Frequently Asked Questions About Tasting

We taste test everything from pickles to pork chops! In the past, we have run tests on yogurt, sparkling water, milk, breakfast sandwiches, pretzels, snack foods, ice cream, protein beverages, coffee, and many others!

Whenever we have a new opportunity, we will send out a recruitment email with a survey to take. We want to make sure we match panelists with the types of foods and products they are interested in and use often, so there are different criteria to participate in each test. Please be honest when taking these surveys! If you meet the criteria, it is first come first serve to participate in most tests. When we have enough people for one test, we will close the recruitment survey.

We have a limited number of spots in each taste test opportunity, so unfortunately everyone cannot participate in every taste test. In addition, we match tasters to taste tests for products they are interested in and use often. Keep taking the surveys as soon as you see our emails, and sooner or later you will qualify to taste test a product you’re excited about!

Nope! You may take a recruitment survey to qualify for a taste test whenever you like, but you are not obligated to participate.

While all the products we test are FDA-approved, we do not have control over the environment in which the products were produced or the ingredients in these products. In addition, we test a wide variety of products including many products with common allergens. Because our primary concern is keeping you safe, we ask that anyone with food allergies abstain from participating in these taste tests to avoid the risk of accidentally encountering an allergen. If you have a health-related or religious dietary restriction, we make all possible effort to inform you of ingredients which may pose an issue before a taste test, however, we do not have control over production and cannot guarantee all items are free from all potentially avoided foods. By participating in our taste tests, you acknowledge this risk. Feel free to ask us more specific questions by sending us an email (link to contact us page https://sensory.ncsu.edu/contact-us/)

Nope! As long as you have the ability to travel to campus, you may participate in our on site taste tests. You may take our surveys from anywhere in the world.

In Schaub Hall (400 Dan Allen Drive, Raleigh NC) on NCSU’s central campus.

No – it is the SSC’s policy that each taster use only one email in our database. You are only allowed to take each recruitment survey once unless specifically told otherwise by the SSC. Using multiple email addresses or using someone else’s’ email address will result in your suspension from all SSC opportunities.