Letter to the Editor: Addressing the limitations of principal component analysis in dairy flavor research

Tian et al. (2025) have made a valuable contribution to dairy science by investigating strain-level variation in diacetyl production by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, a key bacterium influencing dairy flavor. Their study revealed substantial phenotypic diversity among 351 isolates and identified strain WJ108 as a particularly high producer, highlighting the potential for targeted strain selection. However, their conclusion regarding distinct volatile signatures, based on principal component analysis (PCA), warrants further discussion.