Causes of Ribes Flavor in Cheese

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Abstract
A study has been made of ribes flavor (or catty flavor) which occurs occasionally in cheese. The flavor defect was found to be caused by 2-mercapto-2-methyl-pentan-4-one. This component is unstable and decomposes during the analysis. Its precursor, mesltyl-oxide, was isolated from Ribes cheese and identified by GLC [gas liquid chromatography], IR [infra red]-spectrometry and coupled GLC/mass-spectrometry. This component is absent in normal cheese. Addition of hydrogen sulfide to mesltyloxlde takes place easily and leads to the formation of the Ribes flavor component. Its threshold value was determined to be approximately 1; 1010 in refined liquid paraffin. It is not clear how this flavor develops in cheese, but one or more of the following factors may play a part the cheese coating, the micro-flora of the cheese rind, the surface of the cheese tray, and conditions in the cheese store.