Volatile composition of sunflower oil-in-water emulsions during initial lipid oxidation: Influence of pH

The formation of odor active compounds resulting from initial lipid oxidation in sunflower oil-in-water emulsions was examined during storage at 60 °C. The emulsions differed in initial pH, that is, pH 3 and 6. The volatile compounds were isolated under mouth conditions and were analyzed by gas chromatography/sniffing port analysis. The lipid oxidation rate was followed by the formation of conjugated hydroperoxide dienes and headspace hexanal. The initial pH affected the lipid oxidation rate in the emulsions: the formation of conjugated diene hydroperoxides and the hexanal concentration in the static headspace were increased at pH 6. Pentanal, hexanal, 3-pentanol, and 1-octen-3-one showed odor activity in the emulsions after 6 days of storage, for both pH 3 and 6. Larger amounts of odor active compounds were released from the pH 6 emulsion with extended storage. It was shown that this increased release at pH 6 was not due to increased volatility because an increase in pH diminished the static headspace concentrations of added compounds in emulsions.