Chemical, microbiological and sensory changes of dried Acetes chinensis during accelerated storage

Chemical, microbiological and sensory changes of dried Acetes chinensis during 28 days of accelerated storage at 37 °C were studied. Eighty volatile components including alcohols, aldehydes, acids, ketones, esters, alkanes, nitrogen-containing components, aromatic components and terpenes were identified by headspace sampling and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method during storage. Among these volatile components, the relative content of trimethylamine was the highest during storage, which increased from 11.36 ± 1.02% at day 0 to 14.60 ± 0.58% at day 28. Values of total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine (TMA), thiobarturic acid reactive substances (TBARS), total viable mesophilic count (TVC) and sensory characteristics of colour and odour for dried A. chinensis changed significantly during storage. Volatile components, TVB-N, TMA, pH, TBARS, TVC, colour and odour characteristics at different storage time were statistically interpreted by principle component analysis (PCA) method in order to found the main indices for the freshness of dried A. chinensis. The results suggested that colour, TMA, TVB-N, TBARS, odour, TVC and some volatile components could reflect the quality changes perfectly.