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Experimental data was collected on the volatile production of 'Jonagold' apples during two weeks shelf life following 8 months of either ULO, CA or RA. The experimental results show a wide range of different time lapses during shelf life. A simple model was proposed consisting of three consecutive reactions describing how the substrate, via one intermediate compound is degraded into an aroma compound that subsequently evaporates from the fruit into the surrounding air. This simple linear reaction chain approach was able to capture the behaviour of all measured volatile compounds by attributing the effect of the applied MA conditions solely to an effect on the first reaction step. The aroma production during shelf life can thus be interpreted in terms of how well substrate was conserved during the preceding storage period.

This paper compares and relates electronic nose systems and sensory analysis for tomato aroma evaluation. Eight tomato cultivars were selected and assessed on days 4, 7 and 14 after harvest. They were harvested at the red-ripe stage of maturity. Descriptive sensory analysis was performed by seven trained panellists. For instrumental analysis a quartz microbalance electronic nose (QMBE-nose) and a mass spectrometry based electronic nose (MSE-nose) were used. Initially, principal component analysis was performed separately on the instrumental and sensory data sets to explore the structure of each data set. Sensors and signals of the QMBE-nose and MSE-nose, respectively, were then further studied to investigate their relation with the sensory profile of tomato cultivars, using generalized procrustes analysis. The results show the potential of both electronic nose systems to complement routine sensory analysis of tomatoes.