Use of the “SMURF” in taste analysis

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Abstract
An improved moving chart recording of intensity/time of taste response has been achieved using a potentiometer ‘dial box’ linked by a cable to a Telsec recorder. The device allows rates of taste response to be determined and is described as a Sensory Measuring Unit for Recording Flux (SMURF) on the assumption that the flux of stimuli at the taste receptor is responsible for the time course of response. Fourteen trained and sixteen untrained panellists evaluated one standard and four unknown sucrose solutions using the SMURF and determined their intensity and persistence time of response for each of these same solutions by conventional interval scaling and use of a stop-clock. The SMURF gave results which were higher (but not significantly so) than the conventional method. Trained panellists tended to prefer the SMURF and found it quicker and easier to use than the conventional method. Untrained panellists tended to prefer the conventional method but these results were generally not significant. The SMURF is therefore an extremely useful device in reducing time and effort whilst still maintaining accuracy in the measurement of intensity and time of taste response. The SMURF was also used to obtain intensity/time data for three other sugars so that a comparison between the sugars could be made.

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