Headspace Sampling in Flavor and Fragrance Field

Headspace sampling is a unique sample preparation and cleanup technique that has ‘grown’ in parallel with gas chromatography techniques. It has been applied to the flavor and fragrance field since its introduction at the end of the 1950s, and has played a fundamental and active role in the development of knowledge concerning defining composition, odor formation, and the sensory properties of a matrix and its components. The ever-increasing demand for control analysis combined with questions of analysis throughput and cost reduction, now required for analytical laboratories, has created a marked increase in the demand for headspace sampling. This interest is mainly due to the technique’s simplicity, flexibility, and sensitivity, which have made it a unique and indispensable tool for the flavor and fragrance field. This chapter does not aim to deal with headspace in the flavor and fragrance sampling field in all its aspects and details, but focuses on: (a) its role within a more general strategy to study flavor and fragrances, (b) its evolution, in particular, the most recent techniques, which offer not only considerable automation but also the possibility to choose the most effective approach for specific problems and/or matrices, and (c) quantitative analysis with headspace sampling, which is a very critical and complex task for all analysts.