2023 December

Ian Sample meets Ed Yong, who recently won 2023’s Royal Society book prize for An Immense World, which delves into the incredible world of animal senses. From colours and sounds beyond our perception, to the weird and wonderful ways that animals grow new ears and experience smell, Ed explains why understanding how animals perceive the world can transform our own experience of life on Earth

Playing with the taste of chocolate to create unique flavour experiences led to fame and fortune in the fictional world of Wonka. Not scientists are finding ways of doing it for real.

If you've ever wondered why pineapple tastes sweet at times but sour other times, it has to do with the time of day it was harvested, according to science.

The variety of juicy grape that Yuki Nakamura is harvesting as the sun rises over his farm took scientists 33 years to develop and can sell for $100 a bunch in Tokyo department stores.

The molecules that cover our cells have interacted over the ages with our environment and the diseases that plague us – and in the process shaped our progress

Le gras, les féculents ou la réglisse ont-ils un goût spécifique qui s’inscrirait parmi les saveurs de base perçues par nos sens ? À défaut de...

Texture is an integral component of the overall sensory experience of food. It is the way food feels in our mouths, and it influences our perception of flavor, aroma, and even temperature. Texture is the reason why we can distinguish between a juicy steak and a dry one, a creamy cheesecake and a...

The four-day Food ingredients Europe show dedicated several key components to plant-based solutions.

(Zaragoza/ Gerona, lunes, 4 de diciembre de 2023). El Laboratorio de Análisis de Aroma y Enología de la Universidad de Zaragoza (LAAE-UNIZAR) ha participado en un estudio que permitirá potenciar los vinos de alta calidad e impulsar el sector del corcho nacional. El proyecto de I+D CORK2WINE ha finalizado tras haber logrado significativos desarrollos en la mejora de la

Quel est l'impact de ce que nous sentons avec le nez sur notre bien-être? On fait le point avec une chercheuse genevoise.

Long-term space exploration endeavors, encompassing journeys from the Earth to the Moon by 2030 and subsequent voyages from the Moon to Mars by 2040, …

Animals can easily detect hundreds of thousands of odors in the environment with high sensitivity and selectivity. With the progress of biological olfactory research, scientists have extracted multiple biomaterials and integrated them with different transducers thus generating numerous biosensors. Those biosensors inherit the sensing ability of living organisms and present excellent detection performance. In this paper, we mainly introduce odor biosensors based on substances from animal olfactory systems. Several instances of organ/tissue-based, cell-based, and protein-based biosensors are described and compared. Furthermore, we list some other biological materials such as peptide, nanovesicle, enzyme, and aptamer that are also utilized in odor biosensors. In addition, we illustrate the further developments of odor biosensors.

Odor is central to food quality. Still, a major challenge is to understand how the odorants present in a given food contribute to its specific odor profile, and how to predict this olfactory outcome from the chemical composition. In this proof-of-concept study, we seek to develop an integrative model that combines expert knowledge, fuzzy logic, and machine learning to predict the quantitative odor description of complex mixtures of odorants. The model output is the intensity of relevant odor sensory attributes calculated on the basis of the content in odor-active comounds. The core of the model is the mathematically formalized knowledge of four senior flavorists, which provided a set of optimized rules describing the sensory-relevant combinations of odor qualities the experts have in mind to elaborate the target odor sensory attributes. The model first queries analytical and sensory databases in order to standardize, homogenize, and quantitatively code the odor descriptors of the odorants. Then the standardized odor descriptors are translated into a limited number of odor qualities used by the experts thanks to an ontology. A third step consists of aggregating all the information in terms of odor qualities across all the odorants found in a given product. The final step is a set of knowledge-based fuzzy membership functions representing the flavorist expertise and ensuring the prediction of the intensity of the target odor sensory descriptors on the basis of the products' aggregated odor qualities; several methods of optimization of the fuzzy membership functions have been tested. Finally, the model was applied to predict the odor profile of 16 red wines from two grape varieties for which the content in odorants was available. The results showed that the model can predict the perceptual outcome of food odor with a certain level of accuracy, and may also provide insights into combinations of odorants not mentioned by the experts.

As kids, we’re naturally more likely to enjoy sweet and salty tastes and reject bitterness. But that changes as we grow older.

The annotated reference genomes from yellow and purple passion fruit identify candidate genes for terpene synthases that may account for differences in flavor a

This paper presents an electronic nose system inspired by the biological olfactory system. When comparing the human olfactory system to that of a dog, it’s worth noting that dogs have 30 times more olfactory receptors and three times as many types of olfactory receptors. This implies that the number of olfactory receptors could be a more important parameter for classifying chemical compounds than the number of receptor types. Instead of using expensive precision sensors, the proposed electronic nose system relies on numerous low-cost homogeneous and heterogeneous sensors with poor cross-interference characteristics due to their low gas selectivity. Even if the same type of sensor shows a slightly different output for the same chemical compound, this variation becomes a unique signal for the target gas being measured. The electronic nose system comprises 30 sensors, the e-nose had 6 differing sensors with 5 replicates of each type. The characteristics of the electronic nose system are evaluated using three different volatile alcoholic compounds, more than 99% of which are the same. Liquid samples are supplied to the sensor chamber for 60 seconds using an air bubbler, followed by a 60-second cleaning of the chamber. Sensor signals are acquired at a sampling rate of 100 Hz. In this experimental study, the effects of data preprocessing methods and the number of sensors of the same type are investigated. By increasing the number of sensors of the same type, classification accuracy exceeds 99%, regardless of the deep learning model. The proposed electronic nose system, based on low-cost sensors, demonstrates similar results to commercial expensive electronic nose systems.

This review presents an outline of the application of the most popular sorbent-based methods in food analysis. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is discussed based on the analyses of lipids, mycotoxins, pesticide residues, processing contaminants and flavor compounds, whereas solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is discussed having volatile and flavor compounds but also processing contaminants in mind. Apart from these two most popular methods, other techniques, such as stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), high-capacity sorbent extraction (HCSE), and needle-trap devices (NTD), are outlined. Additionally, novel forms of sorbent-based extraction methods such as thin-film solid-phase microextraction (TF-SPME) are presented. The utility and challenges related to these techniques are discussed in this review. Finally, the directions and need for future studies are addressed.

Gelatine, made from the connective tissues of animal parts, is an unlikely staple ingredient. Veronique Greenwood looks at its thousand-year history.

The browning formation and taste enhancement of peptides derived from soybean, peanut, and corn were studied in the light-colored Maillard reaction compared with the deep-colored reaction. The fluorescent compounds, as the browning precursors, were accumulated during the early Maillard reaction of peptides and subsequently degraded into dark substances, which resulted in a higher browning degree of deep-colored Maillard peptides (MPs), especially for the MPs derived from corn peptide. However, the addition of l-cysteine in light-colored Maillard reaction reduced the formation of deoxyosones and short-chain reactive α-dicarbonyls, thereby weakening the generation of fluorescent compounds and inhibited the browning of MPs. Synchronously, the peptides were thermally degraded into small peptides and amino acids, which were consumed less during light-colored thermal reaction due to its shorter reaction time at high temperature compared with deep-colored ones, thus contributing to a stronger saltiness perception of light-colored MPs than deep-colored MPs. Besides, the Maillard reaction products derived from soybean and peanut peptides possessed an obvious “kokumi” taste, making them suitable for enhancing the soup flavors.

The aroma of red wine results from the intricate interplay between aroma compounds (odorants) and complex polymers generated during fermentation. This study combines density functional theory (DFT), human sensory experiments, and nuclear magnetic resonance to investigate the impact of odorant–polymer interactions on wine aroma. Molecular aggregation patterns of odorants with polymer segments are identified, indicating the crucial role of intermolecular noncovalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions, in stabilizing odorant–polymer conformations. Certain odorants, including 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine and cis-whisky lactone, exhibit high binding affinity to specific polymer segments, such as (+)-catechin and p-coumaric acid, resulting in substantial changes in the perceived aroma. Their strong binding affinities correlate with changes in sensory experiments for binary mixtures. The results provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of odorant–polymer interactions in red wine with the potential of DFT calculations as a tool for predicting and tailoring red wine aroma.

The outer space is not odorless, but it has a distinct smell that astronauts describe as stinky. Continue reading the article to learn more.

As consumers become increasingly wary of sugar content, CPG companies are meeting the demand for zero-sugar products with the help of natural sweeteners, a trend set to gain momentum in the US as regulators and scientists push for reductions.

A new study has found that compared to regular-strength beer, low- and non-alcoholic beers may be a breeding ground for food-borne pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella, which can be introduced during manufacturing, storage, or pouring.

A bit of moisture can keep static electricity out of your coffee.

Food waste (FW) generation is a global issue that affects the environment, society, and economy. The conventional methods of FW management lead to the…

The proposal has elicited mounting opposition from tobacco companies, Black activists worried about police enforcement and small businesses, as President Biden moves into an election year.

“It would have huge consequences — a lot of them probably not anticipated,” one researcher said.

The Coca-Cola Company has been boosting its digital investments and developing its digital capabilities. How is this transforming the company?

Australian-grown coffees have very high scores, similar to other international varieties from Brazil, Columbia or Ethiopia.

A study published in Nature Chemistry reveals a remarkable leap in the synthesis of artificial cells using synthetic materials, which was achieved by an international team led by Dr. Andrea Belluati, ...