Electronic Sensing Measurement of Texture Characteristics of Food

Sensory texture analysis of food products, as such hardness, fracturability, cohesiveness, cohesiveness and tooth-packing, is important in food industry for food quality assessments and control; in research institutions for studies in rheological behavior and texture changes of food during mastication. In this study we have developed an Electronic Sensing System (ESS) for studying the mastication process. The ESS system consists of data acquisition and data analysis systems. The acquisition system is able to measure and acquire real-time motion intensity signals of panelist’s facial muscle during mastication. The analysis system is able to calculate features recorded from the ESS signals including total energy, peak energy, Fourier power, etc., which can be used to model assessment of sensory texture attributes of food.