Kathy Ridgway

A review of the analytical methods available to chromatographers for the determination of sources of off-flavours and food taints.

If food flavor is not as expected, it can damage consumer confidence and give the perception of poor quality. Setting analytical standards of what constitutes an acceptable flavor can be challenging, and while methods based on total volatiles or specific marker compounds can be a useful quality control check, a more investigative approach is often required.

Examples of a wide variety of sample preparation techniques for the analysis of trace-level contaminants in food and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed in this article.