Keywords: HS-SPME; GC-MS; volatile organic compounds; pineapple; shelf life.

Abstract

Every fruit has its aroma and flavour, including Ananas comosus [L.] Merr, known as MD2 pineapple, which is greatly cherished for its alluring sweet flavour. Various volatile and non-volatile organic compounds are present in the fruit, which can be utilised to identify and classify different types of pineapples. This study analysed the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at different maturity stages of MD2 pineapple (immature, half-mature, and mature) using headspace microextraction for the extraction method. Optimising the fibre with 50/30 μm DVB/CAR/PDMS resulted in the extraction of most VOCs during the extraction process. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to evaluate the pineapple extracts. A variety of VOCs, including esters, alcohols, ethers, alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes, ketones, thiazole, amine, and carboxylic acid, were found in the examination of the pineapple sample. Following that, principal component analysis (PCA), one of the chemometric methods in multivariate analysis, was used to analyse the VOCs from the pineapple sample. The PCA was used to classify the VOCs at different maturity stages of the pineapple, with PC1 and PC2 accounting for a total variance of 74.2%. This study also aims to observe different storage conditions that affect the shelf life of the pineapple. The pineapple was stored at three different temperatures: 25 ℃, 6 ℃, and -10 ℃. The effect of storage temperature on the changes in colour, firmness, and pH was evaluated during the 7-day storage period. It was found that the quality and shelf life of pineapple were significantly affected by the different storage temperatures. The results showed that storing the sample at a higher temperature extended the shelf life in terms of colour changes in the fruit sample. The results showed that estimating the shelf life is crucial for preserving fresh fruits and vegetables during storage. Therefore, the significance of this study is to compare and identify the number of VOCs in MD2 pineapple at different maturity stages. It is also important to analyse how shelf life and storage temperature can affect the amount of VOCs contained in the MD2 pineapple.