Californian-style black olives can undergo different chemical changes during the sterilization process that can affect their sensory and phenol characteristics. Thus, these olives were stuffed with flavoured hydrocolloids and submitted to different thermal sterilization treatments to assess sensory categories. The triangular test indicated that the panellists were able to discriminate between samples from different categories according to their aromas with more than 85% success. The results indicated that the negative aroma detected by tasters was related to burn defects. The highest level of defects was found in standard olives, while the lowest was identified in the extra category. Furthermore, olives submitted to the lowest thermal sterilization treatment (extra) presented significantly higher phenol profile content, such as for hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, oleuropein and procyanidin B1. The electronic nose (E-nose) discriminated between samples from different categories according to the specific aroma (PC1 = 82.1% and PC2 = 15.1%). The PLS-DA classified the samples with 90.9% accuracy. Furthermore, the volatile organic compounds responsible for this discrimination were creosol, copaene, benzaldehyde and diallyl disulphide. Finally, the models established by the PLS analysis indicated that the E-nose could predict olives according to their aroma and total phenol profile (RCV2 values were 0.89 and 0.92, respectively). Thus, this device could be used at the industrial level to discriminate between olives with different sensory aromas to determine those with the highest quality.
Keywords: E-nose; burn defect; phenols; sensory analysis; sterilization treatment; stuffed olives.