Kate Bailey of Kerry reviews the different strategies that have been adopted for sensory and consumer research in lockdown.

People are at the heart of sensory and consumer research, so earlier this year when the news started to spread of a novel coronavirus that would impact almost every aspect of people's lives worldwide, many companies started to consider whether it was still possible to carry out this type of research.

From family favourites to innovative foods to lighten consumers’ moods, the food industry is an essential part of people's lives and as a key part of the food chain, R&D needed to keep going! Many companies took a step back and thought about different ways of working. For those of us in sensory and consumer research considering how to work within the restrictions, it was both a challenge and an opportunity for innovative and creative thinking.

Typically, both sensory evaluation and consumer research involves a number of participants coming to one particular place or site to carry out evaluation of products. Instead of participants coming to site, one option explored was testing at home. Participants either came and collected samples or had them delivered via courier or post. One company even set up a ‘drive‐through’ style hatch so people could collect their ‘packs’ without getting out of the car! This had the benefit of minimising interactions for both parties and, like a good takeaway, it is important to include all the right things in those packs: the samples (obviously!), but also all those things that you normally take for granted when participating in an assessment on site – cutlery, napkins and palette cleansers, such as crackers and bottled water. Of course, clear instructions from start to finish need to be included. Do the samples need to be quarantined? Are they to be assessed as they are, or do they need to be shaken, stirred, or evaluated at a certain temperature? What should be done with any excess sample?

克里的凯特·贝利（Kate Bailey）回顾了用于锁定方面的感官和消费者研究的不同策略。

人们是感官和消费者研究的核心，因此，今年年初，当新闻开始传播一种新型冠状病毒的消息时，这种冠状病毒将影响全世界人们的生活的几乎各个方面，许多公司开始考虑是否仍然有可能进行这项研究。研究类型。

从家庭喜爱的食品到创新食品以减轻消费者的情绪，食品行业是人们生活中必不可少的部分，并且作为食品链的关键部分，研发需要不断发展！许多公司退后一步，思考了不同的工作方式。对于我们这些在感官和消费者研究中考虑如何在限制范围内工作的人来说，这既是挑战又是创新思维的机会。

通常，感官评估和消费者研究都需要许多参与者到一个特定的地点或地点进行产品评估。除了参与者没有来现场，探索的一种选择是在家进行测试。参与者要么来收集样品，要么通过快递或邮寄的方式来运送。一家公司甚至设置了“开车通过”式的舱口盖，这样人们就可以在不下车的情况下收集“行李”！这样做的好处是可以最大程度地减少双方的互动，并且像外卖一样，在这些数据包中包括所有正确的东西很重要：样本（显然是！），但也包括您通常在参与时理所当然的所有那些东西。在现场评估中–餐具，餐巾纸和调色板清洁剂，例如饼干和瓶装水。当然，需要包括从头到尾的明确说明。样品是否需要隔离？是否按原样对其进行评估，还是需要在一定温度下摇动，搅拌或评估它们？多余的样品该怎么办？