Abstract
2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA) is a well-known, potent off-flavour compound present in various foods and beverages. TCA has been hypothesised to be a universal cause of flavour loss experienced in daily life. Here, however, we show that titres for the suppression of olfactory transducer channels caused by low-quality bananas are much higher than those for that caused by the TCA itself contained in the banana. We resurveyed other components of low-quality bananas and found that bananas also contain an insecticide (chlorpyrifos), and that it suppresses olfactory transducer channels. Other insecticides also suppressed olfactory transducer channels. Hence, even after passing safety examinations, certain insecticides may decrease the quality of foods and beverages by reducing their intrinsic scents.
Highlights
In the food and beverage industry, various volatile compounds, called as off-flavour compounds, are known to potently degrade the flavour of products
One of the most potent off-flavour compounds identified till date is 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which has been associated with cork taint in wines.[1,2,3,4]
While examining the composition of volatile compounds emitted from bananas for TCA-related compounds, we found that bananas comprised the widely known insecticide, chlorpyrifos
Summary
In the food and beverage industry, various volatile compounds, called as off-flavour compounds, are known to potently degrade the flavour of products. We show that titres for the suppression of olfactory transducer channels caused by the extracted vapour from low-quality bananas were higher than those caused by the TCA itself contained in bananas. These data indicate that bananas contain potent suppressors of olfactory transducer channels other than TCA. Chlorpyrifos and other insecticides were experimentally confirmed as potent suppressors of olfactory transducer channels. These results suggest that certain types of insecticides, even after passing safety examinations, suppress olfactory transduction and reduce pleasant flavours of such foods
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