Following the formal opening of the meeting by Dr J. Nieuwenhuis, managing director of WCFS, four keynotes were presented on each of the disciplines involved.
- Prof. Peter Lucas on 'Food physics and oral physiology
- Dr Alina Szczesniak on 'Texture is a sensory property'
- Prof. Julian Vincent and Dr Ton van Vliet on 'Physics and food texture: the present and the future'.
In each of these presentations the state of the art was presented and future directions and challenges were highlighted.
Then, three discussion sessions were held. Each session was moderated by an authority in the respective area and followed a structured approach. The discussions were directed towards key issues, crossing borders between disciplines and prioritising research needs. Dr David Kilcast moderated a session focusing on sensory/physiology tackling questions like: "What is the effect of oral condition and changes with age on texture perception and experiences. Prof. Malcolm Bourne moderated the session on sensory/physics in which the relevance and future of physical methods was discussed. Prof. Robin Heath's session covered the area of physiology and physics and discussed among other things "How analysis of in-mouth management help assess food attributes?"