This book is an introduction to the fascinating world of aroma chemicals, essential oils, fragrances and flavour compositions for the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. The present state-of-the-art technology, the future use of resources and biotechnological approaches for the production of the respective chemical compounds are described. A large section is devoted to the description of the renewable resources of flavours: spice plants, fruits from moderate to tropical climates, vegetables, fermented and heated plants. Analytical methods, such as gas chromatography coupled to human or electronic noses or to a mass spectrometer, are outlined and consumer trends, legal and safety aspects are described. Novel renewable resources come from biotechnology. Enzymes, for example, bio-transform cheap substrates to produce flavours de novo; plant cells in culture may serve as a rich resource of genes coding for metabolic activities in transgenic producers. The book will be of greatinterest to scientists and engineers in the food, flavour, fragrance and pharmaceutical industries and all respective researchers in academia.
