The Role of Masticatory

Process in Dynamic
Sensory Perception
Adela Andartya
Melia
Zsa Zsa S. Nissa
Food Oral Processing
• Food processing vs food oral processing
• Food processing
• Aim: to form constant desirable structure  can be stored
• Include: mixing raw materials + food additives
• Food oral processing
• Aim: to prepare food for swallowing
• Include: muscle activities, jaw movements, tongue movements
• Process: structural degradation & disintegration  special microstructure & texture
• Fundamental of food oral consumption:
• Mechanical fragmentation by teeth with extrusion of tongue-palate
• Saliva formation
• Creating swallowable bolus
Conceptual framework of oral processing
• Fracture characteristic and rheological properties of the food matrix
 sensory perception, in particular texture perception  influence
consumers’ acceptance and preference
• Pre-mastication & fracture mechanics = based on food structure
• Hard  chewing cycles, muscle force ↑
• Taste perception is affected by the influence of food ingredients +
physiology of human mind
Food Texture Perception
Pre mastication & fracture mechanisms
Bolus formation
Triggering a swallow
Oral taste sensing perception
Basic taste sensation
The sixth taste: oleogustus and starchy
Pre-mastication and fracture mechanisms
• Inside the mouth, food will enter four stages: transportation, mastication, bolus
formation, deglutition
• To obtain a desirable uniform structure and taste
• Degree of food structure is one of the key factors affecting the perception of
food texture inside the mouth. With the breaking and chewing of a food, texture
sensory is spontaneously perceived, directly linked to its fracture characteristics
• The increase in the food toughness or the resistance to cracking or breaking in a
material leads  increase in the chewing cycle length in the initial cycles of
masticatory sequence & jaw movement patterns
• Horizontal jaw movements also reduce with an increasing number of chewing
cycles
• In general, foods with a firm texture are chewed between the molars
with slower jaw-closing velocities and more lateral movement of the
trajectory compared with foods with a soft texture, which are ruptured
between the tongue and the palate
• The diversity of oral physiology at different periods of human aging
results in various food sensory perceptions  vary breaking, chewing
frequency and saliva secretion
• Older group, people who have a difficulty/inability in swallowing are due to the
inability to control the speed of liquids through the pharynx (dysphasia)
• Hardness is generally dominant during mastication instead of brittle,
sticky, and oily characteristics
 Physical properties: hardness
• An increase in food hardness has been shown to increase the number of chewing
cycles, duration of a masticatory sequence, and electromyographic (EMG) activity of
the masseter and temporalis per sequence and per cycle
• Firmer model gels require a greater number of chews and a long chewing sequence,
in which greater amplitude of jaw opening and closing muscle activities are observed
• In contrast, soften model gels from mastication to swallowing require less muscle
activities, while increases in the cohesiveness produce a negative impact on the
number of chews and the chewing sequence duration
• Solid food inside of the mouth experiences large structure changes (whole-granules-
bolus) with saliva promoting the aggregation of particles
 Physical properties: Lubrication = moisture and oil contents
• Adding fluids reduced the muscle activity and the number of chewing cycles
• The decrease in muscle activity during chewing was more accentuated fot foods that
easily absorb water and are thus softened
• Vibromyographic (VMG) throat activities to decrease with a small increase in oil
content
• Overall, an increase in lubrication results in a decrease in oral processing time and
muscle activities in order to prepare the food for swallowing
 Physical properties: modulus of elasticity/brittle
• Hard, brittle foods are chewed with wider jaw movements than softer,
toygher foods
• Greater muscle activities and number of chewing cycles were used for
tougher food than softer food
• Mechanical properties of foods are a source of sensory feedback to
the CPG, influencing jaw movements during the late closing phase of
chewing cyle
References
• Liu D, et al. 2017. Impact of oral processing on texture attributes and
taste perception. J Food Sci Technol 54(8):2585–2593
• Foster KD, et al. 2011. The role of oral processing in dynamic sensory
perception. Journal of Food Science 76(2):R49-61.