Volatile Emission Profiling for Evaluating the Freshness of Whole and Fresh-cut Cabbage

Abstract

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approach was applied to reveal volatile compounds that reflect the freshness of whole and fresh-cut cabbage. Forty and thirty volatiles were annotated in whole and fresh-cut cabbage, respectively, and twenty of which were in common. A developed partial least squares regression (PLSR) model using the detected volatiles allowed estimating the cumulative storage temperature with sufficient accuracy. A hierarchical cluster analysis with selected volatiles based on variable importance in projection of each PLSR model showed that the profiles of the volatile compounds differed with the cumulative storage temperature. These results suggest the feasibility of the freshness assessment for whole and fresh-cut cabbage by profiling the selected volatile compounds as candidates for freshness markers.