Prof. Henryk Jeleń works at the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland, where he leads a group focused on food volatilomics and sensomics research (www.volatilomics.puls.edu.pl). His scientific interests are focused on food chemistry, and analysis, especially various aspects of volatile compounds analysis and flavor chemistry. His field of research include sample preparation for volatiles analysis, use of various chromatographic and hyphenated techniques for the analysis of volatiles and aroma compounds and their precursors, profiling volatiles by different methods for authenticity testing, sensory driven analyses of food aromas and rapid analyses for the assessment of food quality. He authors more than 170 papers in JCR journals, over 20 book chapters, edited a book Food Flavors. Chemical, sensory and technological properties” (CRC Press, Taylor & Francis). He is among 2% of most often cited scientists in Food Research (career wise). Since 2016 he is a member of Polish Academy of Sciences.
Volatile compounds as a part of food metabolome. Analytical challenges and applications for food industry.
Over 10 000 volatile compounds has been identified in foods of various types and origin. They form a substantial part of food metabolome and their presence in foods result from raw materials used, changes of microbial, chemical and biochemical nature that undergo during food processsing and storage. For their analysis a number of extraction as well as separation and detection techniques has been developed in last decades. There is an important trend observed in volatiles analysis focused on non-targeted approaches that use techniques generating a high amount of data (such as comprehensive two dimensional chromatography), with subsequent data preprocessing and processing steps, which are crucial in this type of research.
The lecture will focus on different approaches in volatile compounds analysis: targeted vs non-targeted analyses with examples indicating their use in food industry, especially in the field of food authenticity/adulteration/botanical origin testing. Representative sampling methods will be discussed, along with separation/identification techniques used to search for potential markers of food quality. Quasi-electronic noses based on mass spectrometry will be also mentioned as well as a potential rapid technique for food industry. Odor active compounds comprise only a small fraction of food volatiles, but determine sensory properties and perception of foods. Part of the lecture will be devoted to the challenges in the analysis of these compounds using sensomics approach with selected examples in various food types.