Studies on the Sensory Properties of Commercial Drinking Waters Using Multivariate Analysis
Studies on Tastes of Waters: Part 2
1994 Volume 41 Issue 11 Pages 810-820
Details
1994 Volume 41 Issue 11 Pages 810-820
Sensory test and compositional analysis were carried out for 37 Japanese and 6 imported commercial drinking waters. Factor analysis for sensory attributes allowed the simplification of the variability between samples into five factors capable of clear interpretation. They were softness, refreshing, aftertaste, mildness, and smell. They contained 75.3% of all information obtained from samples. Water taste was successfully expressed, by linear discriminant function, in terms of a limited number of key components.
Index=-2.30- 7.20 DM-3.81 DM2 + 1.25log Si + 1.36 logHCO3--0.09 Cl--0.09 Mg(mg/l)
In this index, the informations of sensory evaluation about smell were introduced into this model, since the smell was well known to affect badly against the taste of water. For this purpose two dummy variables were adapted, DM1 and DM2. Consequently, the cross-validation error-rate was reduced to 9.1%. In the case of positive index, it means that the sample is tasty. Two components having the plus sign, i.e. Si, HCO3-, is considered attributable a good taste. On the contrary, Cl- and Mg are seemed to confer a bad effect.
