Measurement of odour after in vitro or in vivo ingestion of raw or heated garlic, using electronic nose, gas chromatography and sensory analysis

Summary The possibility of characterising the garlic odour in in vitro and in vivo was demonstrated using the newly developed electronic nose, based on an array of metal oxide semiconductor sensors. Two grams of raw and heat‐treated garlic, and breath odour after eating 2 g of raw garlic and heat‐treated garlic were analysed with an electronic nose. Furthermore, calculation of F ‐value (odour quality) and S ‐value (odour strength) demonstrated distinct odour differences between the samples, and that the electronic nose could differentiate between the various garlic associated odours corresponding to the different origins ( in vivo or in vitro ), or to the different processing (raw or heat‐treated). The correlation between gas chromatography and sensory analysis was also discussed in order to identify the volatile compounds in the sample, and to investigate the association with the response of human perception to the samples. Results showed that odour sensor data were easier to obtain and were well correlated with both types of instrument.