Taint testing is carried out to determine if materials can taint other 
materials or foodstuffs.

Discriminative test methods are concerned with establishing whether there are detectable differences between samples, and are often used in quality control. The assessors are not trained to make absolute judgments, so a reference or control sample is always tasted along with experimental samples.

Taint Tests: To determine the tainting properties of a 'sample'. For example, CRT has a wide range of experience with silicone and polyurethane type sealants, mouldings, storage and freight containers, food products, as well as insulation materials.

In order to "Taint Test" a freight container for example, samples of unsalted butter are exposed in the precooled container for a period of three days, along with a 'control' sample sealed in a glass desiccator and then assessed by the experienced panel at CRT.

Difference Tests: Difference tests are employed to compare two samples to see whether there is a difference between them. Outline methods for these tests are given in the British Standard 5929. 

Triangle Test 
Paired Comparison Test 
Duo-Trio Test 
Two-From-Five Test 
All the difference methods involve a comparison of two sets of samples, which will be referred to as A and B, although when presented to the tasters, these samples would be labelled with random number codes.

Triangular Test:
The type of taste test performed at CRT and also the most popular difference method, in which each taster is presented with three portions, two of one sample and one portion of the other. 
There are six permutations in this test, namely; AAB, ABA, BAA, ABB, BAB, and BBA. Each permutation should be presented to approximately one-sixth of the tasters.

Please contact us for further information including pricing for taint tests on structures or samples.