The Palatability Puzzle: New Innovations Unlocking Pet Preferences

Sensory analysis, the science of evaluating food characteristics through the senses, plays a pivotal role in the pet food industry. It involves assessing food appearance, aroma, taste, and texture. Sensory analysis has long been integral to the human food industry. However, its application in pet food is increasingly recognized as critical in ensuring product quality, palatability, and consumer satisfaction.¹

Palatability directly influences pets' dietary intake to meet their nutritional needs. For pet owners, knowing their pets enjoy their meals brings emotional satisfaction and builds loyalty to a particular brand. As the pet food industry grows and evolves, leveraging sensory analysis strategically is vital for fostering innovation and meeting the increasing expectations of discerning pet owners.

Expert vs. Consumer Evaluations: Understanding the Basics

There are two main ways to evaluate a food’s taste and appeal: expert evaluations and consumer feedback. Expert evaluations use trained tasters who carefully analyze and describe a food’s qualities. They may compare samples to find subtle differences or describe in detail what makes each unique. These tests are used for a variety of purposes, from marketing research to developing new products or quality control.^{1; 2} On the other hand, consumer feedback involves everyday people who use the product. Their feedback is based on their perception and assessment of a food product.

Palatability Testing: Key Methodologies

With pet food, we can easily perform expert analyses in the form of palatability tests to determine pets’ preferences. Palatability refers to how enjoyable an animal finds the taste of its food, which is determined by sensory qualities like taste, flavor, and texture.² Palatability tests play a key role in developing new pet foods or improving old ones, and they are often a crucial factor in determining customer repurchase rates. Ultimately, palatability can make or break a brand.

The palatability of pet foods, at the most basic level, is measured with two different methodologies: 

1. One-Bowl Test: Measures the acceptability of a food by analyzing how much of it is consumed. This method is particularly well-suited for in-home testing environments commonly referred to as IHUTs, or in-home usage tests.
2. Two-Bowl Test: Evaluates preference by offering two food options simultaneously to measure the first choice, total consumption, and intake ratio between the two foods. This method is often used in controlled environments with kennel or laboratory animals, although variations can be adapted for in-home testing.^1-3

Innovative Approaches to Palatability Testing

While these two approaches have been used widely in the past, there are a few new methodologies that allow researchers to gather more in-depth insights into pet food palatability:

Olfactometry

Combining olfactory evaluation with traditional palatability methodologies enhances understanding by isolating and analyzing the critical role of aroma in pet food preferences. Tools like olfactometers and false-bottom bowls help isolate scents, enabling the creation of highly appealing products that enhance both attraction and sustained palatability.^4-7

Behavior Evaluation

Integrating pet behavior evaluation with traditional palatability testing improves understanding by linking observable behaviors to food consumption to assess emotional responses to food. Advanced systems, such as automated feeding stations, track detailed metrics like feeding duration, weight consumed, and eating styles, providing deeper insights into individual preferences and consumption patterns.⁸

Physiological Evaluation

Combining pet physiological evaluation with traditional palatability testing can reveal how physiological responses, such as changes in body temperature and heart rate variability (HRV), correlate with emotional reactions to food. Techniques like infrared thermography and heart rate monitoring provide non-invasive methods to measure responses to palatable stimuli, such as increased eye surface temperature or positive HRV changes.⁸

Cognitive Evaluation

The Conditioned Place Approach Protocol (CPAP) uses associative learning to reveal food preferences and provides stable results less influenced by prior feeding or satiety. While it complements traditional methods like the two-bowl test, its time requirements and training challenges call for careful integration into palatability studies.^{3; 9}

The Role of Human Sensory Panels in Pet Food Development

While palatability tests utilizing pets provide valuable insights into food preferences through observable behaviors like consumption patterns and first-choice selection, these methods have inherent limitations because pets cannot verbalize their experiences or preferences.³ As a result, researchers must rely on indirect measures, such as food intake, body language, or physiological responses, which may not fully capture the complexity of sensory perception or emotional satisfaction. This lack of direct feedback makes it challenging to understand which specific factors drive acceptance or rejection, highlighting the need for human sensory analysis of pet foods to bridge this communication gap.

Human sensory analysis can provide significant insights in the development and assessment of pet food, particularly in the early stages of product testing. Expert human sensory panels evaluate pet food's appearance, aroma, texture, and flavor, describing these attributes with precision using a well-defined lexicon. For instance, attributes such as "barnyard," "brothy," "toasted," and "oxidized oil" are used to characterize aroma and flavor profiles, while physical attributes like "cohesiveness of mass" and "crispness" define texture.¹⁰

Although humans perceive taste and flavor differently than pets—dogs and cats have a heightened olfactory sense and less-developed taste perception—human analysis serves as a valuable proxy for assessing sensory consistency and identifying potential issues before testing on animals. Human panels can offer quantitative and predictive insights into how processing methods and ingredient variations affect palatability.² By integrating human sensory evaluation with advanced instrumental analysis, pet food manufacturers can refine formulations, enhance palatability, and predict how pets and their owners might respond to new products more efficiently and effectively.

Technological Advancements in Sensory Analysis

The recent advancements in sensory analysis for pet food have been driven by technological innovations, data-driven approaches, and sustainability considerations. Tools such as the electronic nose (E-nose) and electronic tongue (E-tongue) are revolutionizing how palatability is assessed, offering faster and more objective methods for analyzing volatile compounds and taste components. Studies have shown that these devices can effectively correlate sensory characteristics with pet preferences, making them valuable for quality control, although their ability to fully capture complex sensory properties remains limited.^{2; 7} Additionally, big data and artificial intelligence are being utilized to predict and enhance palatability, allowing manufacturers to optimize formulations with greater precision. 

Sensory analysis is a vital tool in the pet food industry. It combines traditional methods like one- and two-bowl tests with innovative approaches such as olfactory, behavioral, physiological, and cognitive evaluations to deepen the understanding of palatability. Advanced technologies like electronic noses, electronic tongues, and AI-driven analysis further enhance precision and efficiency. By integrating human and pet-based methodologies, the industry can create highly palatable, high-quality products that meet the needs of pets and their owners, driving satisfaction and brand loyalty in a competitive market.

How BSM Partners Can Help

At BSM Partners, our team of palatability experts is equipped with cutting-edge methodologies and industry-leading insights to help your brand unlock the full potential of your pet products. Whether you're developing a new formulation or refining an existing recipe, we offer tailored solutions to improve palatability and ensure your products delight pets and satisfy their owners.

Partner with us to gain a competitive edge in the pet food market—let’s create products pets will love and owners will trust. Reach out today to learn how we can help elevate your brand!

References

1. Calderón N, White BL, Seo H-S. 2024. Measuring palatability of pet food products: Sensory components, evaluations, challenges, and opportunities. Journal of food science.
2. Koppel K. 2014. Sensory analysis of pet foods. Journal of the science of food and agriculture. 94(11):2148-2153.
3. Aldrich GC, Koppel K. 2015. Pet food palatability evaluation: A review of standard assay techniques and interpretation of results with a primary focus on limitations. Animals. 5(1):43-55.
4. Hall NJ, Péron F, Cambou S, Callejon L, Wynne CDL. 2017. Food and food-odor preferences in dogs: A pilot study. Chemical senses. 42(4):361-370.
5. Basque C, Cambou S, Peron F, Le Paih L, Marzin C, Hanaoka K, Callejon L, Prost C, Lethuaut L. 2019. Food preference and olfactory discrimination tests: A complementary approach to understand the drivers of hedonic responses in dogs. Journal of sensory studies. 34(2):n/a.
6. Pétel C, Baron C, Thomsen M, Callejon L, Péron F. 2018. A new method to assess the influence of odor on food selection in dogs. Journal of sensory studies. 33(1):n/a.
7. Jeong H, Youn MY, Yoon S, Hong SJ, Jo SM, Kim KS, Jeong EJ, Kim H-W, Shin E-C. 2023. Evaluation of the chemosensoric properties of commercially available dog foods using electronic sensors and gc-ms/o analysis. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 28(14):5509.
8. Roguès J, Le Paih L, Forges C, Niceron C, Mehinagic E. 2016. Kinetics of consumption, an innovative tool to measure cat food palatability and satiety. Agricultural and Food Sciences.
9. Tobie C, Péron F, Larose C. 2015. Assessing food preferences in dogs and cats: A review of the current methods. Animals. 5(1):126-137.
10. Di Donfrancesco B, Koppel K, Chambers Iv E. 2012. An initial lexicon for sensory properties of dry dog food. Journal of sensory studies. 27(6):498-510.

Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates on all things happening here at BSM Partners.

About the Author

Neeley Bowden is a Manager of Special Services on the BSM Partners Product Innovation team. She earned her bachelor's degree in pet food production and is pursuing her master's in food science. In her early career, she worked in product innovation of pet food ingredients, focusing on the development of palatability enhancers. Bowden calls her horse farm in South Carolina home, along with her faithful canine, Allie.