ASTM International Developing Food Standard

West Conshohocken, Penn.ASTM International is developing a standard that relates to such questions as how long a brand of chewing gum retains its flavor and whether a piece of steak remains tender as it is being chewed.

The Subcommittee E18.04 on Fundamentals of Sensatory is developing the standard, and the ASTM International Committee E18 on Sensatory Evaluation of Materials and Products has jurisdiction over the matter.

The proposed standard reportedly began with a workshop that drew sixty E18 members.

ASTM International, a global standards organization formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, said over the past decade methods for measuring time-related changes have been constricted to a single product characteristic such as sweetness.

"The combination of tests that will be included in WK41798 cover multiple attributes and will be useful in evaluating more complex products, such as wine," the organization said.