ABSTRACT
Food quality is ultimately dened in terms of consumer acceptability: taste, aroma, and appearance. Oxidation, both autoxidative and enzymatic, can affect all three. While instrumental measures (pH; thiobarbituric acid reactive substance [TBARS] values; L*, a*, and b* values; hexanal concentration; etc.) are useful, they are only indicators of sensory acceptability. Ultimately, the sensory characteristics must be correlated with the instrumental measures if the instrumental measures are to be used to accurately predict food quality.
