Development of a chewing simulator for food breakdown and the analysis of in vitro flavor compound release in a mouth environment

Flavor release during eating is highly dependent upon mouth parameters. Major limitations have been reported during in vivo flavor release studies, such as marked intra- and inter-individual variability. To overcome these limitations, a chewing simulator has been developed to mimic the human mastication of food samples. Several devices had already been developed for diverse applications, but they only reproduced certain oral functions and were therefore not characteristic of the natural mouth environment. The newly developed device faithfully reproduces most of the functions of the human mouth. The active part of the system is a special cell, precisely tooled using a biocompatible and inert material, which operates around three axes which are fully actuated and computer-controlled. The cell comprises several mobile parts that can accurately reproduce shear and compression strengths and tongue functions real-time, according to data collected in vivo. Flavor release can be monitored on-line using either API-MS or chemical sensors, or off-line using HPLC for non-volatile compounds. A preliminary study using peanuts was performed to test and validate the mechanical functionalities of the system. Comparable masticatory efficiencies were observed from in vivo and in vitro tests.