Does bruising influence the volatile profile of pears?

Abstract

Purpose Volatile flavor plays a main role in defining the fruit quality by consumers. Bruising leads often to dark spots on fruits and its amount could highly affect product quality. This paper aims to study the effect of bruising on the volatilome released by pears by using proton transfer reaction – mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). Design/methodology/approach Fingerprints of non-bruised and bruised pear samples were collected through PTR-MS for 28 days, and discriminant analysis was used to discriminate the fruit products. The CIELAB color changes were also measured during the entire ripening period. Findings Bruised pears released a higher intensity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) compared to non-bruised pears (p16days = 0.049, p22days = 0.012, p28days = 0.006). In particular, the release of m/z 45 and m/z 47 were significantly (pm/z 45 = 0.076, pm/z 47 = 0.095.) higher in bruised samples, suggesting that the bruising event accelerated the natural ripening process. CIELAB color coordinates were also recorded. The coordinate a* showed a linear increase during the whole 28 days because of the loss of the green component. The CIELAB ΔE* was higher in the bruised pears than the non-bruised pears (p = 0.022). Originality/value Bruising can affect food quality and taste. Bruise susceptibility has been largely studied on apples, tomatoes and peaches, but rarely on pears. Very little is known about the effect of bruising on the volatilome of pears. Moreover, bruising research usually involved the study of physical properties; on the contrary, PTR-MS, applied to bruising research, has never been used before. Besides the analysis of volatilome, the changes in color were also recorded for the whole 28 days of analysis. The proposed method could be applied for the monitoring of pears quality in the food industry.

Bruise Susceptibility and Impact on Quality Parameters of Pears During Storage

“…At 10 • C storage condition, stored pears recorded less change in a * , which altered from −9.66 to reach −0.03, −0.49, and 0.40 on the last day of storage for 20, 40, and 60 cm height bruised pears, respectively. Generally, a * value was maintained on bruised pears stored at 10 • C. The change of redness is attributed to green color loss on bruised pears during storage (Bodner and Scampicchio, 2020). Similarly, Gao et al (2021) recorded no significant changes on the a * value of impacted kiwifruit during storage.…”

“…The E * value was higher (21.23) in pear impacted at a drop height of 60 cm and stored at 22 • C (Figure 9B), while the lowest value (17.12) was recorded in pear fruit stored at 10 • C and impacted at a drop height of 20 cm (Figure 9A) during the whole days of the experiment. Bruising is one of the factors that cause fruit discoloration (Bodner and Scampicchio, 2020).…”

“…Pathare and Al-Dairi (2021) also observed the same findings where the total color change of tomato was highly affected by storage temperature and duration as well as drop impact. Bodner and Scampicchio (2020) recorded that the total color change value for bruised pear fruit was high, suggesting the effect of bruising in accelerating the ripening process. As reported by Al-Dairi and Pathare (2021), storage at ambient temperature can accelerate the color change of fresh produce than storage at 10 • C. In this study, the difference between chroma and all studied factors (drop impact, storage condition, and storage duration) was generally significant (p < 0.05; Figures 9C,D).…”

Bruise Damage and Quality Changes in Impact-Bruised, Stored Tomatoes

“…Storage at 10 • C and a low impact reduced the increase of ∆E* for all bruised tomatoes after 10 days of storage. Generally, higher bruising induced higher color discoloration due to the increase in the ripening process of pear Bodner and Scampicchio [29]. Besides, Hussein et al [8] revealed the significant influence of drop height, storage duration, and storage temperature on the ∆E* of pomegranate fruit.…”

Analytical methods for the analysis of volatile natural products

“…198 In this study, volatile metabolites produced during the ripening process were sampled directly, which enabled simultaneous and rapid detection of a wide range of compounds. A paper studied the effect of bruising on the volatilome released by pears by using PTR-MS. 199 The release of m/z 45 and 47 were signicantly higher in bruised samples, indicating that the bruising event accelerated the natural ripening process.…”