Methodologies to advance the understanding of flavor chemistry

Flavor is an important attribute of food and beverage quality control; thus it has always been the focus of much research. It is formed by the combination of taste (attributed to non-volatile compounds), aroma (related to volatile compounds), and chemesthetic sensations. The characteristic flavor of food is due to its volatile compounds, thus many studies have focused on the analysis of these compounds. All advances in flavor chemistry are due to the development of new technologies that facilitate and allow the analysis of volatile and non-volatile compounds in foods or the pattern recognition, as observed in the E-nose and E-tongue equipment. However, further studies are required to understand the food flavor, supported by the constant development of new technologies.