The rapid change in eating habits prompted us to carry out a taste-recognition-threshold survey on saltiness, sourness, bitterness and sweetness on women's college students in order to examine the possible change in sensitivity to these four fundamental kinds of taste. A comparative study of the results was made between two groups of students : those who were students in 1980 to 1985 and those who were students in 1986 to 1995. No statistically significant difference was apparent between the former and the latter groups of students in the taste-recognition-threshold of saltiness, sourness, bitterness and sweetness. However, the recognition threshold of saltiness, bitterness and sweetness for the latter seemed to be slightly higher than that for the former group, the sweetness value being higher by almost one level. The recognition threshold for sourness by the latter seemed to be slightly lower than that for the former group