Changes in Flavour and Taste of Irradiated Coffee Beans

The possibility of changes in the smell and taste of coffee from beans submitted to irradiation for preservation is a significant gap in the programme devoted to increasing the product life time with such a process. Therefore, the main objective of the paper was to evaluate changes in aroma and flavour that can be noticed by the consumer. Coffee beans were given disinfestation doses of 50 krad, producing an insect mortality rate of 98.33% ± 2.89 in Araecerus fasciculatus (adult stage). The samples, provided by IBC, were from the same crop and free from pesticides. Some of the material was kept by that Institute for organoleptic tests. The remainder was sent to the National Institute of Technology for gas-chromatographic analysis. Should any significant changes be noticed, it could be assumed that the gamma-irradiation process would be rejected by the consumer. However, no significant change was observed in the most important characteristics, flavour and aroma, that might induce the consumer to reject irradiated coffee beans. (author)