Mechanism of Fishy Odor Compounds Metabolized by Algae

Abstract

Fishy odor, part of the taste and odor existing in the drinking water, often cause people to reflect poor water quality, and even lead to social panic. The typical fishy compounds are primarily amines and polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs), which are widely found in surface water, particularly during the algae blooms. The properties of the small molecular weight, low odor threshold and difficult removing, have received a great concern in the field of environment protection. Because of their environmental hazards, the source, physical-chemical properties, genotoxicity and generation mechanism of the fishy compounds were introduced in this paper in order to remove the compounds by controlling the precursors and generation pathway. The results show that amines are produced by the nitrogenous compounds in catalysis of microorganisms and enzymes, while PUAs are produced by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The algal cells cleavage is a key factor of producing fishy odor.

Characterization of the Key Aroma Constituents in Fried Tilapia through the Sensorics Concept

“…As a precursor of trimethylamine (TMA), trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) widely exists in aquatic products [ 52 ]. In the process of frying tilapia, the oxide is decomposed and produces the main odor substance trimethylamine under the action of enzymes [ 53 ], forming the characteristic flavor and slightly fishy odor of fried tilapia. ( Figure 3 A).…”

Algae-induced taste and odour problems at low temperatures and the cold stress response hypothesis

“…With elevated requirements for drinking water quality (Baudart et al 2017), taste and odour (T&O) issues, which are relatively subjective factors in drinking water quality, have increasingly attracted attention (Krasner et al 1983;Zhang et al 2019a). It may be natural for users to assume that tap water with an off flavour is not healthy (Guo et al 2019;Sun et al 2014), and T&O issues in drinking water are one of the principal causes of consumer complaints, decreasing confidence in the water supply (Faruqi et al 2018). Many T&O episodes, which have been widely investigated, are generated by the volatile secondary metabolites of microbes or algae in natural waters (Huisman et al 2018;Zhang et al 2019b).…”