Fake tongue passes whiskey taste test

AN artificial tongue developed by scientists in Scotland is set to taste its way to combating alcohol counterfeiting and improving food safety testing, a new study has found.

Dr Alasdair Clark and his team from the University of Glasgow’s school of engineering tested the ‘tongue’ with different whiskey samples.

They found it was able to taste the differences between different types of whiskey from Glenfiddich, Glen Marnoch and Laphroaig with 99 per cent accuracy, including the same brands, but differently aged varieties.

“We’re the first to make a single artificial tongue that uses two different types of nanoscale metal ‘tastebuds’, which provides more information about the ‘taste’ of each sample,” Dr Clark said.

The device is made up of two sub-microscopic slices of gold and aluminium, arranged in a checkerboard pattern.

The artificial tongue is about 500 times smaller than its human equivalent.

The researchers said the tongue worked by analysing how the nanoscale tastebuds absorbed light.

They said the tongue could be used to taste virtually any liquid, making it suitable for a variety of taste-testing applications.

“In addition to its obvious potential for use in identifying counterfeit alcohols, it could be used in food safety testing, quality control, security — really any area where a portable, reusable method of tasting would be useful,” Dr Clark said.

The Scottish research has been published in the journal Nanoscale.