Identification of calcium carbide-ripened sapota (Achras sapota) fruit by headspace SPME-GC-MS

ABSTRACT

The effect of post-harvest ripening by ethylene and calcium carbide was studied by headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) method. Sapota (sapodilla) fruits were ripened with ethylene gas, technical grade calcium carbide and pure calcium carbide ripeners and the samples were homogenised after complete ripening. The samples were subjected to HS-SPME-GC-MS and the obtained results showed the presence of various alcohols, aldehydes, acids, ketones and esters which were commonly present in the samples. The fruit samples ripened with technical grade calcium carbide showed the presence of 3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-trithiolane isomers, which can be used as markers to identify sapota fruits ripened with technical grade calcium carbide. The technical grade calcium carbide contains divinyl sulphide which might have been transformed into the trithiolane isomers. These isomers were not observed in the fruits ripened with pure calcium carbide and also with ethylene gas. Hence the formation of trithiolane residues may be attributed to the presence of divinyl sulphide impurity present in calcium carbide and its conversion due to the action of ethylene releasing enzymes present in the fruits.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Post-harvest ripening
• sapota fruits
• sapodilla fruits
• artificial ripening
• calcium carbide
• ethylene
• solid-phase microextraction
• gas chromatography – mass spectrometry

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Food Safety Standards Authority of India for sponsoring the project with internal project code GAP-0602. The authors also thank the Director, CSIR-IICT for the facilities and continuous encouragement.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the project work has been sponsored by FSSAI and the corresponding author is the only Principal Investigator of this project. No other scientific group in the institute was involved in the present work and hence there is no conflict of interest. The authors have obtained permission for the publication of this manuscript from the institutional review committee and bear the communication number IICT/Pubs./2020/100.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FSSAI [73/R&D/Artificial Ripeners/RARD/2016-FSSAI].