Flavor Chemistry (16:400:501)

(Revised on Month Day, Year)

Objectives: This course is designed to provide students to understand the isolation, fractionation, and identification of the desirable and objectionable flavor constituents in food; biochemical pathways for the formation of plant derived aromas in fruits and vegetables; important chemical reactions such as Maillard reaction and lipid oxidation and their mechanisms for the formation of flavor components in food; methods for measuring flavor and flavor stability of food and food components; and industrial methods for the manufacture of process flavors.

Outcomes: After completing the course, one student are expected to

1. Understand various methods of sample preparation for the flavor analysis;
2. Understand the principles of gas chromatography, gas chromatography-olfactometry and mass spectrometry in flavor identification and measurement;
3. Understand the formation of aromas in fruits and vegetables such as aromas of tomato, onion, garlic, citrus, and others;
4. Understand the important of lipid biosynthesis in the formation of fruit and vegetable aromas
5. Understand the effects of heating and cooking methods on the formation of food aromas, particularly in meats baked goods and cereals;
6. Understand the control of Maillard reaction to produce different process flavors;
7. Understand the control of lipid oxidation to stabilize the flavor of food products.

Assessment: The outcome will be assessed by

1. One take-home exam;
2. Each student will ask to give a 15 minutes presentation on a flavor paper from a recent literature

Schedule:
Lecture 1: Introduction
Lecture 2: Flavor compounds
Lecture 3: Flavor analysis
Lecture 4: Biogeneration of flavors (I)
Lecture 5: Biogeneration of flavors (II)
Lecture 6: Lipid oxidation and flavors
Lecture 7: Thermal generation of flavors: Maillard reaction (I)
Lecture 8: Thermal generation of flavors: Maillard reaction (II)
Lecture 9: Thermal generation of flavors: Savory flavors
Lecture 10: Flavors from degradation of minor components of foods
Lecture 11: Stability of flavors
Lecture 12: Student presentations, take home exam
Lecture 13: Student presentations