SPECIFICATION FOR SENSORY EVALUATION OF RAW COD
by Torry Research Station, Aberdeen, UK (Now Food Science Laboratory, Torry)
| General appearance (5 marks) | Score marks |
| Eyes perfectly fresh, convex black pupil, translucent cornea; bright red gills, no bacterial slime, outer slime water white or transparent; bright opalescent sheen, no bleaching | 5 |
| Eyes slightly sunken, grey pupil, slight opalescence of cornea; some discolouration of gills and some mucus; outer slime opaque and somewhat milky; loss of bright opalescence and some bleaching | 3 |
| Eyes sunken; milky white pupil, opaque cornea; thick knotted outer slime with slime bacterial discolouration | 2 |
| Eyes completely sunken pupil; shrunken head covered with thick yellow bacterial slime; gills showing bleaching or dark brown discolouration and covered with thick bacterial mucus; outer slime thick yellow-brown; bloom completely gone; marked bleaching and shrinkage | 0 |
| Flesh Including Belly Flaps (5 Marks) | |
| Bluish translucent flesh, no reddening along the backbone and no discolouration of the belly flaps; kidney bright red | 5 |
| Waxy appearance, no reddening along backbone, loss in original brilliance of kidney blood, some discolouration of belly flaps | 3 |
| Some opacity, some reddening along backbone, brownish kidney blood and some discolouration of the flaps | 2 |
| Opaque flesh, marked red or brown discolouration along the backbone, very brown to earthy brown kidney blood, and marked discolouration of the flaps | 0 |
| Odours (10 marks) | |
| Fresh seaweedy | 10 |
| Loss of fresh seaweediness, shellfish | 9 |
| No odours, neutral | 8 |
| Slight musty, mousy, garlic-peppery, milky or caprylic and like | 7 |
| Bready, malty, beery, yeasty | 6 |
| Lactic acid, sour milk, or oily | 5 |
| Some lower fatty acid odours (for example acetic or butyric acids), grassy, 'old boots', slightly sweet, fruity or chloroform-like | 4 |
| Stale cabbage water, turnipy, 'sour sink', wet matches, phosphene-like | 3 |
| Ammoniacal (trimethylamine and other lower amines) with strong ;byre-like' (o-toluidine) | 2 |
| Hydrogen sulphide and other sulphide odours, strong ammoniacal | 1 |
| Indole, ammonia, faecal, nauseating, putrid | 0 |
| Texture (5 marks) | |
| Firm, elastic to the finger touch | 5 |
| Softening of the flesh, some grittiness | 3 |
| Softer flesh, definite grittiness and scales easily rubbed off the skin | 2 |
| Very soft and flabby, retains the finger indentations, grittiness quite marked and flesh easily torn from the 1 backbone | 1 |
