Recent advantage of interactions of protein-flavor in foods: Perspective of theoretical models, protein properties and extrinsic factors

Background: Flavor profile is the most critical quality attribute of foods. Flavor binding ability is one of the most essential functional properties of the protein. The dynamic equilibrium of release and retention of volatile flavor compounds in protein-containing systems is known to largely influence the sensory quality and consumer acceptability of foods. Based on the protein-flavor systems, the protein source and conformational information plays a critical role in their interactions which are of great interest to flavor chemists. Scope and approach: A fundamental review of the mechanism of protein-flavor interactions is discussed with a special emphasis on the protein aspect. The recent findings of mathematical models in describing the flavor retention and release in protein aqueous model have been summarized. The flavor binding abilities of animal protein and plant protein are systematically compared. The recent advances of the extrinsic factors including the processing methods affecting the interaction of protein-flavor binding are highlighted. Finally, future considerations and the trend of future research are presented and investigated. Key findings and conclusions: The knowledge about the mathematical models describing protein-flavor interactions is essential for the qualitatively and quantitatively prediction for flavor binding behaviors. The interaction between flavor compounds and proteins from plant needs more investigations. The extrinsic or environmental factors in food systems can affect the protein-flavor interactions but some contradictory conclusions should be further evaluated. Future studies will further focus on the sensory evaluation and the relationship between sensory quality and strength of protein-flavor binding.