Food oral consumption is a daily routine to every single individual. Even though the process of a mouthfull eating lasts for only few seconds, its psychological and physiological impacts are enormous. By chewing and mastication and saliva mixing, food particles are turned into a swallowable bolus and consumers receive great enjoy and pleasure throuth this process. While food industry has been working very hard in trying to understand factors influencing consumers' food preference, the governing principles of oral processing are still little known. 

Food oral processing is seen as a newly established research area in food science. This talk will begin with an outline of the main developments of food oral processing. This will then be followed by detailed discussion of governing principles of food oral processing, including saliva participation, oral dynamics and oral physiology, food physics, psychophysics, bolus formation and swallowing. Impacts and implications of food oral processing will also be highlighted by examples throughout the talk.

Dr. Jianshe Chen is a specially appointed professor at Zhejiang Gongshang University and an honorary professor at the University of Leeds (UK). He leads a newly established research laboratory in food oral processing at Zhejiang Gongshang University. His research aims to reveal physical, physiological, and psychophysical principles of eating and sensory perception and to apply such principles in the design and manufacturing of quality tasty food for consumers’ satisfaction and well-being, in particular for disadvantaged consumers (e.g. elderly, patients, infants, etc). 

Dr. Chen is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Texture Studies. He also serves as a member of the editorial board for a number of peer reviewed journals (e.g. Food Structure, Current Opinion in Food Science, Food Science and Human Wellness, etc). He initiated and organised the first international conference of Food Oral Processing and serves to its scientific committee. He is an elected fellow of Institute of Food Science and Technology (UK) and a member of Food Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He is also a founding member of the International Dysphagia Diet Standarisation Initiative, working to establish standard terminologies of texture modified diets for dysphagia patients and elderly people and, for this work, he received an award for “Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement” from American Speech-Language Hearing Association in 2016. Dr. Chen was also awarded as a “One Thousand Talented Scholars” in 2015.