Abstract:

Carotenoids abundantly existing in flour and its raw materials have many special functions. However, carotenoids can degrade into a variety kind of substances with characteristic aroma such as colorless volatile ionone, pseudo ionone, dihydroactinidiolide, oxoisophorone during the storage and processing of flour. Oxidative degradation products of carotenoids can improve the color and form characteristic aroma of flour, indicating that they have beneficial impact on flour quality. In addition, these degradation products are also useful and important for the exploitation of new staple foods with rich nutrients, pleasant aroma and excellent taste. In this paper, an overview of carotenoids oxidative degradation is introduced, and oxidative degradation pathways and mechanisms, the aroma characteristics of the major degradation products and their effects on the quality of flour and flour products are discussed. Oxidative degradation and further utilization of carotenoids are also analyzed. All of these studies will provide a promising prospect on oxidative degradation products of carotenoids.

Key words: flour, carotenoids, oxidative degradation, mechanism, product, aroma, characteristics