A new approach to studying sponge cake aroma after storage in treated paper and plastic packaging by direct gas chromatography–olfactometry (D-GC–O)

Molecular Dynamics Simulation on the Diffusion of Flavor, O2 and H2O Molecules in LDPE Film

The diffusion of five flavor organic molecules, including D-limonene, myrcene, ethyl hexanoate, 2-nonanone, and linalool in low density polyethylene (LDPE) film were investigated by combined experimental and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies. The diffusion coefficients derived from the prediction model, experimental determination, and MD simulation were compared, and the related microscopic diffusion mechanism was investigated. The effects of the presence of the flavor organic molecules on the diffusion of O₂ and H₂O in polyethylene (PE) were also studied by MD simulation. Results show that: The diffusion of five flavor molecules in LDPE is well followed to Fick’s second law by the immersion experiment; MD simulation indicates the dual mode diffusion mechanism of the flavor molecules is in LDPE; the diffusion coefficients from MD simulation are close to those from the experimental determination, but are slightly larger than those values; the presence of the flavor organic molecules hinders the diffusion of O₂ and H₂O, which can be well explained from the fraction of free volume (FFV) and interaction energy calculation results derived from MD simulation.

Analytical comparison and sensory representativity of SAFE, SPME, and Purge and Trap extracts of volatile compounds from pea flour

Pisum sativum is of great economic and nutritional interest due to its protein content. Nevertheless, pea products are underused as a protein source in human food because of their strong beany flavour. Therefore, the objective of this study was to select an efficient and representative method to extract volatile molecules of pea flour. In the first step, three extraction methods were chosen: solid phase micro extraction (SPME); Purge and Trap extraction and solvent assisted flavour evaporation (SAFE). The corresponding extracts were analysed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. In the second step, the sensory representativity of the extracts was assessed either by direct gas chromatography-olfactometry for SPME and for Purge and Trap extracts, or by sniffing for the aqueous SAFE extract. It appeared that SAFE extraction was the most suitable method because of its good extraction capacities and its high sensory representativity of the global odour of pea flour.