Humans vs Machines: The Science Behind Taste & Smell

Thoughts

21st November 2022

Debbie Parker

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2 minutes read time

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Have you ever thought about how you can often easily tell the difference between the results of two different people following the same recipe, or even if one person makes the same recipe, but a week apart? What about when these products are analysed by machines and found to contain the
same ingredients, in the same quantities? How is it that we humans can STILL detect differences between such seemingly identical products?

Watching Bake Off last week, a question was posed about the dreaded technical challenge…. “If they’ve all got the same ingredients, and in theory the same instructions and same equipment, how come they turn out so differently?”

Well… We have put together our thoughts on how things can taste or smell different when the exact same ingredients have gone into them, even when the human element is reduced as much as possible and backed it up with the science!

If you are interested and would like more information, please contact: Dr. Debbie Parker Head of Sensory Research Debbie.Parker@walnutunlimited.com

Written by Debbie Parker Email Debbie Parker

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