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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Review: the Use of Electromyography on Food Texture Assessment

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Sensory evaluation (SE) involves evoking, measuring and interpreting human responses to the properties of foods. Among these properties texture is an important one for food acceptability. Texture is mainly perceived through mastication, a process that changes food characteristics throughout time by comminuting and salivation. Electromyography (EMG) has emerged as a new tool in sensory evaluation mainly for assessing texture characteristics. Thus, it is interesting to analyze the knowledge so far generated and the procedures employed. Bipolar surface electrodes are placed on the four main masticatory muscles (masseter right-left and temporalis right-left) and their electric activity recorded during mastication. The signals need to be amplified and filtered, and afterwards their acquisition by a computer allows conditioning and analysis. The output is a series of bursts corresponding to the chews during mastication. EMG parameters include the area under the curve (linked to masticatory work) and voltage (linked to the force exerted) at different moments of the process. Many other parameters are derived from the recording and related to food texture characteristics. EMG allows the study of changes throughout the masticatory process, these changes in EMG parameters permit a better assessment of sensory characteristics than mechanical measurements. Nevertheless, close-fitting correlations have been found between sensory-mechanical-EMG measurements. In the literature, texture assessment by using EMG includes many products like carrots, biscuits, cooked meat, cooked rice, cheese, etc., as well as different texture characteristics like tenderness, hardness, crunchiness, juiciness, among others. Nowadays, texture studies involving EMG are mainly linked to describing changes or differences in the signals, good descriptors of perceived differences. Nevertheless for quantifying purposes, in order to allow comparisons among authors, a first step should be undertaken to standardize EMG parameters definition and procedures used in SE. Cet article de synthese traite de l'electromyographie (EMG) en tant que nouvel outil pour evaluer les caracteristiques de texture des aliments. Des electrodes a surface bipolaire sont placees sur les 4 principaux muscles masticateurs et leurs activites electriques sont enregistrees pendant la mastication. Les parametres de l'EMG sont la surface sous la courbe du signal, reliee au travail de mastication, et la tension electrique, reliee a la force exercee. Cette technique est utilisee pour evaluer la texture de carottes, biscuits, viandes cuites, riz cuit, fromage etc.. Elle permet de decrire des changements ou des differences dans les signaux.