Flavor scalping

Often packaging materials have been shown to interact with flavor compounds, causing either a selective or an extensive loss of desirable food flavors or absorption of undesirable off-flavors from the packaging material, thereby resulting in an eventual loss of quality of the packaged food item.

The process is called ‘flavor scalping’, which refers to the ability of the packaging to absorb aroma compounds from the food or beverage. Flavor scalping is slowly being recognized as playing a major role in food quality loss during ambient-temperature and even long-life chilled distribution.

Flavor scalping may cause decreased consumer acceptance of the food product due to loss of aroma intensity or the development of an unbalanced flavor profile.

Different factors can influence this sorption of aroma compounds by packaging: the type of packaging material, the nature of aroma compounds, the composition of the food matrices and the external environment (temperature, storage time, humidity, etc.)

Flavor scalping can occur in bottled wine; however, due to the inert nature of glass typically used in wine packaging, the primary material which can cause flavor scalping is the closure.
Flavor scalping