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An insight into the food product development process, including stages such as product testing, prototype production, first production run, and sensory testing. It also covers marketing factors like packaging and promotion. Anderon High School's HIGHER HEALTH & FOOD TECHNOLOGY curriculum document.
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Stage Characteristics Importance to Manufacturer Concept Generation This stage involves developing ideas for new products. It is the ‘thinking stage’ – new ideas are thought up, and gaps in the market are identified. Changes may be made to existing products, for example a popular flavour may be taken forward in an idea for a new and different product. Without this stage the development strategy cannot go forward. This will allow a manufacturer come up with something new and different as they do not want to replicate existing products in the market. This will also allow a manufacturer to potentially reach a wider market audience. Concept Screening All ideas from the previous stage will be considered. Some will be kept to take forward and others that may be costly, difficult to process or do not meet the requirements of the brief will be discarded. The best ideas are taken forward and a specification is written. This stage allows the process to move away from the initial ideas to focus on actual development possibilities. It allows the manufacturer to develop a specification against which to develop ideas. This will ensure the manufacturer will not waste money on ideas that do not meet the specification. Prototype Production A prototype, which is an example of what the product will look like is made. The prototype is tested for appeal and may be further modified or rejected. Manufacturers may produce more than one prototype at this stage. This stage allows the manufacturer to make any changes, if required, to the prototype to ensure it appeals to the target group.
Product Testing This is an important stage as it allows the prototypes to be tested on a range of consumers so an opinion can be obtained. The opinions are used to eliminate or make refinements to the product. This allows the manufacturer to refine further possible solutions, allowing the most suitable and popular product to be kept. Based on the consumer opinions it allows the manufacturer move the product onto the next stage. First Production Run The new product is produced for the first time as a full production run so the item can be assessed. The quality Assurance team will assess the production run for quality and standard of the product. This stage allows the quality- assurance team to test the product to ensure quality and uniformity of standards during the manufacturing process. This stage is important as any changes that need to be made will affect some of the previous stages in the development e.g. changes in ingredients Marketing Plan An advertising campaign is designed to promote the product. Decisions will be made regarding where the product will be sold e.g. corner shop, supermarket. Targeting the market audience will ensure to maximise sales and profit. Product launch This is an important stage of the plan as the item is now on sale. Market monitoring of the product will take place so sales figures will be checked carefully and market research will allow regular feedback. This is important as a range of promotional techniques e.g. special offers will be used to help promote the sales of the product. From experience gained here the manufacturer can adjust the approach to ensure sales are good before using it more widely.
Disassembly of products To disassemble means to take something apart. A food product can be disassembled to find out more information about it, such as how it was designed, and the function of the ingredients. By carefully taking a product apart and weighing each separate ingredient, more information will be gained about the compositions and proportions of a food product. This will give an idea of why a product is successful, or how it could be improved. A manufacturer may disassemble products in order to assess existing products, or to get ideas for a new range of products. A Trading Standards Officer may disassemble a product in order to check manufacturers are meeting legal requirements and packaging claims. Stages of disassembly:
Sensory Testing Sensory Testing is essential to judge the success of a food product. Sensory testing involves using one or more tests to assess different characteristics of food such as appearance, texture, flavour and aroma, as manufacturers want to determine the effect s of different ingredients or the proportion of ingredients on their products. The overall acceptability of a product is extremely important to food manufacturers. They rely on tasting panels to judge the quality of their product through identifying thei r preference about a product during sensory testing. All tasting is carried out under controlled conditions, but the same conditions to ensure it is fair. Types of Sensory tests Sensory Test Description of Test Benefits to Food Manufacturers PREFERENCE TEST - RANKING TEST Tasters rank similar foods in order of preference e.g. cheese and tomato pizzas. Products Order Comments A B C D E Supplies information about peoples’ likes and dislikes for a food product. They are not intended to evaluate specific characteristics such as crunchiness or smoothness. Helps find out if new food product is acceptable. Helps identify if one product is more popular than another. RATING TEST Tasters are given a scale and are asked to rate the product for a number of characteristics e.g. smooth, sweet, crispy etc. Helps collect information about specific characteristics of a food product. Can discover if a new food product is suitable for the brief. 1 2 3 A B C PAIRED COMPARISON TEST Tasters taste two samples of similar foods for preference. Find out which prototype is preferred. Find out if tasters notice a change e.g. reduced salt/fat/sugar. PROFILING TEST Tasters rate a number of characteristics of a food product e.g. sweet, spicy, golden, crisp, smooth, colourful. Useful to compare similar food products to find out about their suitability. Helps to assess overall acceptability.
Profiling test or star diagrams Characteristics of a product can be profiled and then compared with other samples of a competitor’s product. The diagram shown is called a star diagram because it is drawn in the shape of a star. Each line of the star is marked on a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 is the least and 5 is the most), and each line is labelled with a descriptor – a word which describes the food product. The star can have as many or as few lines as required; it depends on how many words there are to describe the product. These results show that this tomato sauce has a good colour, flavour, thickness and average acidity and sweetness. Manufacturers use this method to compare their own products with one, which is popular with consumers, in order to see where they need to improve their own product. Saltiness Acidity Red colour Tomatoe-ness Smoothness Thickness Sweetness Flavour
It is useful to have a vocabulary of words to describe food products. S ome suggestions are given below: Characteristics Word bank Appearance Greyish, pale, dark, separating, off-colour, lumpy, glutinous, bright, firm, dull, runny, light Texture Soft, smooth, crunchy, crisp, creamy, chewy, hard, sticky, crumbly, tough, tender, lumpy, gritty, watery, thick, dry, moist, oily, greasy, light, heavy, spongy, firm Flavour Sour, sweet, bitter, salty, acidic, spicy, mild, weak, strong, savoury, sharp, fruity, bland, tangy, peppery, juicy Aroma Sour, spicy, fruity, yeasty, burnt, sweet, floral, roasted, rancid Overall acceptability and quality Appetising, appealing, attractive, enjoyable, tasty, acceptable, pleasant, unattractive, good, bad, awful, delicious, lacks flavour, golden brown, good colour, pale, bright, dull, unacceptable. EXAM TIP: You must be able to NAME and EXPLAIN the different types of sensory tests and when they would be used. In a Star Profile Question, remember to use the KEY: 5=very high 4=high 3=neither high nor low 2=low 1=very low In all sensory test questions, remember to link your answer back to the individual in the case study and the product being tested.
