Learning objectives
The course is aimed at illustrating to the student the chemistry of flavour, in particular the molecules responsible for taste and aroma of foods, their origin and their transformation during the technological treatments and the preservation.
Prerequisites
The final examination should be preceded by Organic Chemistry and Transformation of foods during cooking.
Course unit content
<br />The course is organized in different chapters:<br />1) Introduction, the concept of flavour, the molecular bases of flavour perception, taste perception, chemestesis, olfaction.<br />2) Taste. Sweet, bitter, salty, sour, umami (meat taste), astringency, pungency and cooling.<br />3) Flavours of enzymatic origin. Biogenesis of fruit aroma: aroma compounds from fatty acid, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism. Biogenesis of vegetable aroma: the role of lipids, lactones, aroma compound formation from cysteine sulfoxide derivatives, glucosinolates, terpenes, phenols, glycosidically bound aroma compounds.<br />4) Changes in food flavour due to processing. The Maillard and Strecker reactions: mechanisms and influencing factors. Carbonyl compounds, oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds. Pyrazines, tiazoles, tiazolines. Flavours from lipids.<br />5) Flavours formed via fermentation.<br />6) Flavour release from food.<br />7) Off-flavours and taints in foods: taints from ambient and packaging, off-flavours due to chemical changes and microbial off-flavours.<br />8) Flavouring materials and their applications.
Bibliography
<br />T. P. Coultate, La Chimica degli Alimenti, Ed. Zanichelli, Bologna (2004)<br />P. Cabras, A. Martelli, Chimica degli Alimenti, Ed. Piccin, Padova (2004)G. Reineccius, Flavor chemistry and technology, Ed. CRC Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, FL, USA (2006)
