From food structure to texture

Understanding the relationship between food texture perception and food str ucture is of increasing importance for companies wishing to produce textura lly attractive food products. The perception of texture is a complex proces s involving the senses of vision, hearing, somesthesis and kinesthesis. Tex ture perception takes place partly during the dynamic process of food break down in the mouth and is affected by oral processes, such as motility, sali va production and temperature. To take account of these factors, a multidis ciplinary approach is proposed for studying the relationship between food s tructure and texture perception, combining sensory research, physiology stu dies and research into food physicochemical characteristics. Recent develop ments in these three areas that give potential for a better understanding o f texture perception and its relationship with food structure are discussed . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.