Abstract
Fruit and vegetables are regularly stored by consumers in the refrigerator at temperatures that may be well below the recommended storage temperatures. Apart from causing visible symptoms such as watery, sunken areas on the skin, chilling may also induce changes in fruit textural properties and flavour. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of low temperature storage on tomato flavour and off-flavour production. To more closely mimic the real-consumer aroma perception while eating, in addition to the standard solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME/GC-MS) analysis, volatiles were also measured using a chewing device connected to a proton-transfer reaction-mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). Aroma volatiles were assessed in red ripe tomatoes of the cvs Cappricia RZ (round truss) and Amoroso RZ (cocktail truss) stored at refrigerator temperature (4 °C) and at higher temperatures (16 and 22 °C) for 20 days. The changes in aroma production were also monitored when the fruit was brought from room to refrigerator temperature and vice versa. After bringing the fruit from room to refrigerator temperature, the abundance of most volatiles was greatly reduced within 3 to 5 h, closely following the decrease in fruit temperature. When temperature was restored to room temperature following varying times of cold storage, the abundance of most volatiles increased again, but generally not to the original levels. Overall, the effects of low temperature storage on the decrease in volatile abundance were more pronounced in cv Cappricia RZ than in cv Amoroso RZ. On the contrary, the production of off flavours following prolonged cold storage was more pronounced in cv Amoroso RZ than in cv Cappricia RZ. Apart from changes in the overall abundance of the volatiles, marked changes in the volatile profile were observed in fruit stored for longer times in the cold and this may at least in part explain the negative effect of cold storage on overall tomato flavour.