PTR-MS, the realtime or high time resolution instrument for analyzing the characteristics and behaviors of foods

Abstract

The application examples of PTR-MS which measures volatile organics forming flavor or quality of foods in real-time were introduced focusing on breath-by-breath analysis of retronasal aroma. Time variations of multiple low concentration flavor compounds at each exhalation events after swallowing food or drink could be tracked simultaneously by using PTR-MS instruments. With this approach, the aroma perception was analyzed in view of mass transfer processes, especially remarking interfacial mass transfer which determined liquid-gas partitioning. Physicochemical properties related with retronasal aroma were complicated and could not be interpreted only by the differences of simple Henry’s law constants.