Volatile profile and sensory evaluation of tomato juices treated with pulsed electric fields.

Tomato juices produced from tomatoes subjected to moderate-intensity pulsed electric fields (MIPEF) and from untreated tomatoes were preserved by high-intensity pulsed electric fields (HIPEF) or by thermal treatment (TH) having, in both cases, the fresh juice as a reference. The chemical and sensory changes of tomato juices stored at 4 °C for increasing period of time were analyzed. A quantitative descriptive analysis was developed to characterize the sensory quality of samples. Tomatoes subjected to MIPEF treatments led to tomato juices with a higher content of volatile compounds and better sensory properties than those prepared with untreated tomatoes. An enhancement was observed in hexanal and (E)-2-hexenal just after processing in juices prepared with MIPEF-treated tomatoes. A slight decrease in volatile compounds and a loss of sensory quality was observed over time in TH and HIPEF juices, but HIPEF-processed samples just after processing and through storage maintained higher overall quality.