Sensory rating and ranking table olives through permutation models

The sensory properties (colour, aroma, flavour and texture) of 14 green table olive samples, classified in three groups coming from Northern, Central and Southern Italy respectively, were rated in quintuplicate by a panel of 20 members over 5 weeks using a 0-10 line scale. Individual sensory scores were used to rank the olive samples through permutation models. The maximum likelihood estimated probabilities of the olives belonging to each of the three olive sample groups were found, and the validation of the model by a chi-square goodness-of-fit was performed. On the basis of the sensory attributes rating, panellists ranked the olives of Bella di Cerignola, Rustica and Nocellara del Belice respectively, as the first items within each group