[Training of sensorial panels consisting of children]

In the development of food products for children, it is advisable to establish the characteristics of the product with groups of children that represent the target population. To ensure the success of the products, the quality and hedonic satisfaction expectatives must be considered. In order to accomplish this premises, a group of children under the Program of Complementary Feeding of the Health Ministry--was selected and trained. The project was developed with a group of 33 children ages 9 to 12 years--from the Republica of Colombia School of Santiago, whose parents agreed and supported the participation of their children in this project. The first step was teaching the technics and methodology of Sensory Evaluation, and increasing their sensitivity. After the 8 programmed sessions, those children who met the minimal requirements for a training group were chosen. The second step was performed during 12 sessions, working with 14 children. The training was aimed at the development of the vocabulary to describe quality and defects, ranking tests, discriminative tests and the use of different scales. Tests to verify reliability, veracity and reproducibility of judgements (p < 0.05) were carried out. The trained group was able to assess different meals of the Program. The obtained results allowed to propose the improvement of some quality criteria of the Program meals.