Off Flavors and Rancidity in Foods

Off flavor is the term used to describe unpleasant odors or tastes resulting from the natural deterioration of a food, with extensive deterioration giving rancidity. Taint is regarded as unpleasant odors or tastes arising from contamination of a food by some foreign chemicals. Detecting any of these involves organoleptic appraisal of the off flavor quality of a food. Warmed-over flavor is a common phenomenon referred to the rapid development of lipid-derived oxidized flavor in refrigerated cooked-meat products.