Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 12, 2026

Measuring Oral Fatty Acid Thresholds, Fat Perception, Fatty Food Liking, and Papillae Density in Humans
Published on: June 4, 2014
SENSORY EVALUATION OF FOOD FIRMNESS
Alina S Szczesniak1, Malcolm C Bourne1
1General Foods Technical Center, Tarrytown, N.Y., U.S.A.
Abstract:
How people test foods for firmness without eating them, was studied using 131 respondents and 9 different pairs of foods representing a wide range of firmness. The results were related to correctness of judgment and objective characterization by the Instron machine. Evidence was obtained that the kind of sensory firmness test employed depends on the firmness of the food. Viscosity/ consistency, deformation, puncture, and flexure were used as the degree of 'firmness' increased from a low (whipped toppings) to a very high (carrots) level.
Related Concept Videos
Somatosensation
Sensory Functions of the Skin
There are two main categories of receptors on the skin: capsulated and non-capsulated. The non-capsulated ones are mainly the pain receptors. The capsulated ones can be further categorized based on the...
Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...

