Elucidation of the mechanism by which food deformation and fracture behavior during mastication creates food texture and palatability

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K14802
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 38050:Food sciences-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Ogawa Takenobu 京都大学, 農学研究科, 助教 (10793359)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 食感 / 美味しさ / イメージング / 人工知能

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The relationship between the deformation and breaking behavior of food structure during mastication and texture, and the relationship between the behavior and the palatability created by texture, are unclear. For this reason, many food manufacturing industries have attempted to improve texture by repeating experimental production and texture evaluation based on empirical knowledge. In this study, we aimed to establish a basis for logically improving texture by using artificial intelligence to integrate the phenomena that occur during production, mastication, and brain recognition.

Free Research Field

食品工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

製造時（食品の構造）から、咀嚼時（変形・破断挙動）、脳での認知時（食感と心地良さ）までの全現象を統合化して、食感と心地良さの予測を目指した点に学術的な意義があると考えている。また、現在、食品の構造に基づく食感の予測は、推察の域を出ていない。そのため、食品製造工業では、多くの場合、経験的な知見を基に食感の改良を図っている。このような状況において、全現象を統合化し、食感等の改良を論理的に実施可能にすることには、大きな社会的な意義があると考える。