Sensory evaluation company Opertech Bio, Inc. has announced the issuance of the patent for its high-throughput sensory discrimination technologies, which includes the TāStation System.
“Our TāStation (Taste+Station) technology is the first automated high throughput system for rapid characterization of taste sensory properties,” said Scott Horvitz, Opertech’s president and CEO. “The TāStation system dramatically reduces the reliance on traditional taste panel testing and the associated expenditure of resources in time and costs.”
The TāStation is a portable workstation that can determine the taste characteristics of hundreds of samples in less than an hour. Individuals can be trained through an interactive algorithm to make responses on a touchscreen monitor that are dependent on the subject’s ability to detect and distinguish taste stimuli. The subject’s responses are then recorded for taste sensitivities and preferences.
“TāStation is an entirely new approach to taste testing and measurement,” said R. Kyle Palmer, Opertech’s chief Science officer and inventor of the technology. “TāStation is used for evaluating new sweeteners, taste enhancers and bitter blockers and also has broad application in flavor optimization, providing a combinatorial strategy for developing the best tasting ingredient mixtures.”
