In 2014, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that flavor is the most valued aspect of food for consumers. Since flavor is a perception of the combined taste and smell of food, quantifying the taste and smell of food is useful in the rational design of desirable flavors. Taste and smell are also called chemical senses as they involve the detection of chemical components. Since 2000, progress in the identification of taste and olfactory receptors has made it possible to evaluate the taste and smell of food at a molecular level by cell-based receptor assays. Recently, molecular evaluation of taste and smell focusing on the chemosensory receptors has attracted attention. This review outlines the cell-based assay methods for these chemosensory receptors.
