Texture Evaluation of Care Food

Introduction

The development of care food, which is processed to be soft and easy to eat, is steadily progressing to the point that the shape, color and taste are nearly indistinguishable from ordinary food, except that the texture is softened to enable crushing using just the gums and tongue. These commercially available products are a great boon to the elderly and individuals with internal mouth injuries who may have inadequate strength for chewing and drinking, and are helping these disadvantaged groups to better enjoy the pleasures of tasting and eating. Meanwhile, according to the Health Promotion Law in Japan, the Japan Consumer Affairs Agency is authorized to conduct reviews of the suitability of "foods for people with dysphagia" as regulated special purpose foods, and based on these reviews, permit the display of such foods. Here, we conducted measurements of commercially available care food based on the test methods specified for reviewing the suitability of foods for people with dysphagia. We then classified the food according to the specific standard based on the obtained hardness, adhesiveness, and cohesiveness data.

January 27, 2012 GMT