The University of Otago Food Science department is calling for Dunedin residents to become members of a food-tasting panel to help food manufacturing companies perfect their recipes.
Senior lecturer Dr Nazimah Hamid said panel members had to be quite adventurous with food and be willing to eat anything the research team gave them.
That could be anything from a new flavoured juice or yoghurt, to kina roe (the eggs of a sea urchin), she said.
‘‘The panellists sit in special booths and we ask them to taste it and come up with words to describe the texture, odour, and flavour of what they've just put in their mouth. A computerised data collection system records each person's sensory analysis.
‘‘Then, we analyse those details and pass information back to the manufacturers about what the panel liked or disliked about the product.''
Dr Hamid said the research project had been running for the past three years and panel members were paid to taste food several times a week. However, some stopped participating after finding full-time employment, so the department was on the hunt for new tasters.
Applicants would be required to go through a screening process to find the ones with the most finely-tuned taste buds, she said.
Applications can be made by contacting panel co-ordinator Stephanie Then on (03) 479 7560 before Monday.