Odor compounds in cheese made from the milk of cows supplemented with extruded linseed and alpha-tocopherol

Three diets for cows were used to evaluate the effect of extruded linseed (EL) or extruded linseed plus alpha-tocopherol (ELVE) supplementation of a maize silage diet (CO) on the odor-active compounds of Saint-Nectaire cheese. Cheese odor and flavor profiles were studied by sensory analysis. The volatile compounds were extracted by purge and trap and separated by gas chromatography. The odor compounds were detected and identified using an 8-way olfactometric device and a mass spectrometer. Twenty-nine volatile compounds were considered as contributing to the odor of Saint-Nectaire cheese. Half the compounds identified were known to be lipid degradation products but not all of them were affected by the diet. Among the markers of unsaturated fatty acid degradation, hexanal was not affected, whereas heptanal was increased more by the ELVE diet (6 times) than by the EL (3 times) diet. The ELVE diet led to cheeses with butanoic acid and heptanal odor peaks that were, respectively, 2 and 6 times higher than with the CO diet, which explained the lower milk odor and flavor scores obtained by sensory analysis on ELVE cheese. Although the cheese-making date had a greater effect than the diet on the aromatic profiles of the cheese, principal component analysis showed that the differences between cheeses obtained on the 3 diets were repeatable. The EL diet successfully enhanced cheese nutritional value without noticeably changing its flavor. alpha-Tocopherol supplementation was found to be unnecessary, as no oxidized odor was found.