ANALYSIS OF VOLATILE COMPOUNDS FROM STRAWBERRY FRUIT STORED UNDER MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING (MAP)

Volatile compounds were extracted from strawberries stored at 1-degrees-C for 10 days under modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) conditions in high barrier pouches flushed with either carbon dioxide, mixed gas, or air, and identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Canonical variate analysis based on 25 selected volatile compounds classified the samples according to treatment and/or quality level. Unpackaged samples, MAP samples treated with air or mixed gas kept in storage for 3 days, and strawberries evaluated at day 0 were all initially different from strawberries held in carbon dioxide. After 10 days storage, all MAP strawberries were classified close together and quality attribute scores were lower.