Patent ID: 8137623

Claim:
A taste analyzing apparatus for analyzing tastes which a liquid sample has, comprising: a) a component separator for temporally separating components contained in a liquid sample to be analyzed; b) a component detector located after the component separator for detecting the temporally separated components; c) a first taste detector including a plurality of taste sensors, each of which has a different responsive property, for detecting the components in the liquid sample separated by the component separator in temporal course; d) a signal processor for obtaining information on tastes corresponding to each component of the sample by processing detection signals obtained by the component detector and the first taste detector in order to determine not an overall taste of the sample but each taste of various components contained in the sample; e) a second taste detector including a plurality of taste sensors, each of the taste sensors having a different responsive property, for detecting tastes of the liquid sample before being separated into components by the component separator, wherein the first taste detector and the second taste detector are one same taste detector; and f) a passage switcher for selectively supplying the liquid sample before being separated into components by the component separator to the second taste detector, and supplying a liquid eluted from the component separator to the first taste detector.