New Approach to Processing of Gas Chromatographic/Mass Spectrometric Data for Detection of Off Flavors in Complex Mixtures

Abstract

Abstract Chemical compounds responsible for off flavors in foodstuffs are often difficult to identify because of their low levels in complex matrixes. A simple method is described to detect and identify off flavor compounds by gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis and data processing for sorting the GC/MS files in 14-ion series. The 14 homologous-ion series correspond to the sum of the intensities of the ions, x + (CH2)n, where x varies from 1 to 14 and n varies from 1 to ∞, allowing to cover the whole acquired mass range. Processing of the ion series allows automatic screening of all acquired masses. We use this method routinely in our laboratory to find compounds responsible for a contamination. It is a powerful tool for off flavor identification by comparison between a reference and a contaminated sample. The method can be used with any type of data system and any chromatographic instrument coupled to a mass spectrometer.