The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of using tomato and red pepper pomaces for the production eight-carbon volatiles by Trichoderma atroviride and Aspergillus sojae. The fermentation of tomato and pepper pomace based media by both moulds was conducted in shake flasks and bioreactors. Microbial growth behaviours and fermentation abilities of T. atroviride and A. sojae under both fermentation conditions were followed by microbial counting. The production of flavours from tomato and pepper pomaces by fungal metabolism was determined by gas chromatography olfactometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and sensory analysis. The results showed that T. atroviride grew faster than A. sojae, and the survival of T. atroviride in the tomato pomace was longer than that of A. sojae. However, T. atroviride grew slower than A. sojae in the pepper pomace. Eight-carbon flavour compounds, including (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-ol, 1-octen-3-ol, (E)-2-octenal and (E)-2-octenol, were produced by T. atroviride and A. sojae from the tomato and pepper pomaces. The highest production levels (265.55 +/- 2.79 and 187.47 +/- 0.92 mu g kg(-1)) were observed for 1-octen-3-ol in the tomato fermentation by T. atroviride and A. sojae, respectively. The relationships between volatile compounds and their flavour characteristics in tomato and pepper pomaces were analysed using principal component analysis. (C) 2017, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. All rights reserved.