About

Robin Dando is a researcher focused on the biology, physiology, and neuroscience of taste. As the head of the Dando taste physiology lab, his work investigates the sensory properties of taste and how they interact with other sensory modalities. His research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying taste perception and how these processes influence human behavior and health. The lab explores various aspects of taste, including the sensory evaluation of foods and beverages, and the neural pathways involved in taste processing, contributing to a broader understanding of flavor perception and its implications for nutrition and health.

Research topics

• Food science
• Biology
• Computer Science
• Chemistry
• Environmental health
• Neuroscience
• Physiology
• Environmental science
• Advertising
• Engineering
• Biochemistry
• Endocrinology
• Medicine
• Business
• World Wide Web
• Marketing
• Agricultural science
• Psychology
• Mathematics
• Waste management
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• Filling the Sensory Gap: A Sensory Evaluation of Plant-Based vs. Pork Hotdogs

  Applied Sciences · 2026-01-20

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) are gaining increasing attention due to their potential role as substitutes for traditional meat products, driven by sustainability and health concerns related to animal production and consumption. Therefore, investigating and understanding consumer acceptance of less common PBMAs remains crucial. In this context, this research explored sensory expectations and actual experiences of a plant-based hotdog compared to a pork hotdog in a US sample. Using a within-subject design, participants (n = 88) evaluated both products before and after tasting, assessing overall liking, willingness to buy (WTB), and key sensory attributes. Furthermore, Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) batteries were used to explore product descriptors and situational appropriateness for consumption, while open-ended questions were employed to examine what consumers liked and disliked the most about the products in more detail. Results revealed no significant differences in expected liking between the two products before tasting. However, after tasting, the pork hotdog received significantly higher scores for both overall liking and WTB compared to the plant-based hotdog. Despite the plant-based product being associated with situations related to health and sustainability, it did not lead to the same appealing hedonic experience as the animal-based product. In addition, both penalty-lift analysis and text mining of the open-ended responses confirmed that consumers seek meaty characteristics in both animal- and plant-based hotdogs (e.g., “I don’t like how light the meat is” or “would like a more meat flavor”). This research provides valuable implications for policymakers and the food industry in terms of aligning strategies with consumers’ preferences and needs, supporting efforts to reduce red meat consumption and promote healthier, more sustainable dietary choices.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Study of Sensory Evaluation of Bittering Agents for Establishing an Evaluation System of Bitterness

  Journal of Food Science · 2026-04-01

  articleSenior author

  Bitterness is one of the five recognized basic tastes. Although many groups have examined bitter taste through human sensory evaluation, there are few cases in which its taste quality and temporal characteristics have been comprehensively evaluated. In this study, we conducted sensory evaluations to assess the qualitative and temporal characteristics of bitterness and, through comprehensive analysis, to achieve a more detailed discrimination of the samples. As samples, we used bitter ingredients that are approved for food use in Japan but whose bitterness qualities have remained largely uncharacterized, and we sought to clarify their properties. Results demonstrated that it was possible for panelists to distinguish the nine bittering agents via their taste qualities, evaluated by descriptive analysis and time intensity scaling, providing evidence of differing subqualities of bitter taste. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Humans detect bitterness through a family of 26 taste receptors. These receptors may be sensitive to a family of differing stimuli, with overlap between receptive ranges. This study attempts to answer whether humans can distinguish between different bitter stimuli, or each stimulus is perceived similarly, through the creation of a systematic method to evaluate bitterness.

  PublisherDOI

• Bitter and Sweet Diets Alter Taste Response and Alcohol Consumption Behavior in Mice

  Nutrients · 2025-02-28

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Taste guides the consumption of food and alcohol for both humans and rodents. Given that chronic dietary exposure to bitter and sweet foods are purported to alter the perception of bitter and sweet tastes respectively, we hypothesized that dietary habits may shape how the taste properties of ethanol are perceived and thus how it is consumed. METHODS: Using C57BL/6 mice as a model, we contrasted taste behavior, morphology, and expression after a 4-week diet featuring consistent bitter, sweet, or neutral (water) stimuli. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that a 4-week bitter diet containing a quinine solution increased preference for ethanol, while a 4-week sweet diet consisting of a sucralose solution did not alter ethanol preference nor intake. The quinine diet also reduced the number of sweet- or umami-sensing T1R3-positive cells in the circumvallate papillae taste buds of the mice. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the behavioral changes observed with the bitter diet, it is possible that either bitter or sweet taste, or both together, drive the increase in ethanol preference. The implications of these findings for alcohol consumption are that dietary habits that do not necessarily concern alcohol may be capable of altering alcohol preference via taste habituation. Habitual intake of bitter and/or sweet foods can shift the perception of taste over time. Changes to how the taste components of alcohol are perceived may also alter how acceptable the taste of alcohol is when experienced as a whole, thereby having the unintended consequence of shifting alcohol consumption levels. Our study demonstrates another side to bitter habituation, which, thus far, has been studied in the more positive context of developing a set of dietary tactics for promoting bitter vegetable intake.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Late-season off-flavor impacts on consumer acceptance and perceived product value of maple syrup

  Food Research International · 2025-12-29

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Rare Sugar Sweetened Yogurt; Sensory Profiles, Liking and Consumer Perception

  Journal of Food Science · 2025-11-01

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Yogurt is a popular dairy product, common the world over, and usually consumed sweetened in the US market. Due to a growing interest in lower calorie dairy products, we investigated consumers' interest in yogurt sweetened with rare sugars such as tagatose and allulose, which can be synthesized enzymatically from lactose removed from the same milk used to make the yogurt, but contain fewer digestible calories than sucrose. A series of 2 consumer sensory tests were carried out on yogurts sweetened with sucrose, sucralose (the most popular artificial sweetener in the US), stevia (the most popular natural low -calorie sweetener), and either single rare sugars or in blends typical of incomplete enzymatic conversion from lactose. Additionally, a conjoint analysis examined consumers' implicit choices around sweetened yogurt made with such ingredients, and how these factors influenced their willingness to pay. Results showed that grams of added sugar displayed on labels were an important driver of selection, supported by a strong negative effect on purchase intent (PI) for high added sugar samples in the in person sensory test when information was provided. Rare sugars, whether in blends or alone, elicited high liking scores, which were even higher when information on their caloric and added sugar content was revealed. Results suggest that rare sugars can be used to more closely approximate the flavor profiles of sucrose-sweetened products, while retaining a natural claim. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Consumers desire lower calorie food products with fewer grams of added sugars, and natural ingredients. Rare sugars offer a promising option for sucrose replacement, providing a sensory profile in yogurt more similar to that of sucrose than most popular artificial or natural low calorie sweeteners. Consumers were willing to pay more for such products and viewed them as more appealing than samples sweetened with sucralose or stevia.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• US consumers’ preference for orange wine may not align with the assumptions of wine professionals

  Food Quality and Preference · 2025-11-20

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Obesity-induced taste bud loss in mice is only partially remediated long after return to a healthy weight

  International Journal of Obesity · 2025-12-15

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The eye (and tongue) of the beholder: There may be more value in non-Grade A syrup than producers think

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2025-05-01

  reportOpen accessSenior author

  Common off-flavors in maple syrup can arise from late season harvest, processing defects and microbiological contaminants, resulting in non-Grade A designations, and much reduced value. Twelve maple syrup samples, representing Grade A syrup and the common flavor defects ?buddy?, ?sour,? and ?dark/acrid? (syrups associated with a burnt/bitter flavor), were produced in two NY State locations, Van Etten, NY and Lake Placid, NY, across the 2023 maple sap collection seasons, by Cornell Maple Program, where the samples were assigned appropriate grades and off-flavors by a maple syrup producer following industry standard guidelines. Samples were then evaluated at Cornell Food Science by a group of 26 maple syrup consumers in a multi-session qualitative study to establish a flavor profile for the maple syrups.

  Publisher

• Using Sensory Evaluation and Volatile Analysis to Determine the Enological Potential of Concord Juice Processed by Nanofiltration-Resin

  American Journal of Enology and Viticulture · 2025-02-01

  articleOpen access

  <h3>Abstract</h3> <h3>Background and goals</h3> Most premium wines are produced from grapes of <i>Vitis vinifera</i> parentage. Concord and related <i>Vitis labruscana</i> cultivars are typically considered unacceptable for premium wine production due to the musky aroma of their juice, often described as “foxy”. In this work, we compared the sensory attributes of a wine produced from nanofiltration-resin (NFR)-treated Concord juice to the sensory attributes of a standard Concord wine, a <i>V. vinifera</i> wine, and an NFR:<i>V. vinifera</i> blend. The volatile composition of NFR and Concord wines was evaluated to determine the extent to which the “foxy” character of Concord juice could be lessened with NFR, thus potentially improving the overall consumer liking of its wine. <h3>Methods and key findings</h3> Wine was prepared from NFR-treated Concord juice and evaluated by a trained descriptive sensory panel and by untrained wine consumers alongside a standard Concord wine, a representative <i>V. vinifera</i> wine, and 75:25 blend of <i>V. vinifera</i>:NFR Concord wine. Both trained panelists and untrained consumers reported that the “foxy” character in the NFR Concord wine was significantly lower than that found in a standard Concord wine. Consumers reported an increase in overall liking of the NFR Concord wine over the standard Concord wine. Volatiles (n = 34) in the NFR Concord and standard Concord wine were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Most volatiles were similar between the two wines, with the largest difference observed for methyl anthranilate (“Concord grape” aroma), which was 96% lower in the NFR Concord wine. <h3>Conclusions and significance</h3> Wine produced from NFR Concord juice had labrusca (“foxy”) character only slightly higher than <i>V. vinifera</i> wine. NFR pretreatment may expand winemaking options for Concord juice.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Development of a consumer-driven chocolate milk sensory ballot for use in the dairy industry

  Journal of Dairy Science · 2025-05-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Chocolate milk is an important dairy product in the United States, but current sensory ballots used to assess product quality and defects lack relevance for consumer-identified attributes of importance. Therefore, the objective of this research was to describe commonly encountered variation in desirable and undesirable attributes in commercially processed chocolate milk products, and to develop and test an improved expert sensory assessment ballot for chocolate milk. Eighteen commercially processed chocolate milk samples were collected and evaluated instrumentally for color parameters, and with an expert panel and a consumer panel for sensory properties. Significant differences in color parameters, as determined instrumentally, were found between the samples. A 9-point chocolate milk color scale was created based on these variations and used in this study. A trained milk quality panel assessed the samples using a historic chocolate milk expert sensory assessment ballot that was largely focused on end of shelf-life defect identification based on American Dairy Science Association guidelines for unflavored milk. The panel found the chocolate milk samples to vary widely in color, chocolate character, and other sensory attributes. Panelists noted an increase in defect detection and a decrease in sweetness and chocolate character with shelf life, attributes not included in the historic ballot. A subset of 6 chocolate milk samples stored at 3°C (control condition) and at 8°C for 5 d (representing accelerated shelf life) was subsequently assessed by consumers. Overall liking and quality scores were highly correlated, with both significantly decreasing for the accelerated shelf-life samples compared with the control condition. Whereas no significant differences in color were found, chocolate aroma and flavor significantly weakened, and the presence of atypical aromas and flavors significantly increased in the products held under accelerated shelf-life conditions. Outcomes from these experiments were used to update the existing expert sensory assessment ballot to capture consumer-relevant product attributes consistently across shelf life, in addition to defect monitoring. Finally, we compared data on expert sensory assessment of commercially processed chocolate milk products collected using the original and the updated ballots. Whereas no significant differences in assigned overall quality mean scores were noted between the 2 ballots, the updated ballot facilitated tracking of chocolate milk character changes that were important to consumers over the shelf life of the product. This study provides guidance to the dairy industry, in particular, manufacturers of chocolate milk, to both improve chocolate milk characteristics that effect consumer liking, as well as methods for monitoring these characteristics over product shelf life.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen D. Roper

  University of Miami

  32 shared

• Alina Stelick

  10 shared

• Talita A. Comunian

  Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority

  10 shared

• Alireza Abbaspourrad

  Cornell University

  10 shared

• Ezen Choo

  Cornell University

  9 shared

• Raheleh Ravanfar

  California Institute of Technology

  8 shared

• Corinna A Noel

  Cornell University

  6 shared

• Burak Erdem Algül

  New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

  6 shared

Labs

• The Dando taste physiology labPI

  Investigating the biology, physiology and neuroscience of taste

Education

• Ph.D., Physics, Physiology and Neuroscience

  Cornell University