A research group led by Associate Professor Mitsuru Tanaka of Kyushu University Graduate School uses a newly developed method called the GCB-LDI-MS method to analyze foods as they are to simultaneously detect flavor components that contribute to taste and odor. succeeded in.It is expected to contribute to the quantification and objective understanding of the flavor (deliciousness) of food.
At the time of eating, humans simultaneously detect the components that contribute to the taste and smell released from food into the oral cavity as taste / smell (chemical sense) information, recognize the flavor, and evaluate the taste.However, unlike humans, there is no technology for simultaneously analyzing taste and odor, and it has been impossible to quantitatively evaluate the flavor of foods that unify taste and odor.Until now, it has been necessary to perform complicated pretreatment such as component extraction to select an analysis method according to the chemical characteristics of the taste component and odor component to be analyzed.
This time, the research group focused on graphite carbon black nanoparticles (GCB), which have the ability to adsorb volatile / non-volatile compounds. By using GCB as an ionization support agent for laser desorption / ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS), we succeeded in simultaneous detection of taste components (amino acids, nucleic acids, sugars, etc.) and odor components (esters, alcohols, aldehydes, etc.). ..The GCB-LDI-MS method, which is a new analytical method developed in research, can analyze food as it is without the need for complicated pretreatment.Therefore, as a quick and simple analysis method, it can be widely used for evaluating the flavor and quality of foods and agricultural products.
With this achievement, it has become possible to convert the flavor component information that contributes to the original taste and smell of food into unified digital information.This is expected to be very useful for the evaluation of food flavor and quality, which was difficult to express as numerical values in the past, and for the objective evaluation and understanding of deliciousness.
