Food Science

Odor Recognition Lab

Date October, 6th 2014
Group Member Names:

Preme, Ravisara, Karnjanolarn

Yok, Piyamon, Piyabootr
Mind, Poonnapha, Kittiratanaviwat
Nice, Sirirat, Jittakajornkait

Purpose: To identify different substances using our sense of smell only.

Procedure

Draw Data Table

Obtain 2 samplesof odorous material, both

food and non-food, in coded cup.

Sniff the first sample. Record your

identification in your data table.

Repeat the second Sample.

When your group is finished, rotate the samples with

the other groups, recieving 2 samples at a time, until
your group has identified all 12 samples.

Record the actual identification of each sample.

Data Table
Substance
Code

Nices
Identification

Premes
Identification

Yoks
Identification

Minds Identification

Actual Identification

Cumin

Curry flavor

Curry

Herbs

Cumin

Chinese Plum

Chinese Plum

Chinese Plum

Chinese Plum

Dried Strawberry

Chili

Chili

Japanese Chili

Chili

Fried garlic

Fried garlic

Fried garlic

Fried garlic

Ground/
Roasted chili
Fried onion

Curry flavor

Herbs

Herbs

Curry flavor

Coriander powder

Garlic

Garlic

Garlic

Garlic

Fried garlic

Chrysanthamum tea

Chili

Chili

Chili in instant noodle

Chrysanthamum tea

Peanut

Macadamia
nuts

Nuts
(green peas)

Peanut

Mushrooms

Perfume

Soap

Cherry

Soap

Almond flavor

10
11

Oregano
Fish sauce

Oregano
Fish sauce

Oregano
Fish sauce

Oregano
Fish sauce

Rose marry
Fish Sauce

12

Dried potato

Red beans

Red beans

Red beans

Cranberry

Analyzing Results Questions

1. How many of the 12 substances did your group identify correctly?
Preme, Yok and Mind identified 2 substances correctly, but Nice can identify 4
of the substances correctly.
2. Compare results to the other class members. What were the highest and the
lowest number of correct identification?
Comparing the results to others, the highest score of the class is 5 of correct
identification. But the lowest score is 1 of correct identification.
3. Which substances were the hardest and the easiest to identify? Why?
In our group, we decided that the easiest is fish sauce because it has the
outstanding smell and we were familiar to this smell. And the hardest smell is
strawberry because the smell is confused about the smell of fruits and also
imprecision. So, we all answer it incorrectly.
4. What does this experiment tell you about the interaction of the senses?
Sometimes, sense of smell does not accurate because we cannot see and touch
it. Therefore, the senses are depended on other senses.
Conclusion
In food science class, we did the odor recognition experiment. We found out
that our group identification is not accurate to the actual identification. However, the
members in our group identified precisely to each other. From this experiment, it
made us knew how to recognize the differences between the smells, which is an
important thing in food science.