Abstract: Sensory evaluation of thirty-five sesame pastes in the market was carried out. Their chemical components including crude fat, crude protein, crude fiber, VE, sterolin, calcium, and phosphorus contents were determined as well. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for comprehensive assessment. A comprehensive score for each sample was obtained by PCA and sensory evaluation. The results showed that color and texture had significant effects on sensory scores for both white and black sesame pastes. In general, white sesame paste had higher sensory scores than black sesame paste. The chemical components of sesame pastes showed different degrees of variation. While water content and acid value showed bigger degrees of variation, the variations in crude fat and crude protein contents were smaller. The first six principal components identified based on PCA were mineral, lignan, crude protein, acid value, VE and sterol, accounting for 75.33% the total variability. The ranking orders of comprehensive scores of the principal components and sensory evaluation were basically consistent. Out of 35 samples tested, six (17.14%) were unqualified mainly in terms of acid value, water content and oil content.

Key words: sesame paste, quality, principal component analysis, comprehensive assessment