Understanding and reducing oxidative flavour deterioration in foods - Oxidation in Foods and Beverages and Antioxidant Applications - page 121

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Understanding and reducing oxidative
flavour deterioration in foods
C. Jacobsen, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Abstract: Lipid oxidation gives rise to undesirable off-flavours as well as
formation of unhealthy compounds. Moreover, oxidative deterioration of
proteins and pigments may affect texture and colours of foods. This chapter
discusses the sensory impact of lipid oxidation on oils, mayonnaise, dairy
products, spreads, cereals, meat products and fish and examples on how
oxidative flavour deterioration can be reduced in some of these food
products are given. In addition, the volatile oxidation products responsible
for off-flavours are discussed.
Key words: sensory analysis, oxidative flavour deterioration, mayonnaise,
dairy products, cereals, nuts, meat products, fish.
6.1 Introduction
Lipid oxidation is one of the most important factors limiting shelf life in many
food products. Lipid oxidation gives rise to the formation of unhealthy com-
pounds such as free radicals and reactive aldehydes. Moreover, lipid oxidation
reduces the nutritional value of lipids. These consequences of lipid oxidation are
not immediately detected by the consumer. However, lipid oxidation will also
lead to significant changes in the sensory properties including odour, flavour,
colour and texture, which are easily detected by the consumer and which may
determine the shelf life of the product. In products containing both lipids and
protein, such as meat and fish, lipid oxidation will go hand in hand with
oxidation of the proteins and this may particularly have a large impact on the
texture changes of the product as will be discussed later. This chapter will