T aste and smell are the two human senses that are chemical in nature, whereas hearing, touch, and sight are senses of a physical nature that have been partially replicated with sensors, such as microphones, thermometers, and CCDs. Taste and smell, however, have not been as successfully replicated with sensors, probably because of the complexity of the human system. Nevertheless, many attempts have been made to mimic the overall functionality of human taste, although not its structure and appearance. The goal is to try to transform a large number of chemical signals into a characteristic known as taste (1).In this article, we will discuss some approaches to artificial taste sensors and the philosophies behind them. We want to look at the role that taste sensors might play in the future for the food and beverage industry and for consumers. The purpose of this article is not to provide a general review (which can be found in Refs. 2-4). The terms "taste sensor" and "electronic tongue" are used here as synonyms to describe chemical sensor arrays com bined with a computerized data processing system for measure ments in liquid samples. However, the term "taste sensor" will also be defined more narrowly to mean a sensor array used to tar get the analysis of drinks and foodstuffs in terms of their taste.