Oral tribology: bridging the gap between physical measurements and sensory experience

• Published in: Current opinion in food science 2016-06, Vol.9, p.34-41
• Main Authors: Pradal, Clementine, Stokes, Jason R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2214-7993; 2214-8000
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cofs.2016.04.008

[Display omitted] •Soft tribology provides insights into oral tribology.•Tribology is a ‘system’ property and not a physical property of food.•The tribological measurement system must be chosen carefully.•Bridges between tribology measurement and sensory percepts are emerging.•Advances in oral mimetic system design are required. Soft-tribology is emerging as an important field of research for quantifying the physics occurring during oral tribological processes. In a food oral processing context, recent research indicates that tribology measurements are providing insights into several texture-related sensory percepts, but obtaining quantitative empirical relationships between the two is challenging. Choosing a physiologically relevant tribological ‘system’ is paramount to the successful application of tribology as an indicator for texture perception; the choice of instrument, surfaces and model food system, as well as the role of saliva, should be carefully considered. Tribology and sensory perception are affected by multiple physico-chemical properties, and therefore integrative approaches that combine tribology with other characterisation techniques are necessary for mechanistic understanding on their inter-relationship.