Microbial and Enzyme-Induced Flavors in Dairy Foods

Microbial and enzymatic processes have become major routes for the production of flavors that comply with the definition of “natural” in the Federal Register. This paper focuses on microorganism, enzymes, substrates, and the production of significant odorants and tastants. The topics to be addressed include the following: a review of the dairy flavor symposia convened since 1969 by the author; retrospective of papers by the author on industrial dairy flavors; controlled dairy fermentations (microorganisms, enzymes, taste, and odor products); cheese (taste and odor constituents from microorganisms, proteins, and lipids); accelerated-ripened and enzyme-modified cheese (history, production, properties, and flavor constituents); dairy flavor bases (their characteristics and use in flavoring); and starter distillates (key flavor chemicals and microorganisms involved).