Unit 4 - Food preparation

4.6. Texture‐modified foods taste and aesthetic presentation

4.6.1. Sensory Properties of Texture-modified diet

  • It is important that pureed food looks, tastes and smells good so that it is appetising to eat. For an adult, shapeless, dull colored food is unappealing. Almost as significant is the fact that nursing attendants, feeding residents pureed food, often project a negative attitude about unattractive food.

  • That cause the main problem, resulting in frequent low percent of food consumed by residents on the Pureed Diet.

  • The more attractive the food, the better it is received by residents and care givers alike. The goal is to serve the most attractive food to all residents, including those needing the Pureed Diet.

  • The smell and appealing appearance of food can help to increase appetite as we eat with our eyes, and our noses!

  • How can smooth, moist pureed food have an enhanced image?


Texture-modified diet: Opportunities


This article reviews the latest applications and improvement opportunities for the production of textured foods for dysphagia.

It gives an up-to-date overview of the latest technologies for producing texturized foods while maintaining their sensory properties and creating appealing products for the consumer.

To learn more, please read it:

https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1541-4337.12495


  • Texture: According to IDDSI evaluation

  • Optimization:

    • Appearance

    • Flavour

    • Kinesthetiscs

  • Importance of using good descriptors



Texture-modified diet: Sensory Attributes


It is widely observed that pureed diets lack sensory or taste appeal and can lead to food refusal and reduced intake. Many elderly people suffer from a loss of taste and smell in addition to stimuli, which has a negative impact on their enjoyment of meals and dietary habits. This provides a challenge to design TMFs that have attractive sensory properties. Vision and auditory perception are reported to be the dominant features in human perception of food. The appearance of a meal in terms of the colour, taste and smell, all perceived by the orbitofrontal cortex involved in processing pleasant stimuli, and how it is served is shown to play an important role in the evaluation of foods among the elderly and dysphagics.

To learn more, please read it: https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijfs.14483


Even though manipulation of texture remains to be a common strategy in dysphagia management, pureed diets are reported to lack sensory or taste appeal which can result in food refusal and reduced intake TMFs.

To formulate TMFs that give pleasurable meal experiences, varying ingredients and processing conditions can be used improve taste, aroma and visual aspects of these foods. As such, sensory modified foods may be formulated and used to improve swallowing in dysphagics whilst maintaining palatability.

To learn more, please read it: https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijfs.14483