Analysis of volatile compounds as quality indicators for Fuji apples after cold storage

Abstract

Changes in the volatile components in Fuji apples were investigated by the analysis of intact apples using headspace solid‐phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to assess their quality during long‐term storage at 4°C (3, 6, and 9 months). Three alcohols and 28 esters were identified, and the feeding of precursor alcohols (e.g., butanol, hexanol, and 2‐methylbutanol) resulted in significantly increased amounts of eight esters. Among these esters, the peak area ratios (PARs) of butyl acetate, butyl butanoate, butyl 2‐methylbutanotate, or 2‐methylbutyl acetate to the eight esters were highly correlated with those of their precursor alcohols to the total alcohol content (R2 ≥ .9253). In addition, the PAR of precursor alcohols to the total alcohol content, as well as the PAR of these esters to the eight esters, significantly increased during storage at 4°C (p < .01). Therefore, it is concluded that PARs can be used as quality indicators for Fuji apples. Practical applications Quality assessment is crucial in the food industry to maintain food quality. An accurate, rapid method must be available for an assessment of quality. In addition, the identification of reliable biomarkers is imperative for quality assessment. Because of their versatility, volatile compounds in foods can provide considerable information about the quality of foods. In this study, volatile compounds in Fuji apples served as good quality indicators, and these apples were nondestructively analyzed without sample treatment. In addition, multiple volatile indicators were identified and validated. The results suggested that the volatile compounds analyzed by this nondestructive method can serve as indicators for the rapid, robust assessment of the quality of Fuji apples in the agricultural industry.

Analyzing volatiles in brown rice vinegar by headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME)–Arrow: Optimizing the extraction conditions and comparisons with conventional SPME

“…2-Furanmethanol, also known as furfuryl alcohol, is a flavoring ingredient. Hexyl acetate (apple flavor) is produced by the esterification of acids with alcohols, [30] and Lee et al [31] reported that the alcohol contents depended on acidity, with the majority being ethanol and 1-hexanol. Therefore, these SPME-Arrow-extracted VOCs contribute to the assessment and characterization of brown rice vinegar quality.…”

Simple and Effective Characterization of Fuji Apple Flavor Quality by Ethylene and Sugar Content

“…At last, 120 and 105 samples were collected from Shandong and Xinjian region (the SSC of the bagged stripped Xinjiang samples were all below 15°Brix), respectively. The samples were stored in cabinet at 4 °C and 75% relative humidity (RH) according each classification after transported back to the laboratory (Lee et al 2017).…”

“…analysis (Janho et al 2017), which can achieve dynamic monitoring. However, the aroma of the pulp cannot be fully obtained, due to the barrier function of the peel.…”

Analysis of Volatile Compounds in Soju, a Korean Distilled Spirit, by SPME-Arrow-GC/MS

“…However, these methods need large amounts of extraction solvents, have low recovery, and can be used only with low-fat samples. To offset these disadvantages, headspace extraction methods such as dynamic headspace (DHS) [ 18 ], headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) [ 19 ], and headspace stir-bar sorptive extraction (HS-SBSE) [ 20 , 21 ] are widely used. Headspace extraction methods do not need organic solvents and they can be applied with even small amounts of samples.…”