A multichannel taste sensor is composed of several kinds of lipid/polymer membranes for transforming information of substances producing taste into electric signals, which are input to a computer. The sensor output shows different patterns for chemical substances which have different taste qualities such as saltiness, sourness and bitterness, while it shows similar patterns for chemical substances with similar tastes. The sensor responds to the taste itself, as can be understood from the fact that taste interactions such as the suppression effect, which appears between sweet and bitter substances, can be reproduced well. The suppression of the bitterness of quinine and a drug substance by sucrose can be quantified. Amino acids can be classified into several groups according to their own tastes based on sensor outputs. The taste of foodstuffs such as beer and mineral water can be discussed quantitatively using the taste sensor, which provides the objective scale for the human sensory expression. The taste sensor will open doors to a new era of membrane, food and environmental sciences.
