A “mouthfeel wheel” terminology for communicating the mouthfeel attributes of medical nutrition products (MNP)

Overview of mouthfeel from the perspective of sensory scientists in industry

Mouthfeel is vital in consumer acceptance of foods and beverages. Despite the critical role mouthfeel plays in product development, the concept is often poorly understood and subject to various interpretations. Within this review, five topics of interest are discussed to provide a better understanding of the mouthfeel attribute-the definition, the perception, the importance, the influencing factors, and the methods of measurement of mouthfeel. Mouthfeel encompasses multiple attributes. Although mouthfeel attributes perceived through physical and chemical perceptions, such as cooling and heating, are understood as mouthfeel, attributes perceived through mechanoreceptors, such as creaminess and thickness, are more challenging due to varying opinions on texture and mouthfeel. Other factors, like food composition and temperature, are also vital in understanding the overall effect of mouthfeel in food and beverages. Including all perceived attributes and factors is important for consumer acceptance of products and for developing consistent evaluation of products. Other topics to consider include the dynamic aspects of oral processing and cultural backgrounds as these topics create additional intricacies in defining and understanding mouthfeel perception. Despite the lack of instrumental methodology available to measure mouthfeel attributes, trained panelists can be used to predict facets of mouthfeel in the eating experience. When designing sensory testing for trained panelists, experimental conditions and a product-specific lexicon are important factors to consider. Overall, understanding of the mouthfeel attributes and their role in consumer preference for different types of food and beverages continues to evolve.

What Is Chalky? Investigating Consumer Language and Perception of Fine Particles in Beverages Containing Pea and Potato Starch

Despite its importance as an undesirable food texture, the phenomenon of chalkiness remains understudied. Chalky sensations presumably arise from fine particulates found in foods, but semantic overlap with other common descriptors of small particles, like gritty or sandy, is unclear. Here, we compare the usage of Chalky with related descriptors, and determine the effect of particle size, concentration, and xanthan content on Chalky ratings in a model beverage. A 23 factorial design with starch particle size (D90 = 33.8 and 64.6 µm), starch concentrations (10 and 20% w/v), and xanthan content (0.075 and 0.15% w/v) was used. Participants' salivary flow rate was also assessed. A multi-sip taste test was performed where naïve consumers (n = 82; 39% men, 60% women; age range = 18-79 years) rated the intensity of Chalky, Powdery, Gritty, Sandy, Mouthdrying, and Residual mouthcoating at 0, 30, and 60 s after each of three consecutive sips. All attribute ratings were highly correlated, with Chalky, Powdery, and Residual Mouthcoating being more closely correlated with each other than Gritty or Sandy. Although Chalky was still reported 60 s after consumption, no evidence of build-up was found with repeated sips. A larger size and higher concentration increased Chalky ratings, with the low-salivary-flow group reporting greater ratings for Chalky relative to the high-flow group. Our results suggest consumer percepts of small particles are overlapping but not entirely redundant. This suggests researchers and product developers should carefully distinguish between these descriptors when trying to understand consumer perception of food products containing fine particles.

Instrumental and sensory techniques to characterize the texture of foods suitable for dysphagic people: A systematic review

The interest to characterize texture-modified foods (TMFs) intended for people with oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) has grown significantly since 2011. Several instrumental and sensory techniques have been applied in the analysis of these foods. The objective of the present systematic review was to identify the most appropriate techniques, especially for the food industry and clinical setting. The search was carried out in three online databases according to the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses" (PRISMA). Across the multiple trials reviewed, Texture Profile Analysis and the Uniaxial Compression Test were most used as the instrumental technique for solid foods, and the Back Extrusion Test for fluid and semisolid foods. All trials used descriptive analysis as the sensory technique. However, the experimental conditions of the trials lacked standardization. Consequently, the results of the trials were not comparable. To properly characterize the texture of TMFs intended for OD by each technique, an international consensus is needed to establish standardized experimental conditions. Methods based on these techniques should also be validated by collaborative studies to verify repeatability, replicability, and reproducibility.

Critical review of sensory texture descriptors: From pureed to transitional foods for dysphagia patients

Dysphagic people need to change their diet to avoid pain or risk of choking. For example, they can eat texture modified foods (including pureed and transitional foods, that is, food that start with one texture and change into another because of moisture or heating). Simple testing methods proposed by the IDDSI initiative can be performed to characterize texture modified food but these methods are not always relevant for understanding oral texture and mouthfeel properties. Sensory characterization is essential to develop or optimize a food product and to meet consumer's expectations and needs especially for dysphagic persons. However, sensory methods and texture descriptors are complex to target and evaluate for different severity of dysphagia. Sensory texture descriptors can be determined by different methods and assessed in different ways. This review is useful for listing the sensory methods used to generate sensory descriptors to characterize the oral texture of cereal and pureed foods. We found that 55% of the reviewed publications used specific oral texture descriptors and that 17 descriptors could be identified as the most used and relevant for all the products studied (sticky), for pureed (e.g., cohesiveness, floury, and soft) and for cereal-based foods (e.g., hard, fatty, and crispy). These results should be considered to facilitate the choice of sensory texture descriptors in future studies on pureed and transitional foods such as cereal-based foods according to the IDDSI level. This review also demonstrates that it is difficult to find a consensus between studies using different evaluation methods for the same descriptor.

Flavor alterations in cancer treatment: Extrinsic factors as a means of augmentation

Flavor, comprising taste, smell and somatosensory inputs, is commonly altered in patients undergoing chemotherapy resulting in malnutrition leading to cachexia. A narrative review considered taste and smell alterations associated with malignancies treated using chemotherapy and the various interventions proffered to lessen alterations. Many of the currently used interventions directed towards enhancing intrinsic factors of food appeared ineffective in encouraging intake of adequate nutrition to ward off complications of malnutrition. Counselling is used in some cases with positive results. The use of extrinsic influences commensurate with the principles of food behavior and gastronomy are considered as a means of providing purpose to patients to accommodate flavor loss which when integrated with counseling and appropriate intrinsic factors are potentially a means of curtailing malnutrition and enhancing the psychological status of the patient. The close association between the cephalic phase responses (CPRs) and the control of eating and digestive behaviors is multifaceted, and when the influences of taste and smell are diminished, other contributing factors guiding CPRs may compensate a deficit. The need for the application of a consistent lexicon is essential when describing taste and smell alterations.