Chemical tainting of foods

Taints and off-flavours in food are a major cause of consumer rejection of the food product, and consequently the occurrence of such flavour defects is of great concern also to the manufacturer. Unacceptable flavours in foods may develop within the food through chemical or microbial action on food components, or they may be inadvertently introduced into the food during processing or storage, by absorption of chemicals from airborne, waterborne or packaging-related sources. The chemicals responsible for taints and off-flavours are usually volatile organic compounds, which are frequently found at concentrations of less than 1 μg kg^?1, and cause flavour problems because of their low odour-threshold values. This paper discusses the possible origins of off-flavours and taints in foods, and describes some incidents in which food taints have been caused by chemical contamination from the environment.