ABSTRACT
The overall perceived avor of a food is due to sensory inputs to the brain resulting from the interactions of volatile and nonvolatile food components with odor, taste, trigeminal, and tactile receptors in the nose and mouth before, during, and after mastication. Flavor is one of the most important factors determining the perceived quality of emulsion-based food products. Consumers expect that each type of food product will have its own particular characteristic avor prole. For example, a yogurt might be expected to have a creamy strawberry avor, a fruit beverage a tangy orangey avor, and a cooking sauce a rich buttery avor. A food manufacturer must therefore ensure that the avor prole of a particular product is desirable and that it conforms to consumer expectations for that kind of product. A desired avor prole may be achieved using known concentrations of specic types of avor molecule (e.g., NaCl, sucrose, aspartame, d-limonene, or citric acid) or by using complex multicomponent ingredients that contain various avor molecules (e.g., lemon juice, herbs, spices, avor oils, and milk fat). Alternatively, the avor prole of a food might be generated by ingredients that undergo chemical or biochemical reactions during food production, storage, or preparation, for example, lipid oxidation, Maillard reactions, or enzymatic reactions. A food manufacturer may therefore wish to know the type and amount of avoring components that must be incorporated into a food during the manufacturing process so as to produce a desirable avor prole in the nal food product. On the other hand, a food manufacturer may want to know how to avoid the production of any off-avors within a product during manufacture, storage, or utilization.
