Taste thresholds ketones

Some reported odor threshold values for nootkatone were considerably lower than the taste threshold values. Odor thresholds of 0.8 ppm in water and 30 ppm in air were reported for (+)-nootkatone, the enantiomer of this sesquiterpene ketone present in grapefruit (35). An odor threshold of 0.15 ppm in water was reported for crystalline nootkatone isolated from grapefruit oil (36). In that study, mother liquor from crystallization of nootkatone was 30 times more potent (odor threshold of mother liquor 5 ppb) than nootkatone alone and the panel felt that the aroma of the mother liquor more closely resembled grapefruit aroma... 

ISO 2498-74. Methyl ethyl ketone for industrial use - Examination fra residual odor. Withdrawn 2002. ASTM E 679-04(2011). Standard practice for determination of odra and taste thresholds by forced-choice ascending concentration series method. 

During lipid oxidation, the primary oxidation products that are formed by the autoxidation of unsaturated lipids are hydroperoxides, which have little or no direct impact on the sensory properties of foods. However, hydroperoxides are degraded to produce additional radicals which further accelerates the oxidation process and produce secondary oxidation products such as aldehydes, ketones, acids and alcohols, of which some are volatiles with very low sensory thresholds and have potentially significant impact on the sensory properties namely odor and flavor [2, 3]. Sensory analysis of food samples are performed by a panel of semi to highly trained personnel under specific quarantined conditions. Any chemical method used to determine lipid oxidation in food must be closely correlated with a sensory panel because the human nose is the most appropriate detector to monitor the odorants resulting from oxidative and non-oxidative degradation processes. The results obtained from sensory analyses provide the closest approximation to the consumers approach. Sensory analyses of smell and taste has been developed in many studies of edible fats and oils and for fatty food quality estimation [1, 4, 5]. 

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