Dynamism in flavour science and sensory methodology

Flavour perception is a dynamic process, which must involve the consumer as well as the chemistry and physics of the food, and must be matched by dynamic research methods. In time-intensity measurement a sensory characteristic is tracked as it changes over a period of time. Availability of volatiles depends not only on their being present in the food, but also on their being released from the food and transferred to the olfactory receptors. Simulated mouths and chewing machines have provided useful data to aid understanding of what happens when food is tasted, and systems have been devised to allow sampling of the headspace from the nose or mouth. Understanding of the interactions of flavour compounds with each other and with other components of the food, and of the fundamental physics of mass transfer, has provided a limited ability to predict the behaviour of flavour compounds in some food systems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.