Oral Processing and Sensory Perception of Food Textures

Oral processing encompasses the mechanical and biochemical transformations that food undergoes from initial intake to the moment of swallowing. Chewing breaks down food into smaller particles, while saliva contributes enzymes and lubricating agents that alter rheological and tribological properties. These dynamic changes give rise to temporal sensory perceptions—such as hardness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness and springiness—that govern palatability, eating rate and satiety. Individual factors including salivary flow, dental status and cultural habits further modulate oral behaviour and bolus formation. Advances in in vivo imaging, texture analysis and computational modelling have deepened our understanding of how food structure and oral physiology interact, informing the design of products that balance nutrition, safety and sensory appeal across diverse consumer groups.

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Oral Processing and Sensory Perception of Food Textures publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in oral processing and sensory perception of food textures across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Mastication: The process of chewing that breaks down food particles and mixes them with saliva.

Bolus: A cohesive mass of chewed food formed in the mouth, ready for swallowing.

Rheological properties: Characteristics that describe how a food deforms and flows under applied forces.

Cohesiveness: The extent to which a food holds together as a unit during chewing.

Adhesiveness: The work required to overcome the attractive forces between a food surface and oral tissues.

References

1. Effects of the degree of oral processing on the properties of saliva-participating emulsions: using stewed pork with brown sauce as the model. Food Science and Human Wellness (2023).
2. The heat is on: Consumers modify their oral processing behavior when eating spicy foods. Current Research in Food Science (2023).
3. Bolus matters: the influence of food oral breakdown on dynamic texture perception. Food & Function (2017).
4. Relating oral physiology and anatomy of consumers varying in age, gender and ethnicity to food oral processing behavior. Physiology & Behavior (2019).
5. Exploring relationships between juiciness perception, food and bolus properties of plant-based meat analogue and beef patties. Food Hydrocolloids (2024).