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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #428915
Research Project: Improving Evaluation of Catfish Quality and Reducing Fish Waste

Location: Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research

Title: Sensory descriptors of geosmin and variable sensitivity: A multlocation evaluation of US consumers

Author
item Ardoin, Ryan
item Lea, Jeanne
item Dupre, Rebecca
item Mack, Brian

Submitted to: Journal of Sensory Studies
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2026
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Chemicals such as geosmin contribute to "off-flavors" in drinking water and fish products leading to consumer rejection. To provide quality control guidance to these industries, sensory scientists must understand how consumers describe geosmin flavor and at what level the defect is recognizable. This study found that consumers from different regions of the US used different words to describe geosmin in solution. "Earthy" was the most common descriptor overall, but "beets" was favored in the Northeast, and non-native English speakers were more likely to use "moldy "but less likely to use "dirt." At the highest concentration tested, 9% of consumers still could not detect geosmin aroma. These results provide guidance to food and beverage industries where gesomin is considered a defect, as well as researchers working to improve quality of these products.

Technical Abstract: In consumer food/beverage research, selecting appropriate sensory descriptors is necessary to isolate attributes of interest and validly attribute them to associated causes. The odorous compound geosmin was used to investigate effects of regionality, native language, modality (aroma vs. taste), and concentration on consumers’ preferred sensory descriptors. Consumers from three US regions — Midwest (n=186), Northeast (n=114), South (n=188) — selected the most appropriate terms for smell and taste of (+/–)-geosmin solutions (control=0 ng/kg; low=20 ng/kg; medium=200 ng/kg; high=1,000 ng/kg), and perceived intensity was rated on a 4-point categorical scale. Region, language, and concentration had significant (a=0.05) effects on word choice. Earthy was most selected overall, but beets was favored in the Northeast, and non-native English speakers were more likely to select moldy but less likely to select dirt. At the high concentration, 8.6% of consumers appeared anosmic to GSM. These results highlight the importance of considering linguistic features and sensitivity of the target population when designing sensory tests.