www.corfilac.it

Area 3 - Department 2


Aroma Laboratory


Aroma laboratory studies the aroma active compounds in dairy products, with special interest for PDO Ragusano cheese and other Traditional Sicilian cheeses. Objective of aroma lab is the development and optimization of extraction techniques and of methods of analysis for the aroma active compounds of milk products, by innovative instruments.

The extraction techniques, used by the lab, are:
• Solid Phase Micro-extraction (SPME)
• Steam Distillation (SD)
• Purge & Trap (P/T)
• Retronasal Aroma Simulator (RAS)

The volatile compounds analysis is carry out by Gas Chromatography Olfactometry (GCO), combining the chromatographic separation to the human nose detector. GCO analysis allows to characterize the aroma odor active compounds. The Charm Analysis (T.E. Acree, 1984, Cornell University, U.S.A.) is an quantitative approach methods that allows to sense the power odor active compounds that characterizes a product. The identification of the volatile compounds of the product is made by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry analysis. The Smart Nose system, based on the mass Spectrometry, is the last innovative instrument recovered to study the volatile compounds. The Smart Nose is a simple and rapid technique that allows to verify the sub-species, the season of production and the geographic area of a production.