FOOD TEXTURE EVALUATION DEVICE AND FOOD TEXTURE EVALUATION METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a food texture evaluation device and a food texture evaluation method which can evaluate intraoral food texture by easily quantifying the intraoral food texture.;SOLUTION: A food texture evaluation device comprises: a hard palate brace which is formed into a shape of a hard palate; a tongue model which is formed into a shape of a tongue and is made of synthetic resin; and driving means which is connected with the hard palate brace or the tongue model, and drives the hard palate brace and the tongue model in a relative manner in order to make the hard palate brace and the tongue model contact with each other and separate from each other. A food texture evaluation method includes the steps of: inserting a small amount of liquid and test target food between the hard palate brace and the tongue model; driving the hard palate brace and the tongue model by the driving means in a relative manner at a certain speed; measuring a compression area of the compressed test target food after compressing the test target food until pressure applied to a palate surface of the hard palate brace reaches palate pressure of mastication; and quantifying the food texture of the test target food on the basis of the measured compression area to evaluate the food texture of the test target food.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2014,JPO&INPIT