Determination of vanillin in orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, and lime juices using GC-olfactometry and GC-MS/MS

The presence of vanillin in orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, and grapefruit juices has been identified and confirmed using high-resolution GC retention index values, mass spectra, and aroma quality. The impact of vanillin on the flavor score for grapefruit juice is discussed and reported to be minimal. Vanillin concentrations are determined to be in the low parts-per-million range for the various citrus juices. The calculated concentrations in the orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, and grapefruit juices are 0.20, 0.35, 0.41, 0.35, and 0.60 ppm, respectively. Pasteurization produced an average 15% increase in the concentration of vanillin in grapefruit juices. Vanillin did not correlate well with the overall flavor score despite a rather intense signal using OSME gas chromatography-olfactometry software.