The Significance of Volatile Sulfur Compounds in Food Flavors

Abstract

Volatile sulfur compounds are important contributors to the characteristic flavors and off-flavors of many foods. As a class, sulfur-containing flavor volatiles have low sensory detection thresholds, are present in low concentration and are often chemically labile, which can present measurement challenges. Advances in analytical separation techniques and instrumentation have enabled understandings of their occurrence and contributions to their relative sensory significance.Relating the chemistry and sensory contributions of volatile sulfur compounds to food flavor is an ongoing endeavor. The preminent quest in flavor research is to identify and categorize chemical constituents which provide unique sensory characteristics to the aroma and flavor of foods. Sulfur compounds contribute enzymatically-derived flavors in the Allium species (garlic, onion, chive) or Cruciform families (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower), and thermally-generated flavors such as roasted meat, chicken, seafood, and coffee. Volatile sulfur compounds play an important role in the aromas of bread, popcorn, nuts, potato products and wine, and contribute subtle flavor characteristics to cheddar cheese, chocolate and tropical fruit flavors, to name a few examples. Additional understandings of biosynthetic pathways, fermentation mechanisms, or thermal processes continue to evolve by which sulfur flavor constituents can be

Quality Evaluation and Storage Study of Chicken Meat Pickle

“…Mustard oil imparts pleasant pungent flavor to meat (McGorrin, 2011). Also, it contains an active principle, allylisothiocyanate reported as antibacterial compound (Luciano et al, 2008;Dias et al, 2014).…”

Determination of volatile thiols in roasted coffee by derivatization and liquid chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometric analysis

“…2-Furfurylthiol is considered as a key impact aroma compound in roasted and brewed coffee (Semmelroch & Grosch, 1995;1996;Grosch, 2001;Akiyama et al, 2008); it exhibits a strong roasted aroma and has a very low sensory threshold (Blank, Sen, & Grosch, 1992;Semmelroch & Grosch, 1995). Other thiols, such as methanethiol (MT), 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (3MBT), 3-mercapto-3-methyl butanol (3MMB), 3-mercapto-3-methylbutyl formate (3MMBF) and 3-mercapto-3methylbutyl acetate (3MMBA) are also present in coffee and have very low sensory thresholds (Holscher & Steinhart, 1992;Kumazawa & Masuda, 2003a, 2003bMayer, Czerny, & Grosch, 1999;McGorrin, 2011;Semmelroch & Grosch, 1995;1996;Sunarharum et al, 2014). MT has been related to either sulfurous, cabbage-like and fresh coffee (Caprioli et al, 2012;Semmelroch & Grosch, 1995).…”

Monitoring of lactic fermentation driven by different starter cultures via direct injection mass spectrometric analysis of flavour-related volatile compounds

“…Dead time correction, internal calibration of mass spectral data and peak extraction were performed according to the procedure described by Cappellin et al (2010;2011). Peak intensity in ppbv was estimated using the formula described by Lindinger, Hansel, & Jordan (1998), using a constant value for the reaction rate coefficient (k = 2.10 −9 cm 3 s − 1 ).…”

“…This is of particular importance due to the difficulty faced by other techniques (e.g. GC/ MS) in rapidly identifying VSCs, as their concentrations in milk products are extremely low McGorrin, 2011;Soukoulis et al, 2010). Among the twelve peaks associated to sulphur compounds detected by PTR-ToF-MS, the majority of them were found to increase at the end of incubation (data not shown).…”

“…3e, S2). Hydrogen sulphide and methanethiol, in particular, previously identified as possible dairy off-flavours (Mounchili et al, 2005), are known to be important especially for the cooked flavour of high-pasteurised and UHT milk (de Wit & Nieuwenhuijse, 2008;McGorrin, 2011), the milk used in this study. L. delbrueckii subsp.…”