Quality index.

Henry, C.L.

Abstract
A method for calculating a "quality index", a single numeric value expressing the overall quality of beer, is described. The results of quality tests on individual samples (packaging inspections, taste tests and physical/chemical analyses) are used to calculate quality indices for the packaging, aroma/flavour and analytical categories on the basis of the percentage of samples tested that are found to be acceptable with regard to each of the quality criteria in each category. The overall quality index is then calculated from the three category indices. The use of this quality index to evaluate the brewery's performance, as well as for such purposes as calculating the maximum price that can be charged for a product without losing sales (the higher the quality, the higher the maximum price acceptable to the average consumer) is discussed.
Keywords : beer computation measurement quality