Taste sensor

A taste sensor with global selectivity, i.e., electronic tongue, is composed of several kinds of lipid/polymer membranes for transforming information of taste substances into electric signal. The sensor output shows different patterns for chemical substances which have different taste qualities such as saltiness and sourness. Taste interactions such as suppression effect, which occurs between bitterness and sweetness, can be detected and quantified using the taste sensor. Amino acids and peptides can be classified into several groups according to their own tastes from sensor outputs. Bitter-tasting amino acids such as L-tryptophan have response electric patterns similar to a typical bitter substance, quinine. The taste of foodstuffs such as beer, sake, coffee, mineral water, milk and vegetables can be discussed quantitatively. The taste sensor with lipid membranes provides the objective scale for the human sensory expression and will contribute to clarification of the reception mechanism at gustatory cells. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.