In the Department for Sensory, Physical and Packaging Testing, the following analyses are performed:
- sensory evaluation (assessment of sensory attributes: appearance, odor, color, consistency, taste) of samples including meat, milk, fish, eggs and their products, honey, vegetable oils and fats, starch, spices, additives, protein products, animal feed, etc.;
- verification/correction of food labeling text intended for the domestic market, in accordance with the regulations of the Republic of Serbia;
- visual parasitological examination of meat and fish;
- determination of net weight, weight of meat and fish meat, percentage of water in oil, etc.;
- instrumental determination of the color of meat and meat products (L*, a*, b*);
- artificial digestion method using a magnetic stirrer (trichinoscopy of pork, horse meat and game meat);
- testing the quality of formed seams and the hermetic sealing of cans.
Accredited methods based on SRPS ISO and Codex Alimentarius standards are used in the testing process.
The sensory evaluation is conducted by trained assessors whose sensory abilities are regularly verified through internal and external sensory tests.
External verification of the assessors’ sensory abilities has been successfully conducted annually since 2009, in cooperation with an EU provider of PT tests for sensory analysis.
A significant part of the capacity of the Department for Sensory, Physical and Packaging Testing is focused on verifying the compliance of food product labeling with regulatory documents that prescribe food quality and safety criteria. Based on the results achieved so far and the expertise gained, the Department’s staff are recognized as a specialized and competent group in the interpretation of legislation in the field of food labeling.
The rapid development of new food products and the expansion of product ranges within production categories have led to an increasing interest in conducting comparative sensory analyses for the needs of large retail chains as well as state administration bodies. The aim of these sensory evaluations, depending on the client’s request, is to rank products from the same category according to sensory quality by expert assessors or to determine consumer preference among competing products.