Study on the storage characteristics of steamed rice bread samples during various storage temperature

The storage quality of steamed rice bread (SRB) is crucial to its industrial production. This paper explored the changes in the texture, moisture content, volatile compounds, and microstructure of SRB during storage at room temperature (RT) and refrigerated temperature (FT) before and after re-steaming. During storage, SRB's moisture and springiness decreased over time, while the hardness increased. Seven significantly increased off-flavor volatile compounds were characterized by gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometer (GC-IMS) analysis. The microstructure parameters (porosity, EqDiameter, length and width of pores, average pores area and average volume of pores) of SRB based on X-ray computed tomography (CT) showed a similar downward trend with the moisture content and springiness. The overall results showed that SRB stored at FT can retain the original quality and re-steaming before consumption was beneficial to edible quality. This study indicates scientific guidance for the consumption of SRB, provides theoretical support for the study of prolonging the storage time of SRB. GC-IMS combined with X-ray CT can be used as a potential tool for the evaluation of storage quality of food like SRB.