SENSORY AND AROMA PROFILING OF FRESH AND STORED 'OR' MANDARINS

Citrus juice off-flavor during different processing and storage: Review of odorants, formation pathways, and analytical techniques

As the most widespread juice produced and consumed globally, citrus juice (mandarin juice, orange juice, and grapefruit juice) is appreciated for its attractive and distinct aroma. While the decrease of characteristic aroma-active compounds and the formation of off-flavor compounds are easy to occur in processing and storage conditions. This review provides a comprehensive literature of recent research and discovery on citrus juice off-flavor, primarily focusing on off-flavor compounds induced during processing and storage (i.e., thermal, storage, light, oxygen, package, fruit maturity, diseases, centrifugal pretreatment, and debittering process), formation pathways (i.e., terpene acid-catalyzed hydration, caramelization reaction, Maillard reaction, Strecker degradation, and other oxidative degradation) of the off-flavor compounds, effective inhibitor pathway to off-flavor (i.e., electrical treatments, high pressure processing, microwave processing, ultrasound processing, and chemical treatment), as well as odor assessment techniques based on molecular sensory science. The possible precursors (terpenes, sulfur-containing amino acids, carbohydrates, carotenoids, vitamins, and phenolic acids) of citrus juice off-flavor are listed and are also proposed. This review intends to unravel the regularities of aroma variations and even off-flavor formation of citrus juice during processing and storage. Future aroma analysis techniques will evolve toward a colorimetric sensor array for odor visualization to obtain a "marker" of off-flavor in citrus juice.

Changes in the transcriptome of 'Mor' mandarin flesh during storage: emphasis on molecular regulation of fruit flavor deterioration

Mandarin sensory acceptability deteriorates rapidly after harvest. To gain a better understanding of the molecular processes that occur in 'Mor' mandarin flesh and contribute to flavor deterioration during storage, we performed genome-wide transcriptional profiling analysis using the Affymetrix Citrus GeneChip. Out of 30,171 probe sets representing citrus transcripts on the microarray, expression of 1,139 probe sets was significantly (q ≤ 0.01) altered by factors of at least 4 after 6 weeks of cold storage at 5 °C, of which 745 (65%) were downregulated and 394 (35%) upregulated. Overall, storage led to expression arrest of general cellular and metabolic activity, but enhanced lipid and amino acid catabolism, most probably to form substrates for the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and energy production. In addition, storage enhanced gene expression of pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC), a key enzyme in anaerobic respiration and the ethanol fermentation pathway. Taken together, we propose that induction of amino acids and fatty acids degradation leads to accumulation of volatiles involved in formation of "fruity" (overripe) and "musty" aromas, respectively, whereas induction of ethanol fermentation metabolism leads to formation of "alcohol" flavor, all of which generate off-flavors after harvest.