Changes in Volatile Compounds and Quality Characteristics of Salted Shrimp Paste Stored in Different Packaging Containers

Quality changes of salted shrimp paste, one of the most popular traditional Thai fermented food ingredients, stored in different packaging containers including polypropylene containers (PP), polyethylene terephthalate containers (PET), glass jar containers (GJ) as well as LLDPE/Nylon vacuum bags (VB) at room temperature (28 ± 1 °C) for 15 months were studied. The relationship between quality attributes (i.e., volatiles, browning index (A420), biogenic amines, TBARS) and consumer acceptability as indicated by sensory scores were also investigated using principal component analysis (PCA). During storage, some desirable quality characteristics of shrimp paste were improved as indicated by the higher sensory scores of all samples when stored for 6 months, compared with the sample at day 0 (p ≤ 0.05). However, further changes in all compositions when extended storage time can conversely diminish those desirable characteristics and led to lowering consumers’ acceptability. In this study, GJ seem to be the most potential packaging for preserving original products’ quality during storage for this product since it exhibited the lower rate of quality changing than others throughout the storage. Conversely, VB exhibited unique volatiles and microbial profiles, compared with others, which led to the lowest sensory scores at all period test (p ≤ 0.05), implying that vacuum conditions may not be suitable for the storage of this product. Moreover, based on PCA results, the intensity of nitrogen-containing compounds correlated well with sensory acceptability, particularly flavor-likeness. Our study provides useful knowledge for understanding the different quality characteristics, particularly flavors, associated with different packaging containers during prolonged storage of salted shrimp paste.