Methods for volatile analysis and olfactory profiling of food, food waste and by-products

The aim of this PhD project, which will take into account food samples of different matrices (e.g. extra virgin olive oil, meat products, tomato waste), is combining the use of rapid techniques for volatile compounds detection and sensory analysis evaluation in order to characterize, innovate and evaluate the conformity of food, food waste and by-products. The analysis of volatile compounds will be conducted using: i) Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) coupled to Gas-Chromatography (GC) and Mass Spectrometry (MS) and ii) Ultra-fast-GC, able to produce an olfactory fingerprint that could be considered as a sort of "identity card" also in a sensory way. The sensory profile of each food sample considered will be defined using approaches able to characterize it (e.g. quantitative descriptive analysis QDA®) and, eventually, to evaluate consumer preferences (affective methods).