Spice it up: Impact of oral burn on sensory perception and oral processing behavior of foods

Summary

Oral burn has been found to decrease thickness sensitivity of bouillon soup and suppress taste, flavor, texture and/or mouthfeel perception of tomato soups, curried rice and beef patties, and that oral burn influences oral processing behavior of tomato soups, curried rice and beef patties. We have concluded that oral burn suppresses food sensory perception possibly due to increased neural noise, attentional effects or cross-modal interactions, and that consumers adapt their oral processing behaviors to mitigate the discomfort associated with the oral burn.

Our work may present significant theoretical and practical value in creating pungent food and cuisine based on consumer preferences. The new insights obtained in this thesis may help scientists and food industries to open new views for the design of food products and cuisine with a desirable oral burn.