(12/23/24) BATON ROUGE, La. — Before they hit grocery shelves with labels that shout, “New and Improved!” or “Lower in Calories,” some foods first pass a gauntlet of everyday Louisianans who taste, smell and scrutinize the product in a lab in Baton Rouge.

For a decade, the LSU AgCenter Food Innovation Institute (FOODii) Sensory Services Lab has recruited consumers to taste coffee, rice milk, fish filets and dozens of other products and answer carefully designed surveys to help food scientists decide what version of their products get to market.

“We perform the study, and we interpret the result,” said Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, a professor of nutrition and food sciences with the AgCenter. “They make their own recommendations. We realize what we have done for the company when we see the product in the store.”

The Sensory Services Lab was a long-term goal for Prinyawiwatkul early in his career. More than 20 years ago, he began sketching designs of a possible facility. In 2014, when the Animal and Food Sciences Laboratory Building on the LSU campus was completed, the 47,550-square-foot building housed a professional test kitchen, a demonstration kitchen, 29 laboratories and the sensory lab on the first floor.

Performing tests for food companies creates revenue for the AgCenter nutrition and food sciences program, and the lab provides students in the program with experience running studies and developing their own products.

“It benefits students,” said Yupeng Gao, a research and development scientist at the lab. “Students learn what the industry wants, and they practice and gain experience for their jobs.”

Companies from all over the world have used the lab to study new foods and revamp existing recipes. An international brand may want to test a product on American consumers before taking on the expense of entering the market. Or a company may need to replace an ingredient or change suppliers for one, and the food scientists will test whether possible customers can taste the difference in the product.

Working with the food industry

When Godshall's Quality Meats Inc. needed to switch ingredients in its turkey bacon recipe and try different sausage links, staff at the Pennsylvania-based wood-smoked meat company contacted the team at the Sensory Services Lab.

“I know the work they do, and I know about the service and how detailed they are, so I trust the outcome,” said Reshani Senevirathne, the director of food science at Godshall's and an LSU alumna.

For food product companies, AgCenter food scientists design a study that zeroes in on the important information needed and removes subjectivity from the sample. Volunteers sit in specially designed booths to sample the products and answer a carefully created survey. They receive no packaging and no clues about the identity of the manufacturer.

The McIlhenny Company, which produces Tabasco in Avery Island, Louisiana, has worked with the lab to try new sauces and different production methods, said Charlie Cheng, director of research and development for the company.

Occasionally, studies at the lab emanate from a government agency. Food scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research Unit at the Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans use the lab to test rice and aquaculture products in their work to assist farmers and food processors in creating competitive products for consumers.

“We're looking at the whole gamut of sensory evaluations — color, mouthfeel, taste, flavor and aroma,” said Ryan Ardoin, a food sensory scientist for the USDA.

Ardoin has used the lab’s resources to test rice milk and a sorghum beverage as well as trout and catfish.

“There are some so-called off flavors that affect fish quality in the eyes of the consumer, and it allows foreign competitors to occupy some of our U.S. market,” he said. “We want to make our domestic commodities more competitive, so with this fish taste test that we've been running, we're trying to understand and solve the off-flavor problems in aquaculture.”

Some testing occurs outside of the lab. The scientists have taken coffee makers to other LSU-affiliated offices for tests in break rooms and employee lounges. Occasionally, companies request an at-home test, and the lab will send ingredients to a small group of consumers who prepare a meal and then complete an online survey and send in a photo of the finished product. The lab can also perform studies on nonfood items such as personal care products and anything else that consumers experience through taste, smell, sight and feel.

Connecting with the community

Many study participants come from the LSU community of students, staff and faculty. The lab is a short walk from the office of Nicole Schmitz, department coordinator and program adviser for the LSU Department of Public Administration.

“I think it helps the research that students are doing, and I know that I am not old, but I'm of an older age demographic than the majority of folks on campus, i.e., students,” Schmitz said after sampling light roast coffee in the fall of 2024.

In 2017, the lab created Tiger Tasters, a database of consumers outside of the LSU community that helps them recruit a targeted demographic. Those interested can join by completing a survey on the AgCenter website. Study participants usually get rewarded with a gift like ice cream from the AgCenter Dairy Store, a mug, a blanket or a gift card.

Tiger Tasters has grown popular, with more than 1,000 Baton Rouge-area volunteers on the list. Word spreads about the program, and tasters recommend it to friends, Gutierrez said.

“It’s a nice connection to the community,” Gutierrez said. “We can’t say what it is that we’re doing because the companies don’t want them to know, but they really enjoy it because they feel like they’re having an input on what is being launched in the stores.””

Bryan Gueltig, the Pesticide Safety Education Program coordinator for the LSU AgCenter, reacts to a taste test question after drinking coffee during a study at the Sensory Services Laboratory. Photo by Kyle Peveto/LSU AgCenter

Study participants taste three different coffee samples during a study at the Sensory Services Laboratory in October. Photo by Kyle Peveto/LSU AgCenter

A member of the LSU AgCenter Food Innovation Institute (FOODii) Sensory Services Lab team distributes coffee cups for testing during a study at the Sensory Services Laboratory. Photo by Kyle Peveto/LSU AgCenter

A study participant fills out a survey after tasting one of three different coffee samples during a study at the Sensory Services Laboratory in October. Photo by Kyle Peveto/LSU AgCenter