Get a bite out of this.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization demonstrated a 3D, virtual mouth model last Tuesday that examines what happens inside your mouth when you chew your food. In light of the holiday, a caramel-filled Easter egg model was the first food tested.

This new technology provides insight to how salt, sugar and fat components of particular foods break down and how flavor is released in the mouth. Out of respect to human privacy and personal space, this type of research hasn’t been available until now. Instead of prodding in a real person’s taste buds, all the data can now be displayed and analyzed from a computer screen.

In the CSIRO press release, biochemical engineer Simon Harrison said, “Through this technology, we can view and analyze how food at the microscopic level works in the mouth, and how it influences our taste perception.”

The biggest benefit of these experiments would be finding the healthiest way to make the foods we love without changing the taste.

Most food and ingredient manufacturers rely on old recipes that are tailored to taste rather than tohealth. If you’ve ever watched your grandparents whip up a meal, you know they don’t think twice about how much junk they’re putting in, as long as it tastes good. Now, foods can be made as efficiently as possible with only the necessary amount of salt, sugar and fat.

CSIRO thinks it can not only make healthier versions of existing products but also create brand new foods based on its findings. Leif Lundin, the company’s food materials scientist, believes this invention will ultimately save the food companies tons of money since they’ll now know the lowest amount of ingredients needed to create their products.

“It can also model the costs of making changes to a product, and then calculate the cost benefit. This will save time and money, compared to using the traditional ‘cook and look’ approach,” Lundin said, according to the press release.

The virtual mouth replicates the different ways humans consume food. Everyone eats differently depending on the food. It’s possible that these differences also play a role in our taste sensation and how we perceive flavors.

This is one of the most effective uses of big data to date. With all of the information that is gathered on a daily basis for marketing purposes, it’s about time some of that information is flipped into something that actually benefits the consumer. I know the combination of cheese, tomato sauce and bread makes me very happy and if anyone can find a healthier version of that with the same taste, I’m all for it.

Analytics have found their way into almost every aspect of life during the information age that we’re living in and its entry into the food industry could ultimately make for a slimmer, healthier world in the future.

There’s some food for thought.

Aarick Knighton is a sophomore information management and technology major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at adknight@syr.edu.

 

Published on April 23, 2014 at 1:00 am