The hotspot of consumers complaints on infant formula: Exploring the relationship among volatile components, sensory evaluation, and aroma recombination and omission experiment

Abstract

Two-stage infant formula (IF) is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), However, PUFAs are susceptible to oxidation, thus affecting the flavor profile of the product. This study aimed to evaluate 4 samples with the participation of 60 consumers. Among these, three samples with the lowest consumer preference and one with the highest preference were selected as controls to explain the causes of off-flavors in two-stage infant formulas. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of 28 flavor-active compounds in two-stage infant formulas using GC-MS, E-nose, GC-O, odor activity values (OAVs), and variable importance in projection (VIP) values, hexanal, heptanal, pentanal, octanal, and 1-penten-3-one were identified as the important compounds affecting the flavor of two-stage infant formulas. Further, recombination/deficiency experiments confirmed hexanal and heptanal as the key undesirable flavor components in two-stage infant formulas.