Retention of sulfur flavours by food matrix and determination of sensorialdata independent of the medium composition

Interactions between food matrix and sulfur compounds (thioesters, sulfides , disulfides, pentanethiol and 2-ethoxythiazole) were studied in a real foo d system composed of fresh cheese, triolein or inulin, and water. Results o btained with the lipidic medium confirm that 10% of triolein is enough to s ignificantly affect flavour perception. The lipophilicity index, log k(W), appears as an interesting physicochemical property allowing assessment of t he aroma retention intensity. Results obtained with inulin indicate how dif ferent the retention will be when a polysaccharide is used as a fat-mimic. Formulation of dietetic products has to take that discrepancy into account. GC-odour port evaluation of diluted solutions appears as an interesting me thod for easy acquisition of best estimated GC-lower amounts detected by sn iffing (BE-GC-LOADS), threshold values independent of the medium compositio n. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.