{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T05:01:26Z","timestamp":1790744486465,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790726400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To investigate the effects of temperature fluctuation during cold chain logistics on quality deterioration and flavor evolution of pre-packaged tofu.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study simulated stable cold chain (CK) and two temperature fluctuation modes (T1 and T2), and systematically analyzed the microbial changes, spoilage metabolism, water status, texture properties, and volatile flavor composition of tofu under different storage conditions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The results showed that temperature fluctuation significantly accelerated the quality deterioration of pre-packaged tofu, with T1 treatment exhibiting the most notable promoting effect. Compared with the CK group, temperature fluctuation promoted the increase of total viable count and psychrotrophic bacterial count, while also accelerating the accumulation of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and spoilage-related biogenic amines. After 35 days of storage, total bacterial count of the T1 group reached 6.52 lg CFU\/g, and the contents of TVB-N and TBARS increased to 7.20 mg\/100 g and 0.726 mg\/100 g, respectively. Moreover, temperature fluctuations reduced the water-holding capacity of tofu, altered water distribution, and decreased hardness, springiness, chewiness, and resilience. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analyses further indicated that temperature fluctuations changed the internal water distribution of tofu. Electronic nose, gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses showed that temperature fluctuations reshaped the volatile flavor profile of tofu and promoted the formation of aldehydes, acids, and nitrogen-containing volatile compounds.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In summary, temperature fluctuations during cold-chain storage were associated with greater microbial proliferation, lipid oxidation-related changes, altered water distribution, texture deterioration, and pronounced changes in the volatile flavor profile of pre-packaged tofu. This study provides the theoretical basis to optimize cold chain transport conditions and the quality control of tofu.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1976213","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T04:53:03Z","timestamp":1790743983000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Effects of temperature fluctuations on quality deterioration and flavor evolution of pre-packaged tofu during cold-chain logistics"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Dan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Economics and Management, Shaoyang University","place":["Shaoyang, China"]},{"name":"Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Soybean Products Processing and Safety Control, Hunan Engineering Research Center of Green Processing and Equipment of Hunan-Style Food","place":["Shaoyang, 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