Comparative assessment of software for non-targeted data analysis in the study of volatile fingerprint changes during storage of a strawberry beverage

- Five free software packages were compared for non-targeted study of volatile profiles.
- MZmine and XCMS software required a long process of data manual reduction.
- Volatile profile changes in storage of new strawberry beverage were studied.
- AMDIS deconvolution and SpectConnect peak alignment provided the highest data number.
- VIP and correlation scores showed four compounds as shelf-life potential markers.

Five free software packages were compared to assess their utility for the non-targeted study of changes in the volatile profile during the storage of a novel strawberry beverage. AMDIS coupled to Gavin software turned out to be easy to use, required the minimum handling for subsequent data treatment and its results were the most similar to those obtained by manual integration. However, AMDIS coupled to SpectConnect software provided more information for the study of volatile profile changes during the storage of strawberry beverage. During storage, volatile profile changed producing the differentiation among the strawberry beverage stored at different temperatures, and this difference increases as time passes; these results were also supported by PCA. As expected, it seems that cold temperature is the best way of preservation for this product during long time storage. Variable Importance in the Projection (VIP) and correlation scores pointed out four volatile compounds as potential markers for shelf-life of our strawberry beverage: 2-phenylethyl acetate, decanoic acid, γ-decalactone and furfural.