Sweet! Odour code of fruit and other foods decoded

We can enjoy the sensuous pleasure of fresh fruit even while we slice it up. As the scent of strawberries or oranges wafts towards us, we can hardly wait to try the sweet deliciousness. Scientists at the Technische Universität München (TUM) recently unveiled the secret behind the unique aromas of different foods.

Tracking down the scent

More than 10,000 volatile flavour compounds make their way into our food. However, only 230 of them affect the smell of our food. Each individual foodstuff, on the other hand, has an odour code comprised of between 3 and 40 key odorants. The unmistakable smell of strawberries, for example, is encoded by a combination of 12 key molecules.

The nose contains more than 400 olfactory receptors, which translate the code into a unique odour pattern. So you can imagine the unbelievable number of scents that we can detect and distinguish between.

Compared to other organisms, the human sense of smell is much less developed. Dogs, for example, have more than 1,200 olfactory receptors.

It remains to be seen how these new findings can be used in the future. One thing is clear however. Apart from nibbling on the fruit, it also pays to enjoy a sniff of pineapple, bananas and similar sweet-smelling delights.

Aromatic wishes from your Dole team

Picture: Wonderful fragrance of fresh fruit