Abstract: A taste sensing system (SA402B) was applied to evaluate the taste characteristics of the meat samples of Eriocheir sinensis from five geographic origins, purse seined in lakes, wildly grown in natural waters or cultured inrice-crab coculture systems. The electronic tongue data showed that umami was the most predominant taste in steamed meat with a taste-active value (TAV) of 15.78–17.78, followed by bitterness (TAV = 7.33–13.53) and saltiness (TAV = 3.83–12.39). TAV for astringency (0.11–7.68) varied widely among geographic origins. There were no difference in sourness and only slight differences in richness (0–1.89), aftertaste-B (0–1.03) and aftertaste-A (0–0.38) among the samples, as reflected by the TAVs below ?30 and around zero, respectively. Linear discriminant analysis revealed that the accuracy of initial verification was as high as 100%. The scatter plot showed that all the five geographical origins could be clearly separated from each other. The results of the present study suggest that the taste sensing system can accurately profile the taste characteristics of E. sinensis from different geographic origins and that the electronic tongue data have the potential to discriminate the taste characteristics.

Key words: Eriocheir sinensis; taste sensing system; taste-active values; linear discriminant analysis; geographic origin discrimination