quality Of potatoes.
"In all these cases the value of the
taste test lies in the fact that it en-
ables the producer to estimate how the
consumer will react to his product.
And he can look to the experimental
data to find how to meet their pref
erences."