Perceived sensory quality of unpolished pigmented and milled white rices

Purpose To explore and compare consumer perceptions of unpolished pigmented rice and milled white rice between unfamiliar and typical consumers. Design/methodology/approach This study first employed focus groups to explore attitudes and habits relating to rice consumption among British subjects. A sensory descriptive analysis method, Flash Profiling (FP), was then applied on consumer panels in the United Kingdom (UK) and Thailand to gain perceived sensory quality of unfamiliar and typical rice samples. The sensory profiles generated by British and Thai panellists were analysed by Generalised Procrustean Analysis (GPA) and compared based on perceived attributes, dominant characteristics and repeatability. Findings Focus group results suggested that consumer familiarity with rice might influence preferred rice textural quality. The prominent textures of stickiness and bittiness of unpolished pigmented rice were negatively associated with perceived quality in the UK participants The sensory profiles generate...