Identification and Quantification of 2-Iodo-4-methylphenol in Milk

It is well-known that a strange flavor, known as off-flavor, might be found in various food products. Even though these substances do not affect our body directly, they can cause a significant change in food flavor and smell, thereby lowering the quality of food products. A well-known example of off-flavor is the transfer of smell from one food product to another. We have previously studied how the smell of limonene, a flavor component of orange juice in paper cartons, is transferred from unopened packages to milk stored in paper cartons, and have confirmed cases where the milk develops a smell completely different from that of limonene. This smell was also confirmed to not have originated from orange juice, and was found to be similar to that of a halogenated phenol. This study aimed to identify this odor component, and our findings indicate the off-flavor component to be 2-iodo-4-methylphenol.