Sensory science & Culinary pleasure

Department

Bachelor's program Biotechnology & Food Engineering

Course unit code

BLT_BA_5_13 b

Number of ECTS credits allocated

2.0

Name of lecturer(s)

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Ladstätter Elisabeth, Dr. rer. nat. Vanzo Elisa

Recommended optional program components

none

Recommended or required reading

- Lawless, H. T., & Heymann, H. (2010). Sensory Evaluation of Food: Principles and Practices. Springer.
- Stone, H., Bleibaum, R., & Thomas, H. A. (2012). Sensory Evaluation Practices. Academic Press.

Level of course unit

Bachelor

Year of study

Fall 2025

Semester when the course unit is delivered

5

Language of instruction

English

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Understand the structure and function of human sensory organs and physiological processes of perception.
• Describe the sensory modalities and their roles in human food perception.
• Develop own sensory competence in taste and aroma recognition.
• Identify and apply different sensory testing methods (discrimination, descriptive, and affective tests).
• Design basic sensory experiments with appropriate controls.
• Perform and interpret statistical analyses of sensory data.
• Evaluate the role of sensory evaluation in food product development and consumer research.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course comprises an interactive mix of lectures, discussions and individual and group work.

Work placement(s)

none