From human to artificial mouth, from basics to results

Sensory perception of the flavor release during the eating of a food piece is highly dependent upon mouth parameters. Major limitations have been reported during in vivo flavor release studies, such as marked intra- and inter-individual variability. To overcome these limitations, a chewing simulator has been developed to mimic the human mastication of food samples. The device faithfully reproduces most of the functions of the human mouth. The active cell comprises several mobile parts that can accurately reproduce shear and compression strengths and tongue functions in real-time, according to data previously collected in vivo. The mechanical functionalities of the system were validated using peanuts, with a fair agreement with the human data. Flavor release can be monitored on-line using either API-MS or chemical sensors, or off-line using HPLC for non-volatile compounds. Couplings to API-MS detectors have shown differences in the kinetics of flavor release, as a function of the food sample composition. Data were also collected for the analysis of taste compounds released during the human chewing but are not available yet for the chewing simulator.