This study conducted a web-based questionnaire survey to elucidate gender and age differences in odor awareness and consciousness and to clarify the effects of odor awareness on odor consciousness. Regarding most odors, the average level of odor awareness was higher among females compared to males, and the mean value was higher for the older age groups. In particular, recognition of rose, menthol, and hinoki odors was low among young males, and camphor (insect repellant) odor recognition was low among young people of both genders. Significant gender and age differences were also observed regarding preferences for many odors. The need for odor-related countermeasures was found to be greater among those who disliked a given odor. Furthermore, it was found that some odors were evaluated more favorably by those who were well aware of the odor, some odors were evaluated less favorably by those who were not aware of the odor, and some odors’ recognition had little effect on liking or disliking.

Odorous substances from sweet potato shochu, awamori, brandy, and whisky were extracted with ethyl acetate. The concentrated ethyl acetate solution was fractionated using gel-permeation chromatography, and each fraction was analyzed using GC-MS full scan mode to identify the odorous substances. The results showed that the four aforementioned liquors contain nearly the same odorous substances. Furthermore, the odorous substances were quantified using GC-MS selected ion monitoring mode. Isoamyl alcohol, β-phenethyl alcohol, ethyl caprylate, β-damascenone, vanillin, and isovaleric acid were found to be the primary odorous substances in the four liquors.

The flavor intensity was calculated by dividing with its threshold value. The flavor intensity of each substance was used to evaluate the flavor contribution for each liquor.

Isoamyl alcohol contributed strongly to the odor of sweet potato shochu, awamori, and brandy; β-phenethyl alcohol to the flavor of sweet potato shochu and awamori; ethyl caprylate to the flavor of all four liquors; β-damascenone to the flavor of Brandy; vanillin to the flavor of awamori, brandy， and whisky; isovaleric acid to the odor of sweet potato shochu, awamori, and brandy.

The each flavor of liquor was reproduced by Isoamyl alcohol, β-phenethyl alcohol, ethyl caprylate, β-damascenone, vanillin, and isovaleric acid.

Euglena (Euglena gracilis G.A.Klebs) is a microalga expected as a new food due to its abundant nutrients and functional ingredients, but its unique odor is an obstacle to its use as a food item. This study aims to identify “indicator odor substances” necessary for the quantitative evaluation of a deodorizing effects towards the development of deodorizing system for Euglena production. As a result of olfactory sensory evaluation, the impression of characteristic odor emitted by Euglena powder was defined as “seashore and wakame”. Chemical analysis using gas chromatogram olfactometry (GC-O) and gas chromatogram mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed 20 odor substances: 13 aldehydes, 6 ketones and 1 sulfur-containing compound. Twenty-two odour-active (OA) sites were detected by GC-O analysis, and six OA sites were identified as having high “FD factor” values. These six OAs with high FD factors were annotated and defined as “indicator odor substances”: 1-octen-3-one, (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, (E,Z)-3,5-octadien-2-one, 1-decanal, (E,E)-2,4-nonadienal, (E,E)-2,6-nonadienal, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal and 4,5-epoxy-(E)-2-decenal.

Cold-water extraction was used to investigate the water-soluble odorous substances in roasted coffee, with aquatic solution being analyzed via the two analytical methods. Headspace－GC-MS was used for analyzing the highly volatile substances. In cases wherein volatilities of substances were relatively low, the aquatic solution extraction using ethyl acetate was initially conducted, after which the concentrated solution of ethyl acetate was fractionated at 5.0 mL intervals using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) column with polyvinyl alcohol as the functional group. Ethyl acetate/acetone (1:1) solution was used as the GPC eluent. The fractionated solutions were analyzed using GC-MS. The full scan mode was used to identify the odorous substances, whereas the SIM mode was used to quantify the target substances. The threshold for an odorous substance was determined using a test solution of the target substance dissolved in the GPC eluent. Notably, our results for flavor intensity, which was calculated by dividing the concentration of the odorous substance by its threshold, showed that acetaldehyde, 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal, 2,3-butanedione, and 2,3-pentandione contributed mainly to the highly volatile coffee flavor. In contrast, isovaleric acid, 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, 2-methoxyphenol, furaneol, and phenylacetic acid contributed mainly to the low- volatile coffee flavor. Moreover, we suspected that 3-hydroxy-β-damascone contributed to the low-volatile coffee flavor.