KR20110078141A - Taste code, method of coding food taste using the same and apparatus for outputting food taste code - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A taste code and a food taste coding method using the same are provided to select foods according to consumer's individual taste. CONSTITUTION: A method for coding food taste comprises: a step of determining taste; a step of coding food taste through a taste code prepared by combining at least one taste with corresponding taste code; and a step of outputting coded taste code. A food taste code display apparatus comprises: an input unit for inputting information of at least one taste; a taste code generator for generating the taste code using the information; and a marking unit for displaying taste code to the food.

Description

Taste code, method of coding food taste using the same and apparatus for outputting food taste code}

The present invention relates to a taste code, a food taste coding method and a food taste code display device using the same, and more particularly, a taste code, a food taste coding method, and a food taste code display device for representing the taste of food by type.

As society develops, food is no longer recognized as a means to solve hunger. Rather, indiscriminate or inadequate food intake is a problem.

The taste of food can be largely divided into five flavors, for example, sweet, salty, sour, bitter and spicy.

Until now, consumers have only chosen and eaten foods according to their taste preferences. However, there is a lack of objective information on the taste of the food they are ingesting. In addition, even if it is tamed by a particular taste or the strength of a particular taste increases depending on the physical condition of the body, it is often not noticed, and it is often harmed by taking it continuously. For example, Koreans consume too much salt (sodium). According to the National Nutrition Survey released in 2006, Korean men in their 30s and 40s consume 17.1g of sodium a day, two to three times more than the World Health Organization's recommended 6-8g sodium. Excessive salt intake can cause adult illness, such as cancer and high blood pressure. Therefore, even though such eating habits do not greatly benefit the health of consumers, there is a lack of objective information on taste, and consumers should always be interested and take care of themselves.

In recent years, awareness of health has increased, and more and more people are trying to select and eat the appropriate food for their health and constitution. Nevertheless, even if you want to know exactly the taste of food, there is little information that informs the taste objectively, there are many difficulties in eating the food suitable for their health. In particular, there is even more difficult in the case of fruit, liquor, etc., the ingredient content is not indicated. In addition, as technology advances, a variety of new foods are released, and as free trade is spreading around the world, new foods including fruits are imported from abroad, so it is very difficult to choose which food to choose.

The present invention, for example, to display the intensity of the five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy in a relative grade, so that the consumer can select and consume a food consisting of a combination of tastes that suit the individual's taste or health. do.

According to an aspect of the present invention, (i) encoding the taste of the food with a taste code combining a sub-taste code corresponding to at least one sub-taste representing the taste of the food, and (ii) encoding Disclosed is a food taste coding method using a taste code comprising the step of outputting a taste code.

The food taste coding method may further include determining the taste of the food for at least one lower taste before the encoding.

The at least one sub-taste may include at least one of sweet, sour, bitter, salty or spicy. For example, apples can be represented by three sub-tastes of sweet, sour, and bitter, and wine can be represented by four sub-tastes of sweet, sour, bitter, and astringent. Taste can vary.

For example, sweetness can be determined by measuring sugar content, sour taste with pH acidity, salty salt with sodium ion content, and hot taste with capsaicin content. Bitter taste can be determined by measuring the content of inorganic salts containing divalent ions such as magnesium or calcium, such as MgCl 2 or MgSO 4. Alternatively, the bitter taste may be determined by measuring the content of an organic compound having a special functional group such as alkaloid. Alkaloids include quinine, morphine, cocaine, caffeine, and nicotine. Other organic compounds that affect bitter taste include hydrophobic amino acid peptides and ketones.

The determining may determine the strength of the sub-taste according to the content of each sub-flavoring component.

According to an embodiment of the encoding step, numbers from 0 to 9 may be assigned in descending order according to the strength of the lower taste. In addition to the numbers 0 through 9, the numbers 1 through 5, the letters S (strong), A (normal), M (weak), or A (strong), B (medium), C (weak) Letters and the like may also be given to indicate the strength of the lower taste.

The output may be performed by engraving the taste code intaglio directly on the food. Alternatively, the outputting step may be performed by marking the taste code on the food container or wrapping paper. Alternatively, the outputting step may be performed by printing the taste code on a separate label to be attached to the food or food packaging.

According to another aspect of the invention, (i) an input unit for receiving information on at least one sub-taste representing the taste of food, (ii) a taste code for generating a taste code using the information on the sub-taste entered Disclosed is a food taste code display device including a generation unit and (iii) a marking unit for displaying the generated taste code on the food.

The input unit may be functionally connected to a quality discriminator for measuring the at least one lower taste to receive information output from the quality discriminator. Alternatively, the input unit may receive information manually input by the user.

The taste code may be in a form in which numbers from 0 to 9 are combined in accordance with the number of the sub flavors in descending order according to the intensity of the sub flavors.

The marking portion may form an intaglio on the surface of the food. Alternatively, the marking portion may be printed on the surface of the container or package of food.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a taste code consisting of combining a lower taste code corresponding to at least one sub taste indicating a taste of food is disclosed.

According to the present invention, the intensity of sub-flavor such as sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy, etc. is displayed in a relative grade, so that the consumer can select and consume a food composed of a combination of tastes suitable for the individual's taste or health. In addition, by quantifying the taste of food, including agricultural products, it can contribute not only to the globalization of Korean food, but also to the development of future food distribution.

The term "food" described in the specification of the present application should be understood to mean all foods that humans can drink and eat.

Hereinafter, with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a food taste coding method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the drawings, the food taste coding method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes determining a lower taste (S110), encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to the lower taste (S120), and encoding Outputting the taste code (S130).

Determining the lower taste (S110) may be performed by the internal quality determination device. Examples of the internal quality determination device may be a non-destructive selector or electronic tongue using spectroscopy equipment such as Near Infrared (NIR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), or image processing. If the individual in the same varieties can have different tastes, such as fruit, a non-destructive sorter can be used to determine the lower taste for each individual. In the case of wine, the lower taste can be determined using the electronic tongue. The electronic tongue is an electronic device that analyzes a liquid and distinguishes its components, and may be composed of a non-selective sensor array for analyzing ions inside a mixed aqueous solution and a signal processing system controlling the same. Development of Electronic Tongue Using ', Bae Young-min, Ph.D. Dissertation)

On the other hand, if the tastes are the same for each individual within the same type, such as yogurt, coffee, and ice cream, and taste changes do not occur at the time of manufacture or later, for example, it is possible for the manufacturers to provide data on sub-taste. . Alternatively, a particular institution may analyze and evaluate the taste of these prepared foods to provide data on sub-taste for each type of food.

2 to 4, a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to the lower taste and a method of outputting the encoded taste code will be described.

2 shows an example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste. In this example, the subtaste was classified into sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy. However, the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Because the taste of food is a general term for the sense of feeling when food is put into the mouth, it is generally caused by the stimulus transmitted through the taste cells of the tongue, but in addition, the aroma, hardness, temperature, viscoelasticity This is because the senses that can be felt through smell and touch also affect taste. Therefore, the sub-taste may include various sub-tastes depending on the type of food, such as flavor, astringent taste, soft taste, sweet taste, cool taste, slippery, in addition to the sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy illustrated above. . For example, in the case of wine, it may be desirable to include the astringent taste in the sub-taste constituting the taste code, while in apples the sourness is an important sub-taste that determines the taste, but in bananas the sour or salty may be of little importance. . Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the sub-taste is classified into five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and spicy.

In this embodiment, the intensity of each subtaste is represented by a number from 0 to 9 in order from mild to sequential. Specifically, the content per unit mg of the components for determining each sub-taste may be relatively expressed as a number from 0 to 9. In this way, for example, some apples may be encoded with 8 sweet, 4 sour, 1 bitter, 0 salty, and 0 spicy. The encoded lower tastes may be encoded and output in the form of 84100 in series. The consumer can easily select the apple without seeing the taste code and seeing that the apple has no taste other than sweet and sour, and has a sweet and strong sour taste.

3 shows another example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste. In this embodiment, the intensity of each sub-taste is encoded with the letters C, B, A in order from weakest. For example, the apple has a lower taste code of A, sour taste of B, bitterness of C, bitterness of C, salty of C, and spicy of C, and the taste code of the apple is output in the form of ABCCC.

4 shows another example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste. In this embodiment, the intensity of each sub-taste is encoded with the letters S (strong), A (average), and M (mild) sequentially from the strongest. For example, the apple has a lower taste code as S, sour taste A, bitter taste M, salty M, and spicy M, and the taste code of the apple is output in the form of SAMMM.

As described above, the lower taste is determined, encoded and output, the taste code may be displayed as shown in FIG. 5. That is, it may be displayed on food or the like in the form of taste code. The taste code can be imprinted on the surface of the apple. This display method will be described later in more detail.

On the other hand, as shown in Figures 6 to 8, the taste code may be displayed in other forms. This does not mean that the encoding of the lower taste code is necessarily represented by letters or numbers, but also includes graphing or symbolizing, such as pie graphs or bar graphs.

6 is a graph illustrating a display method of a taste code according to another exemplary embodiment. In this embodiment, the taste code is not encoded in the form of letters or numbers, but in the form of a graph. Therefore, consumers can visually quickly recognize which taste is inherently sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or spicy.

7 is a graph showing a display method of a taste code according to another embodiment. In this embodiment, too, the taste code is not encoded in the form of letters or numbers, but in the form of a graph. The method shown in FIG. 6 uses a radial graph, whereas in this example a bar graph is used to more directly indicate the intensity of each subtaste.

8 is a view showing a taste code display method according to another embodiment. In this embodiment, each subtaste is displayed successively as sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or plum, with each subtaste displayed in size proportional to the intensity of the subtaste. For example, the food with the strongest sweetness, strong sourness, moderate spicy, bitter and salty may be displayed as shown in FIG. 8 for foods that are not so strong.

In addition, instead of displaying only the taste code described above on a food, a container, or a package thereof, each content (eg, per mg) of the sub-taste may be separately indicated. This can provide information to consumers who want to know the exact strength of each subtaste.

As described above, it is expected that by coding a taste code indicating the taste of food, the following exemplary effects can be obtained.

First, it is possible to purchase agricultural products and foods that match consumer preferences with taste code markings. For example, a person who does not like the sour taste of fermented foods, such as yogurt, may choose foods with the same nutrients but less sour taste. In particular, the body is reported to improve immunity when the weak alkali, considering the fact that the preference of alkaline foods will increase the effect of using the taste code will be even greater.

In addition, it is possible to select and purchase food suitable for the individual's health care. For example, a diabetic or a person who diets with symptoms of diabetes may be able to consume agricultural products or processed foods with relatively low sweetness, which are affected by the sugar content, which may be helpful for dietary health management. will be.

In addition, it is possible to increase the utilization value of agricultural products without commerciality (low sugar content agricultural products without commerciality in apples, peaches, strawberries, etc.) due to the low sugar content. Because it is possible to purchase a selective reference to the taste code, for example, low-sugar foods and agricultural products can be used for diabetes patients and hospital meals.

In addition, various flavors of fermented foods (yoghurt, beer, sikhye, etc.) can be standardized, objectified, and leveled. Since fermented foods vary in taste depending on the degree of fermentation, it is possible to provide information that enables purchase of products according to individual preferences by distinguishing the degree of preference for sour taste generated during fermentation.

In addition, it is possible to promote convenience and consumption of domestic consumers by mandating attachment of taste codes to imported foods (kiwi, wine, liquor, etc.). Hundreds of grapes are imported to our country, but each tastes different, making it difficult to choose. Thus, if the taste of the wine is coded with an appropriate taste code, not only will consumers be able to choose it, but it will also help to promote the consumption of fermented foods such as wine.

In addition, it is possible to increase the export by providing the convenience of the holder of the exporting country by attaching a taste code for the export food, such as gochujang, kimchi, makgeolli.

9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a food taste coding apparatus according to an embodiment. Referring to the drawing, the food taste coding apparatus includes an input unit 100, a taste code generation unit 200, and a marking unit 300.

The input unit 100 receives data of each sub flavor to be displayed. The data of the lower taste may be directly inputted in a predetermined manner by an operator after being analyzed in advance or may be inputted to the input unit after being analyzed by a quality discriminator. For example, in the case of a processed food having a constant taste, the manufacturer may analyze the data of the lower taste in a laboratory and provide the data to the input of the food taste coding apparatus. In the second case, for example, during the post-harvest processing of a produce such as a fruit, the input of the food taste coding apparatus is communicatively connected with the quality discriminator so that the sub-tastes of each object of the fruit can be obtained in real time. After the determination, the lower taste data may be sent to the food taste coding apparatus.

The measurement of the subtaste is possible, for example, from the content per mg of the component that determines each subtaste. Sweetness can be determined, for example, by measuring the sugar content. In particular, glucose, sucurose, and fructose can be measured, which affects the sweetness of humans. However, it is a matter of course that the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Sour taste can be determined, for example, from pH acidity. The bitter taste may be determined, for example, by measuring the content of an organic compound having a special functional group or by measuring the content of divalent ions such as calcium and magnesium. Unlike this, the content of quinine or caffeine may be measured to indicate the degree of bitter taste. Salty can be determined, for example, by measuring sodium ion content. Spicy taste can be determined, for example, by measuring capsaicin content. Astringent taste can be determined, for example, by measuring tannin content.

The taste code generation unit 200 generates a taste code represented in the form of numbers, letters, or symbols in which lower taste data are combined in a line. The taste code generation unit may operate by a predetermined algorithm to generate various types of taste codes by referring to the lower taste tables (refer to FIGS. 2 to 4) stored in the processing operation unit.

The marking unit marks the generated taste code on the food. The taste code may be marked directly on the surface of the food, on the packaging or container for packaging the food, or on a label. More specifically, the fruit with the epidermis may mark the taste code directly on the epidermis. As a method of marking directly on the skin of the fruit, it can be engraved by laser printing technique. Laser printing can be performed by stamping the skin within a range that does not damage the flesh using a laser of the appropriate wavelength.

If there is a container, such as alcoholic or fermented foods, the taste code can be printed directly on the container. Even if there is a packaging such as bread, the taste code can be printed directly on the container. Alternatively, the taste code may be printed on an adhesive label and the label attached to the food, container or package.

As described above, a taste code is assigned to all necessary foods so that consumers can directly select foods suitable for themselves by coding and displaying objective values of each unique taste in agricultural products and foods. In particular, in line with the advent of the age of selective purchase of customized foods and agricultural products suitable for future personal health care and the current trend of increasing importance, tastes of agricultural products and foods are encoded and displayed so that consumers can enjoy their personal taste or health. You can choose a food with a combination of flavors. The taste coding of agricultural products and foods can be utilized in all areas of agricultural products and foods, and will be an essential means of future distribution.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

The present invention can be used in food-related industries, such as fruit harvesting, food production and distribution.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a food taste coding method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste.

3 is a diagram illustrating another example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste.

4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another example of a method of encoding a food taste with a lower taste code corresponding to a lower taste.

6 is a graph illustrating a display method of a taste code according to an exemplary embodiment.

7 is a view showing a taste code display method according to another embodiment.

8 is a view showing a taste code display method according to another embodiment.

9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a food taste coding apparatus according to an embodiment.

Brief description of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

100: input unit 200: taste code generation unit

300: marking part

Claims (16)

Encoding a taste of the food with a taste code combining a lower taste code corresponding to at least one sub taste indicating a taste of the food; And Food taste coding method using a taste code comprising the step of outputting the encoded taste code. The method according to claim 1, And before the encoding, determining the taste of the food for at least one sub-taste. The method according to claim 1, And said at least one sub-flavor comprises at least one of sweet, sour, bitter, salty or spicy. The method of claim 3, The sweet taste is determined by measuring the sugar content, the sour taste is determined by measuring the pH acidity, the bitter taste is determined by measuring inorganic salts containing magnesium or calcium or organic compounds having a predetermined functional group, or the salty taste Determination by measuring the content of silver sodium ion, or the spicy taste is determined by measuring the content of capsaicin. The method according to claim 1, The determining of the food flavor coding method of assigning the intensity of the sub-flavor according to the content of each sub-flavoring component. The method according to claim 1, The encoding is a food taste coding method of assigning a number from 0 to 9 in descending order according to the intensity of the lower taste. The method according to claim 1, The outputting of the food taste coding method is performed by engraving the taste code directly on the food. The method according to claim 1, The outputting of the food taste coding method is performed by marking the taste code on a container or package for packaging the food. The method according to claim 1, The outputting of the food taste coding method is performed by printing the taste code on a separate label to be attached to the food or food packaging. An input unit for receiving information on at least one sub-taste indicating a taste of food; A taste code generator for generating a taste code by using the input information on the lower taste; And And a marking unit for displaying the generated taste code on the food. The method of claim 10, And the input unit is functionally connected to a quality discriminator measuring the at least one lower taste to receive information output from the quality discriminator. The method of claim 10, The input unit is a food taste code display device for receiving the information manually input by the user. The method of claim 10, The taste code is a food taste code display device in the form of a combination of numbers from 0 to 9 in accordance with the number of the sub-flavor from the lower order in accordance with the intensity of the sub-taste. The method of claim 10, And the marking part forms an intaglio on a surface of the food. The method of claim 10, And the marking part is printed on a surface of a food container or a wrapping paper. A taste code formed by combining a sub taste code corresponding to at least one sub taste indicating a taste of food.

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