Changes in the volatile composition of Spanish‐style green table olives induced by pasteurisation treatment

Summary Thermal treatment of pasteurisation is the most widely used stabilisation method for packed green table olives. In the present work, the influence of pasteurisation on the composition of volatile compounds in packed Spanish‐style green table olives was studied. To this aim, two thermal processes (P1 = 85 °C for 7 min; P2 = 85 °C for 15 min) were evaluated by comparing the contents of volatile compounds in pasteurised olives with those in unpasteurised olives. Volatiles were analysed, both in olive juice and cover brine, by means of headspace solid‐phase microextraction (HS‐SPME) followed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). Both pasteurisation treatments caused significant increases in diverse ethyl and methyl esters and in volatile compounds derived from several chemical reactions (lipid oxidation, Maillard reaction, degradation of carotenoids). Significant differences between samples subjected to P1 and P2 were only found for 1‐octen‐3‐ol, pentanal and 6‐methyl‐5‐hepten‐2‐one in olive juice. Pasteurization treatments in Spanish‐style green table olives produce significant changes in the contents of various volatile compounds derived from several chemical reactions (esterification, lipid oxidation, Maillard reaction, degradation of carotenoids).