Food aroma

Smell is an elementary parameter in the food valuation. A term of aroma concerns the substance that causes pleasant fragrances sensation. Food aroma is felt by sense of taste and smell by awaking the receptors of taste on the tongue and by smell receptors in the nasal cavity, that send information to the central nervous system and give a flavour sensation.

A natural aroma, smell or odor is typically made up of tensor sometimes hundredsof different volatile compounds.

Typically, food aroma is an equilibrium mixture of aroma compounds. All aroma compounds are relatively small (400 Da), usually organic compounds. The chemical structures of aroma compounds however vary widely; they include acids, neutral compounds, sulfur and nitrogen compounds, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, hydrocarbons, and esters.

The release of aroma compounds from foods is determined by the partition coefficient between the air phase and food matrix and, in the retronasal case, by the partition coefficient between the water phase (saliva) and the food matrix.

Food aroma is very sensitive to the processing and storage conditions. Flavour loss as well as off-flavour development is a problem for the food industry, and could be limited by the encapsulation of the volatile ingredients prior to their use.
Food aroma