Torri Luisa, Piochi Maria
University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12060 Bra, CN, Italy.
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry System Management, University of Florence, Via Donizetti 6, 51144 Firenze, Italy.
Food Res Int. 2016 Jul;85:235-243. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2016.05.004. Epub 2016 May 10.
Despite the key role of the sensory quality for food acceptance, the aroma transfer properties of food packaging materials have not yet been studied using sensory approaches. This research investigated the suitability of sensory and electronic nose methods to evaluate the aroma transfer properties of plastic materials that come in contact with food. Four (W, X, Y, and Z) commercial freezer bags (polyethylene) for domestic uses were compared. The degree of the aroma transfer through the materials was estimated as the sensory contamination of an odor absorber food (bread) by an odor releaser food (onion), separated by the bags and stored under frozen conditions. Bread samples were analyzed by means of an electronic nose, and 42 assessors used three different sensory methods (triangle, scoring, and partial sorted Napping tests). From the triangle test, none of the plastic bags acted as a complete aroma barrier, showing a sensory contamination of bread stored in all four materials. Partial sorting Napping results clearly described the sensory contamination of bread as "onion flavor", due to the aroma transfer from the odor releaser food to the odor absorber food through the plastic bag. Scoring tests showed significant (p<0.0001) differences of aroma transfer properties among the plastic bags, revealing the highest aroma permeation for W (3.1±0.1), the lowest aroma transfer for X and Y (2.0±0.1), and intermediate aroma transfer properties for Z (2.6±0.1). Electronic nose data were in good agreement with the sensory responses, and a high correlation with the scoring data was observed (R=0.988). The presented approaches had suitable results to provide meaningful information on the aroma transfer properties of freezer plastic bags, and could advantageously be applied in the future for analyzing other finished food containers (e.g. plastic trays, boxes, etc.) or packaging materials of a different nature (multilayer plastic films, biodegradable materials, composites, etc.).
尽管感官品质对食品接受度起着关键作用，但尚未采用感官方法研究食品包装材料的香气转移特性。本研究调查了感官和电子鼻方法评估与食品接触的塑料材料香气转移特性的适用性。比较了四种家用商用冷冻袋（聚乙烯）（W、X、Y和Z）。通过气味释放食品（洋葱）对气味吸收食品（面包）的感官污染来估计香气透过材料的程度，两者用袋子隔开并在冷冻条件下储存。面包样品通过电子鼻进行分析，42名评估员使用了三种不同的感官方法（三角试验、评分试验和部分排序纳普试验）。在三角试验中，没有一个塑料袋能完全阻隔香气，所有四种材料中储存的面包都出现了感官污染。部分排序纳普试验结果清楚地将面包的感官污染描述为“洋葱味”，这是由于香气通过塑料袋从气味释放食品转移到气味吸收食品中。评分试验表明，塑料袋之间的香气转移特性存在显著差异（p<0.0001），W的香气渗透率最高（3.1±0.1），X和Y的香气转移率最低（2.0±0.1），Z的香气转移特性居中（2.6±0.1）。电子鼻数据与感官反应高度一致，且与评分数据具有高度相关性（R=0.988）。所提出的方法能得出合适的结果，为冷冻塑料袋的香气转移特性提供有意义的信息，并且未来可有利地应用于分析其他成品食品容器（如塑料托盘、盒子等）或不同性质的包装材料（多层塑料薄膜、可生物降解材料、复合材料等）。
