Tracking the Chemical Profile of a Food Through the Spoilage Process with GCxGC and ChromaTOF Sync 2D

In this work, we explore the process of food spoilage by tracking the degradation of tomatoes. While this is a specific look at a tomato, an understanding of general food deterioration is important as spoilage impacts the quality and safety of food products and has significant financial implications. Until a process like this is well understood, evaluating the chemical profile and the changes is generally a non-targeted discovery task. For food spoilage, many of the changes that occur will be reflected in the volatile and semi-volatile components of the sample. The aroma profile of the sample itself changes, and chemical markers of microbial activity are also likely to form. GC and TOFMS are well-established techniques for these types of non-targeted characterizations of volatile and semi-volatile analytes and are well-suited for this type of investigation.