Off-flavours or off-flavors (
see spelling differences) are taints in food products caused by the presence of undesirable compounds. They can originate in raw materials, from chemical changes during food processing and storage, and from micro-organisms. Off-flavours are a recurring issue in
drinking water supply and many
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
products.
Water bodies are often affected by
geosmin
Geosmin ( ) is an irregular sesquiterpenoid, produced from the universal sesquiterpene precursor farnesyl pyrophosphate (also known as farnesyl diphosphate), in a two-step -dependent reaction. Geosmin, along with the irregular monoterpene 2-met ...
and
2-methylisoborneol, affecting the flavour of water for drinking and of fish growing in that water.
Haloanisoles similarly affect water bodies, and are a recognised cause of off-flavour in
wine. Cows grazing on
weeds such as
wild garlic Plant species in the genus ''Allium'' known as wild garlic include the following:
*''Allium canadense'', wild onion
*'' Allium carinatum'', keeled garlic
*'' Allium drummondii'', Drummond's onion
*''Allium ochotense'', Siberian onion
*'' Allium ole ...
can produce a ‘weedy’ off-flavour in
milk.
[Ridgway, K. (n.d.). Avoiding Customer Complaints: Origins of Food Taints and Off-flavours. RSSL.]
Many more examples can be seen throughout food production sectors including in
oats,
coffee,
glucose syrup and
brewing
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Flavors
Food science