Masan Consumer shares insights into sensory and consumer science at SPISE 2024 held in HCM City from July 26 to 27. — Photo Courtesy of Masan

HCM CITY — Masan Consumer has shared insights into sensory and consumer science at the Summer Programme in Sensory Evaluation (SPISE) 2024 held in HCM City.

SPISE, an international symposium, brings together global experts in sensory science, consumer science, applied statistics and machine learning.

The event allowed scientists, students, and businesses worldwide to interact with top scientists.

Between July 26 and 27, SPISE 2024 attracted over 100 professors, scientists, and R&D teams from many countries, including the US, France, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. There were also representatives from the University of Texas, Zensho Holding in Japan, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Institut Agro-Rennes Angers, and more.

This year's symposium aimed to promote digital transformation and consumer science within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.

Some Vietnamese food and FMCG companies, such as Masan Consumer, Vinamilk, Suntory, and Vinasoy, participated in the symposium. The event discussed the latest topics in developing products, researching consumer behavior, and applying machine learning to big data processing to meet the increasing and diverse needs of Vietnamese consumers and expand exports to international markets.

Lê Thị Nga, deputy CEO and chief R&D officer of Masan Consumer, said sensory science has been applied to the company's recently developed Consumer Innovative Centre and Consumer-In-Love models (CIC & CIL).

“This new approach allows us to communicate directly and work closely with consumers using qualitative and quantitative methodologies," she said.

At Masan Consumer, sensory science application in the product development process greatly supports R&D in delivering winning products. Sensory science thus continues to be an essential tool for increasing the success rate of innovation.

Alongside the main symposium, SPISE 2024 featured workshops on sensory and consumer data analysis, new product development, and other relevant topics.

Huỳnh Ky Phương Hà, vice president of the HCM City University of Technology, said the symposium's growth and impact has expanded since its inception in 2005.

"SPISE 2024 showcases the increasing importance of sensory evaluation and our commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration,” Hà said.

The evolving product development landscape demands faster and more agile approaches, making sensory evaluation more critical than ever, he said.

Main topics at SPISE 2024:

- Relationship between products, consumers, and contexts

- Applications of sensory analysis in the food industry/product development

- Relating sensory and other consumer research methods

- Applied statistics in sensory evaluation

- Sustainable food products

- Advances in sensory and consumer methodology

- Sensory strategies in food marketing

- Social determinants of food choice

- Cross-cultural sensory and consumer research

- Measurement of product experiences and emotions

- Integrating data from multiple sensory modalities using machine learning techniques

- Enhancing the holistic understanding of sensory experiences through data fusion

- Applying sentiment analysis tools to interpret consumer feedback from sensory evaluations

- Understanding the emotional aspects of sensory experiences through natural language processing

- Developing models that predict sensory responses based on AI and machine learning algorithms

- Utilising predictive analytics for anticipating consumer preferences.

More information about SPISE 2024: https://conferences.hcmut.edu.vn/spise2024#home