TASTE SENSOR

A recently-developed taste sensor with global selectivity is composed of several kinds of lipid/polymer membranes for transforming informati on of taste substances into electric signals, which are treated with a computer. The sensor output shows different patterns for chemical sub stances which have different taste qualities such as saltiness and sou rness, while it shows similar patterns for chemicals with similar tast es. The sensor responds to the taste in itself, as can be understood f rom the fact that the taste interaction such as synergistic and suppre ssion effects can be reproduced well. The sensitivity, reproducibility and durability are superior to those of human taste sense. The human sensory expressions can be quantified using this taste sensor.