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Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances that create an individual experience via the senses—including taste, sight, smell, and touch.[1][2][3]
In traditional U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and poultry inspections, inspectors perform various organoleptic procedures to detect disease or contamination. Such techniques are part of the effort to detect invisible foodborne pathogens that cause food poisoning.[citation needed]
Organoleptic tests are sometimes conducted to determine if food or pharmaceutical products can transfer tastes or odors to the materials and components they are packaged in. Shelf life studies often use taste, sight, and smell (in addition to food chemistry and toxicology tests) to determine whether a food product is safe to consume.[citation needed]
Organoleptic analyses are, occasionally, still used when the protocol for a certain sample does not have a high enough sample throughput to meet the demand. In this case, organoleptic analyses serve as a primary screen to determine which samples must be analyzed according to the original method protocol, and which samples need no further sensory analysis.[citation needed]