Conventional GC and flash GC electronic nose for industrial monitoring of volatile organic compounds in Toma Piemontese PDO cheese ripened under gaseous ozone or normal atmosphere

The study evaluates the impact of gaseous ozone treatment on the volatile profile of Toma Piemontese PDO cheese during an industrial pilot-scale ripening trial, integrating conventional chromatographic methods with rapid e-nose analysis. Cheeses were aged for 60 d under either ambient air (control) or low-level gaseous ozone (400 ppb, 0.856 mg m -3 in air) applied six h/d, three times per week, until d 40. Volatile organic compounds were characterized using HS-SPME/GC-MS(FID) and a flash GC e-nose. Gaseous ozone treatment, in comparison to control, significantly influenced the abundance of some volatiles, particularly esters, ketones, and alcohols, with a major relative percentage of acetoin (16.01% vs 5.54%) and a minor of ethanol (25.07% vs 44.41%) at the end of ripening. PCA of the traditional GC and flash GC e-nose data confirmed distinct separation of samples, both based on treatment and ripening time, demonstrating a scalable strategy for quality control in dairy processing.