Developments in extraction techniques and their application to analysis of volatiles in foods

Recent developments in analysis of aroma components in foods are reviewed. Aroma compounds are most closely associated with the volatile fraction of foods. Preliminary isolation remains an essential step in such procedures despite rapid developments in measurement techniques, Traditional methods of isolating volatile components have recently been complemented by solid phase microextraction. Cas chromatography (CC) and GC-mass spectrometry (MS) remain the dominant techniques for measurement of the extracted compounds although new electronic noses are promising techniques. Relating the results from instrumental measurements to human perception requires careful control to ensure valid comparisons, The application of multivariate statistics is important in this respect. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.