Texture has a great influence on the deliciousness of food. Its evaluation has been carried out by the measurement of physical properties of food using testing machines such as texturometer and rheometer, or by the mastication test by subjects. The former is simple and highly reproducible, but it differs from the actual mastication in many points, and the latter has a problem of large data variation due to individual differences among subjects. In addition, aroma components released from food in the oral cavity have a great influence on the deliciousness as well as texture. However, there was no appropriate equipment which could evaluate aroma by simulating the cavity condition. In order to solve these problems, we have developed a food mastication device with the following functions:
Simulating the mastication movement of human oral cavity,
Controlling system of temperature condition of human oral cavity,
Inflowing system of artificial saliva, and
Collecting system of released aroma components.
