Sensory and chemical changes in tomato sauces during storage

The present work aimed to identify the key odorants of tomato sauces responsible for the flavor change during storage. Products made from paste or canned tomatoes were stored at 25 and 40 degrees C. Sensory properties and quantification of the key odorants were measured and correlated. Significant sensory changes appeared after 1 and 3 months at 25 degrees C in the respective dice and paste sauces (p < 0.01). The dice sauce was characterized by a steep loss of the sensory quality during the early storage and then by identical changes within the same time span at 25 and 40 degrees C. In the paste sauce the sensory deterioration was slower than for the dice sauce and occurred more extensively at 40 degrees C than at 25 degrees C. Correlation between sensory and instrumental data revealed that the source of sensory changes should be (E,E)-deca-2,4-dienal in the dice sauce. The sensory change in the paste sauce could be due to acetaldehyde, methylpropanal, 3-methylbutanal, oct-1-en-3-one, 3-methylbutanoic acid, deca-2,4-dienal, 2-methoxyphenol, and beta-damascenone.