OR
VCF online Volatile Compounds in Food 16.10

  1. The Volatile Compounds in Food database lists 1445 food products. Most of them are categorized in 120 product categories.

    2. Products are clustered in product groups, such as Seafood, Vegetables or Fruits. That is just an easy way to find a certain product (you may also use the product index search facility).

    A product category is a combination of two or more products which are:

    • products belonging to the same family of plant products (for instance all citrus products)
    • products as part of the same plant material (like Caraway root, seed and herb)
    • certain products which have undergone different processing steps (like raw, cooked and fried potatoes)
    • products produced from different raw materials (like cow milk and goat milk)

    Click here for a product and category overview. Logged in users may get detailed information.

  2. The literature citations are given per product or product category

    3. Care has been taken that literature covering data from the same investigation is omitted. Such citations, for instance review articles, are also given. However the data are used only once.

    In total more than 6,590 literature references are in the VCF database.

    Click here for an example.

  3. Volatile compounds

    4. Volatile compounds are given for each product. Moreover, the concept of product category offers the possibility to aggregate the data for all products within a product category. For instance, to aggregate all volatile compounds in all citrus products. Also the data for the occurrence of a specific compound in all products within the database can be shown in a more convenient survey.

    In excess of 10,881 volatile compounds, listed by product, are grouped in 18 chemical classes, such as hydrocarbons, aldehydes, esters, acids, etc. According to our requirements, the compounds must have been identified by at least two methods, for instance by retention time and mass spectrum. Quantitative data are provided if they are available. If necessary these data were recalculated to the same units.

    More than 152,000 occurrences are found and registered in our database.

    Click here for an example.

  4. For each individual compound additional information is given, such as CAS registry number, Molecular weight and formula, FLno (EU-Flavis number) and FEMA (GRAS) number. Also very useful is a list of synonyms, and molecular structures are shown when available.

    5. Click here for an example.

    For each volatile compound also the synonyms are listed. Over 32,000 synonyms are known. All Fema/GRAS numbers (2,952) and their synonyms and the EU-Flavis (Flavouring Information System) data (2,643) are included. Latest versions are GRAS 30 and Flavis December 2009. Data are synchronized with VCF compounds as much as possible.

    Notice that in the last amendment to the EU regulation several flavour numbers are deleted which are not removed in the EU Flavis database. These Flavis numbers are also still included in our VCF data.

  5. Starting with version VCF 14.1, Kovats Retention Indices are given. Results are summarized for 4 types of gas chromatographic columns (in increasing polarity): DB-1, DB-5, DB-17 and DB-Wax. Odour values are also given.

    A search function for Retention Index values is included. With version VCF 16.6 more than 4428 index values and 1655 odour values are available. Not only summary (average) data but also individual RI are shown with their literature references.

    Click here for an example.

  6. With version VCF 16.1 Odour and Flavour Threshold Values (OFTV) are available. Threshold values are given in air, water and various other media. Not only for volatile but also for non-volatile compounds (including many peptides) thresholds values are given. Over 26,490 threshold values are compiled for 5,890 compounds from 3180 literature references.

  7. By the use of extended cross references rapid answers can be given to questions such as:
    1. What volatile compounds occur in a particular food product?
    2. In what products does a particulate compound occur?
    3. What is the range of concentrations in a particular product?
    4. How does a product compare to other products or categories of products?
    5. Can a compound be considered a natural constituent in a particular product?
    6. What publications (reviews) have appeared with respect to a particular product in recent years?
    7. What is the identity or source of a certain compound?

    The availibility of CAS registration numbers, FEMA en Flavour numbers and many synonyms makes it much easier to find the required information.